Different Bibles for Catholics and Protestants? Unresolved Questions About the Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament

The question of the scriptural status of the ‘deuterocanonical books’ of the Old Testament (to Protestants, the Apocrypha) was once a serious point of dispute between Catholics and Protestants. It remains an acknowledged truth that these books are regarded by Catholics, despite the ‘second rank’ status apparently implied by the prefix ‘deutero’, as fully part of Scripture, and they are freely used in the liturgy, while many Protestants reject them altogether. Yet, in ecumenical discussion, there seems often to be a tacit agreement not to raise this massive area of disagreement. This article argues that it should be an important ecumenical topic for debate. Drawing on an Anglican tradition of overtly recognizing that the status of the deuterocanonical books implies that Scripture has more than one tier, I propose that it would be helpful if all churches officially recognized what most Christians probably think privately, that the Bible contains texts of various orders of importance. The deuterocanonical books force us to think about the authority of all the scriptural books and to ask how in practice we read and use the Bible. I also raise the question of how far canonicity attaches to particular versions or editions of the biblical books, and whether translations share in the authority of the Hebrew or Aramaic originals.