deuterokanonin

Deuterokanonin refers to books and passages that are included in the canon of scripture by some Christian traditions but not by others. The term is primarily used in relation to the Old Testament. For Protestants, these books are typically considered apocryphal or pseudepigraphal. For Catholics and Orthodox Christians, they are considered part of the inspired canon.

The books commonly designated as deuterokanonin by Catholics are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees. Additions to Esther and Daniel are also part of this category. The specific list can vary slightly among different Orthodox traditions.

The origin of this distinction lies in the differing canons used by the early Church. The Old Testament canon used by Jesus and the apostles is generally believed to have been the Hebrew Bible, which does not include these books. However, the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures widely used in the Hellenistic period and by early Christians, did contain these additional books.

The Council of Trent in the 16th century formally defined the Catholic Church's Old Testament canon, affirming the deuterokanonin books as divinely inspired. Conversely, during the Protestant Reformation, reformers like Martin Luther removed these books from their Bibles, deeming them to have less authority than the protocanonical books.