Why does the Catholic Bible contain 73 books while the Protestant Bible has only 66?

Answer 1

Roman Catholic AnswerThe seven disputed books are: Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (or Sirach), and Baruch. Catholic Bibles also include an additional six chapters (107 verses) in Ester and three chapters (174 verses) in Daniel.

According to major Protestant scholars and historians, in the first four centuries Church leaders (e.g., St. Justin Martyr, Tertullian, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Cyprian, St. Irenaeus) generally recognized these seven books as canonical and scriptural, following the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament, following the council of Rome (382), and general consensus, finalized the New Testament canon while also including the deuterocanonical, in lists that were identical to that of the Council of Trent (1545-1563).

There's a scholarly consensus that this canon was pretty much accepted from the fourth century to the sixteenth, and indeed, the earliest Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament: the Codex Sinaiticus (fourth century) and Codex Alexandrinus (c. 450) include the (unseparated) deuterocanonical books. The Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran did not contain Esther, but did contain Tobit.

The Protestants usually cite the Council of Jamnia, and St. Jerome as to why these books should not be included. The problems with these are:

The Council of Jamnia (if it ever really happened, there is now a lot of doubt concerning this) was a council of Jews who had rejected Jesus Christ and in any case was certainly not authoritative for Christians.

St. Jerome critical views were not as clear cut as the Protestants seem to think and he did include all of the deuterocanonical books in the Vulgate, his Latin translation of the Bible.

taken from The One-Minute Apologist, by Dave Armstrong