2006-11-22 09:40:53 · 15 answers · asked by ♫O Praise Him♫ 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I assume you mean the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Old Testament. Luther (along with most other Protestant groups) wanted them out because:
1. The Jews rejected them. Since the Old Testament is the same thing as the Jewish Tanakh, they didn't think they should be in there.
2. They were written in Greek.
3. The concept of Purgatory (rejected by nearly all Protestants) is based on a passage in 2 Maccabees, one of the books that was tossed (sorry, I can't find the passage right now).
The second assumption is wrong, but people at the time didn't know it. Scholars now have copies of parts of most all of them in Hebrew and they now know that all of the questionable books were written in Hebrew, not Greek. At the time, they only existed in Greek. Part of II Esdras (also rejected by the Catholic Church, but accepted by the Russian Orthodox Church), I think exists only in Latin, but it, too, is believed to have been written in Hebrew.
Most Protestant groups, as I mentioned above, reject them, but some of those (including the United Methodist Church), still believe them worthy of being read, and it's a shame more people don't. I Maccabees and II Maccabees fill in a lot of historical information that is farily accurate. They help fill in the gaps of the period (called the Intertestamental Period) between where the Old Testament and the New Testament timewise. They discuss the Maccabean Revolt led by Judas Maccabeus, which led to Israel regaining it's independence, briefly (about 70 years) and the rededication to God after it was soiled by the Greeks (who sacrificed pigs to Zeus in the Holy of Holies). This tale is the basis for the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Hannukah.
It might be worth mentioning that Luther also wanted to cut Revelations out of the New Testament, but decided not to (for reasons that I do not know).
2006-11-22 09:59:21 · answer #1 · answered by The Doctor 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure Martin Luther took them out - but there are books that are debated as "canonical" or not. The protestant Bible takes out the questionable books. You can read all about it on this site:
2006-11-22 09:43:40 · answer #2 · answered by Grace 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a simple historical fact that Luther’s translation of the Bible contained all of its books. Luther began translating the New Testament in 1521, and released a finished version in 1522. He published sections of the Old Testament as he finished them. He finished the entire Bible by 1534. During these years, various incomplete editions were released, leading some people to believe this was deliberate.
2006-11-22 09:44:34 · answer #3 · answered by braennvin2 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Because they were not inspired by God. They were written just by men. Only the OT books in Hebrew were inspired. The rest were written in Greek, because the Jews were under the process of Hellenization and the books were written during the biblical "silent era" of 400 years when God did not speak to Israel through any prophets until the time of Christ.
2006-11-22 09:44:15 · answer #4 · answered by . 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
i think it was seven books, but he did edit romans and shortened esther and another. he wanted to take out the book of revelations aswell,deleted also the maccabes 1 and 2. he was unhappy with what some catholics were doing at the time,however this was only a few and not the broad teaching of the church(taking money to release the souls from purgatory). he edited to change the church and reform it the way he wanted it to be. when asked why he reportedly retorted because he could and that was reason enough(paraphrasing,he was a foul mouthed ex catholic). he wanted a religion to be taught his way,the books he edited and deleted interfered with and contradicted his teachings and theology. i forget the source of his retort,he has some writings you may be able to locate, i hope this helps and god bless.
2006-11-22 09:50:01 · answer #5 · answered by fenian1916 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because he felt these books were not authentic because they were not written in Hebrew. They were Greek.
He forgot however that the quotes from Jesus in the New Testament were from these very Greek text of the ancient Hebrew manuscripts.
Go figure!
2006-11-22 09:45:54 · answer #6 · answered by Lives7 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
He wanted to make the Bible more believable. The bible was written by man, so why are we surprised when men modify it? Do we really think that the dead authors are going to travel from the past to kick our butts for defiling their work?
2006-11-22 09:42:42 · answer #7 · answered by the guru 4 · 2⤊ 3⤋
He was a man with his own personal agenda. Christianity seems to breed agendas of people.
2006-11-22 09:43:22 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Idk, did you know some council put the bible together ?
They found a bunch of books, the ones they left out are called the Apocrypha.
2006-11-22 09:49:35 · answer #9 · answered by lilith 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no he took 66
2006-11-22 09:50:09 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋