Why was the Bible banned by the Catholic church for 1500 years?

Question

It seems odd...

I start school (JD) in August but I work full time.

I don't think this is what you were getting at. I have reported you.

Answer 1

Im not aware of such regulations in their past. However they are guilty of having the elitist view that they are the only ones that can properly read and interpret them apart from even their members!

Answer 2

The Bible was NEVER banned by the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church collected, canonized, preserved, reproduced and distributed the Bible. The Bible is an integral part of the Catholic Liturgy, with large amounts of it read aloud in every single Mass.

The point you mistaken, I suppose, is that (a) paper was not cheap like it is today, (b) the printing press wasn't even invented until the 1400s, so every Bible had to be written out by hand and carefully checked to make sure there was no error so they were very EXPENSIVE and hardly anybody could afford their own private copies and (c) most people in most cultures for most of world history have been illiterate because books were an extreme luxury that only a few people could afford. Doesn't mean people were dumb or anything -- It's simply because if you had no books, newspapers, magazines, etc., you had no need to learn how to read.

So Bibles were not available because few books were available anyway, and because the Church controlled distribution of Bibles to make sure that each copy was absolutely correct with no error. The invention of the printing press made Bibles more available (1400s) and the invention of cheap paper made of wood fiber instead of other material (1800s) made them actually affordable so that every family could own their own copy. Today, all Catholics are encouraged to own and read the Bible daily. Today's readings for Catholics are: Exodus 2:1-15, Psalm 69 and Matthew 11:20-24 (at least for those of us who think it's cool that Catholics all around the globe are reading, studying and meditating on the same Scriptures each day...you can read whatever you want, though).

Try broadening your scope to include all the facts before making assumptions.

Answer 3

Wrong


The idea that all revealed truth is to be found in "66 books" is not only not in Scripture, it is contradicted by Scripture (1 Corinthians 11:2, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 1 Timothy 3:15, 2 Peter 1:20-21, 2 Peter 3:16). It is a concept unheard of in the Old Testament, where the authority of those who sat on the Chair of Moses (Matthew 23:2-3) existed. In addition to this, for 400 years, there was no defined canon of "Sacred Scripture" aside from the Old Testament; there was no "New Testament"; there was only Tradition and non-canonical books and letters.




Protestants claim the Bible is the only rule of faith, meaning that it contains all of the material one needs for theology and that this material is sufficiently clear that one does not need apostolic tradition or the Church’s magisterium (teaching authority) to help one understand it. In the Protestant view, the whole of Christian truth is found within the Bible’s pages. Anything extraneous to the Bible is simply non-authoritative, unnecessary, or wrong—and may well hinder one in coming to God.

Catholics, on the other hand, recognize that the Bible does not endorse this view and that, in fact, it is repudiated in Scripture. The true "rule of faith"—as expressed in the Bible itself—is Scripture plus apostolic tradition, as manifested in the living teaching authority of the Catholic Church, to which were entrusted the oral teachings of Jesus and the apostles, along with the authority to interpret Scripture correctly

Answer 4

It wasn't. The Catholic Church ASSEMBLED the Bible. Why would they ban it? You're probably thinking that the Church doesn't want people interpreting the Bible just any old way. That's true. Throughout history, most people COULDN'T read or write. Which made getting things right a hit-or -miss proposition. So for the good of the people, the Church wanted to do the interpreting. It's easy to blame them with our 21st Century outlook. But at the time, it made all kinds of sense.

Answer 5

The Catholic church used to preach in ways that met their requirements, in the very early days the banning of the bible was more specifically aimed at those that had money and education whom may challenge the preachings which favoured the monarchy rather than the doctrine of the bible.

More recently in history we find the Catholic church changing its stance and allowing the bible but preaching a doctrine that only priests of the faith could accurately interpret the meanings of the bible. This move by the church was inline with the increased distribution of the bible in print around the world and the increased education of those reading it. In other words the church could do nothing to prevent its distribution thus changed its stance.

Answer 6

LIke others here I would be fascinated to know the source of your information.

However. Let's set aside for the moment the inflammatory "banned" and consider practicalities, shall we?

How accessible was a personal copy of the Bible to most people prior to the invention of the printing press? Laboriously copied by hand as they were, the Scriptures were so outrageously expensive to own that few could afford to do so. Literacy also played a part in this. What good would having access to the Bible have done someone who could not read it? Scripture was read aloud so that people could hear the word of God. If this constitutes "banning" we need to notify Webster's of a new definition for the word.

Additionally, I find claims of present-day Christians that they know Catholics who were not "allowed" to read the Bible -- usually in a generation once removed from them, by hearsay -- to be suspect at best, given that the Douay-Rheims translation has existed in print since 1609 (thanks to the same machinery that allowed Luther to quickly propagate his theses). Somebody must have been reading it, and by then the Reformation sects had their own translation in hand and wouldn't have been caught dead reading the D-R, "papist" as it was.

Answer 7

When the printing press was invented, Bibles were mass produced. Protestant "reformers" started making slight changes in the Bible, like stating we are saved by faith ALONE, to support their man made doctrine. THESE Bibles, not the correct Bibles were banned by the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church was trying to protect the Word of God from "reformers" who wanted to corrupt it.

Catholics are encouraged to read their Bible daily. Following are some sites that give the daily mass reading and relflections on those readings (the last one is a podcast):
http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
http://www.wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp
http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/

Answer 8

HI,

That's enough time to rearrange and write what suits
there needs in order to monopolize and control their
converts, which of course is what they did in the first
place. Many of the Catholic Doctrines are,e.g., The
Catachisms, Immaculate Virgin Birth, The Rosary, are
all man made, and can be proven historically. And of
course, most people are either born into their "Faith",
or are mis-lead by it, thereby not doing any research,
historical or otherwise for themselves. POPE LEO THE X
once said: "What great business this "JESUS" character
has brought the Church". That of course is a "Monotary"
statement If you ask me.

Answer 9

The Bible was seen as not understandable by the general populous. So they made sure that it was not written in native language. Those who desired to read it had to get a fairly advanced education.

I imagine another reason they didn't want people to read it is because they mislead many of the members of their church and did not want them to know the truth; thus, Martin Luther.

Someone above requested a source, so I thought that I would share that when i was young I had a friend who's grandparents would not read the Bible because they were taught by the Catholic Church that they couldn't understand it and believed it to be a sin.

Answer 10

I don't know if it was 1500 years, or if it was 'banned', but it was required of Catholics, to go to the priest rather than the
Bible for spiritual needs.

I know back in the 1960's several of my Catholic friends would not consider anything out of the Bible. My wife's sister, who is Catholic, is still like that.

Answer 11

I would like to know where you got your information from, I have been a Catholic for 53 years and studied the Church and we did not ban the Bible at all so please get your facts straight and stop making false statements