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Bible Dictionaries
Deuterocanonical
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary
or In the school theology, an appellation given to certain books of holy Scripture, which were added to the canon after the rest, either by reason they were not wrote till after the compilation of the canon, or by reason of some dispute as to their canonicity. the word is Greek, being compounded of second; and canonical. The Jews, it is certain, acknowledged several books in their canon, which were put there later than the rest. They say that under Esdras, a great assembly of their doctors, which they call, by way of eminence, the great synagogue, made the collection of the sacred books which we now have in the Hebrew Old Testament; and they agree that they put books therein which had not been so before the Babylonish captivity; such as those of Daniel, Ezekiel, Haggai, &c. and those of Esdras and Nehemiah. And the Romish church has since added others to the canon, that were not, and could not be, in the canon of the Jews, by reason some of them were not composed till after: such as the book of Ecclesiasticus, with several of the apocryphal books, as the Macabees, Wisdom, &c.
Others were added still later, by reason their canonicity had not been yet examined; and till such examen and judgment they might be set aside at pleasure. But since that church has pronounced as to the canonicity of those books, there is no more room now for her members to doubt of them, than there was for the Jews to doubt of those of the canon of Esdras. And the deuterocanonical books are with them as canonical as the proto- canonical; the only difference between them consisting in this, that the canonicity of the one was not generally known, examined, and settled, as soon as that of the others. The deuterocanonical books in the modern canon are, the book of Esther, either the whole, or at least the seven last chapters thereof; the epistle to the Hebrews; that of James, and that of Jude; the second of St. Peter, the second and third of St. John, and the Revelation. The deuterocanonical parts of books are, the hymn of the three children; the prayer of Azariah; the histories of Susannah, or Bel and the Dragon; the last chapter of St. Mark; the bloody sweat; and the appearance of the angel related in St. Luke, chap. 22: and the history of the adulterous woman in St. John, chap. 8:
See CANON.
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Buck, Charles. Entry for 'Deuterocanonical'. Charles Buck Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/cbd/d/deuterocanonical.html. 1802.
