Augustine Canon List
Augustine Canon List
397 AD: Augustine accepted all the Apocrypha.[1] But see this quote:
In the second case he [Augustine] expressly lowers the authority of the books of the Maccabees by remarking that “the Jews have them not like the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets to which the Lord gives His witness” (Aug. l. c.).[2]
The author is not quoting any words of Augustine to the effect of “lowering authority.” All he quotes is Augustine saying that the Jews do not have the Maccabees in their books. (And that is the best quote he could find.)
Augustine himself cites 2 Maccabees as plain, simple Scripture without any qualification or differentiation in at least 17 different works.[3] There is no evidence that Augustine wanted to “lower the authority” of 2 Maccabees because the “faithless people” (as Augustine himself referred to them in his Sermon 300, quoted above when discussing 2 Maccabees) no longer accept it four hundred years after Christ. The concept of “lowering of authority” comes from the author imposing his own worldview on what Augustine wrote. Always look out for such things. You may or may not agree with them, but you do not even get to decide unless you first notice it.[4]
[1] www.bible-researcher.com/augustine.html
[2] B.F. Westcott, “Canon of Scripture,” in vol. 1 of Dr. William Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible: Comprising Its Antiquities, Biography, Geography, and Natural History; revised and edited by Professor H.B. Hackett, D.D., etc. (Cambridge, 1881), p. 362-3. Cribbed from www.bible-researcher.com/augustine.html
[3] Just my own count from what I have found, which is not exhaustive on Augustine. His innumerable works do not appear in the version of Biblindex that I can access.
[4] And Westcott said “expressly lowers the authority” when Augustine does not expressly do so.
