Does Catholicism allow the possibility of new books being added to the Bible?

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Accepted answer

The very short answer to this question is no.

Public revelation, or divine revelation, is God revealing himself to humanity. The Church teaches that public revelation, as revealed in salvation history, was perfected and completed in Jesus Christ.

“The Christian economy … since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ” [see Dei Verbum 4; see also 1 Timothy 6:14; Titus 2:13]. Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries (CCC, 66).

The Church has long taught that public revelation ended with the death of the last apostle, as the Apostles faithfully taught Jesus’ message. The Church carefully guards its deposit of faith, awaiting its fulfillment in the final coming of Christ. - Public versus private revelation

Any saints' writings after the death of the Apostle St. John in ca. 100 AD are to be considered "private revelation" and are not binding to be followed or believed in by any member of the Catholic Church.

In this respect, let us listen once again to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "Throughout the ages, there have been so-called 'private' revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church... It is not their role to complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history" (No. 67). - Public Revelation and private revelations

Let us carefully remember that the Apostles were eyewitnesses to the events surrounding Our Lord Jesus Christ and future writers can not make this claim. St. John concludes his Gospel with the following words:

This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true. 25 But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. - Gospel of St. John Chapter 21: 24

Catholic Bibles usually end with The Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle and although he gives to us a warning not to change anything written in the Apocalypse, it could also be used as a word of caution not to add to public revelation.

For I testify to every one that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book: If any man shall add to these things, God shall add unto him the plagues written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from these things that are written in this book. - The Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle, 22: 18-19

Upvote:0

No, the canon of Holy Scripture was fixed in the (unchangeable) dogmatic definition of the 4th Session of the Council of Trent on the Canonical Scriptures:

But if any one receive not, as sacred and canonical, the said books entire with all their parts, as they have been preserved to be read in the Catholic Church (prout in ecclesia catholica legi consueverunt), and as they are contained in the old Latin vulgate edition; and knowingly and deliberately contemn the traditions aforesaid; let him be anathema.
The phrase I emboldened shows that no new books can be introduced int the canon of Holy Scripture.

(adapted from my answer here)

Upvote:2

No new writings would be accepted as part of the canon today. However, it would be interesting if the Church found an old writing penned by an Apostle, in which its authenticity could be verified. St. Irenaeus was one of the first to develop a NT canon, and one of the criteria he used is whether the document was either written by an Apostle, or accurately recorded what an Apostle said. So the Gospel of Mark is considered canonical because it was well believed to be an accurate recording of what St. Peter had witnessed.

For a through explanation of St. Irenaeus's positions on the matter, check out Book III of his "Against Heresies"

(http://www.prudencetrue.com/images/Irenaeus_Against_Heresies_Book_III.pdf)

Upvote:2

The short answer to the OP is no; new books may not be added to the canon of Scripture. The Catechism states that the list is "complete".

120 It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books. This complete list is called the canon of Scripture. It includes 46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and 27 for the New. http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s1c2a3.htm#120

On the other hand, the Catholic Church also recognizes Sacred Tradition as equal to its Scripture. As such, Tradition may be added to or subtracted from.

78 This living transmission , accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it. Through Tradition, "the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes." "The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer." http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s1c2a2.htm#78

The point in making this distinction between Scripture and Tradition is to affirm that the Catholic Church cannot change its Scripture, but it can change (modify, add, subtract, clarify) its Tradition ("all that she believes").

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