I guess someone forgot to tell this to Jerome. In his Preface to "Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs," he wrote:
"As, then, the Church reads Judith, Tobit, and the books of Maccabees, but does not admit them among the canonical Scriptures, so let it read these two volumes for the edification of the people, not to give authority to doctrines of the Church. "Jerome plainly set aside the so-called "deuterocanonical" books apart from the rest of the Vulgate and it remained that way in most editions. This fact was understood up until the time of the Council of Trent. Indeed, the famous Cardinal Cajetan, in his "Commentary on all the Authentic Historical Books of the Old Testament," wrote:
"Here we close our commentaries on the historical books of the Old Testament. For the rest (that is, Judith, Tobit, and the books of Maccabees) are counted by St. Jerome out of the canonical books, and are placed amongst the Apocrypha, along with Wisdom and Ecciesiasticus, as is plain from the Protogus Galeatus.Remember, if you accept the "deuterocanonical" books as Scripture, you have to believe the following passage:
"If the Devil, or an evil spirit troubles anyone, they can be driven away by making a smoke of the heart, liver, and gall of a fish...and the Devil will smell it, and flee away, and never come again anymore." (Tobit 6:5-8)I stand on the side of Jerome, Athanasiusm, Origen, Epiphanius, Basil the Great, Melito, Gregory of Nazianzen, Hilary of Poitiers, and many others in rejecting these kinds of superstitions.
The fact remains, and it is irrefutable, that Jerome translated the deuterocanonicals along with the rest of the Vulgate.
The fact remains, and it is irrefutable, that three councils -- Rome, Hippo, and Carthage -- at the end of the 4th century placed the deuterocanonicals with the rest of Scripture. Not coincidentally, they are also the councils that fixed the NT canon.
The fact remains, and it is irrefutable, Cardinal Cajetan's alleged opinion to the contrary notwithstanding, that the Council of Florence in the 15th century, a full century before Trent, cited them in their list of canonical books.
Remember, if you accept the "deuterocanonical" books as Scripture, you have to believe the following passage:
"If the Devil, or an evil spirit troubles anyone, they can be driven away by making a smoke of the heart, liver, and gall of a fish...and the Devil will smell it, and flee away, and never come again anymore." (Tobit 6:5-8)
No, Mike. You obviously have the exegetical subtlety of a sledgehammer. What I "have to believe" is that, according to the story (and that's what it is, a story or parable), an angel told that to Tobit. I stand on the side of Jerome, Athanasiusm, Origen, Epiphanius, Basil the Great, Melito, Gregory of Nazianzen, Hilary of Poitiers, and many others in rejecting these kinds of superstitions.
I wouldn't stand with Origen on much of anything if I were you. He's useful mainly as a witness to the belief of the church in his age -- you know, Christ truly present in the Eucharist, the sacrament of confession, the baptism of infants ... I'm sure you've read him and agree with him on all of those things, since you claim to "stand with him." For your sake, I do hope you don't stand with him on his more notorious claim(s) to fame.