First Book of Maccabees is a book of the historical books centered on Jewish resistance to Seleucid persecution, the purification of the Temple, and the rise of Hasmonean leadership.[1]
Place in the Catholic canon
First Book of Maccabees is one of the deuterocanonical books received by the Catholic Church as inspired and canonical Sacred Scripture. Catholic and Orthodox Christians receive its scriptural authority, while most Protestant editions omit it or place it among the Apocrypha.
Within the canon, the book belongs to the historical books. Its proper meaning is read within the unity of the whole Bible, the Church's living Tradition, and the coherence of revealed truth.
Content and theology
The book principally treats Jewish resistance to Seleucid persecution, the purification of the Temple, and the rise of Hasmonean leadership. Its historical setting, literary forms, and compositional history are proper subjects of disciplined scholarship; no disputed modern authorship theory is itself an article of Catholic faith.
Catholic reading
The Church receives the book as the word of God in human words. Its literal sense grounds authentic spiritual and typological readings, and its fullest Christian interpretation is governed by the revelation of the Father in Jesus Christ without erasing Israel, the human author's meaning, or salvation history.[2]
References
- 1.USCCB Bible: First Book of Maccabees — Approved biblical text, introduction, and study notes
- 2.Dei Verbum — Dogmatic constitution on revelation, inspiration, and interpretation