Catholic Christian holy books

The argument

Christian denominations differ in what they use as the basis of their doctrines and beliefs, and the Catholic answer is deliberately broader than scripture alone. The Catholic Church uses the Bible together with the words of the church fathers, popes and bishops as the basis for doctrine, treating the teaching office of the Church as a source of authority rather than merely as a commentary on a text. That breadth begins with the canon itself. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches accept certain "deutero-canonical" books that are not part of the traditional Hebrew Bible, so the disagreement with other denominations starts before interpretation does: the collection being interpreted is not the same collection. It continues with the status of tradition. Catholics do not base their beliefs on the Bible alone; they are additionally bound by the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. The reasoning behind this is that the community which recognised and transmitted the scriptures is not external to them, so its accumulated teaching carries authority alongside the text rather than being subordinate to a reading of it. This is the substantive difference from denominations that treat scripture as the sole rule of faith. Beyond the Bible there are many religious writings that hold great significance for Catholics, of which the Catechism is the clearest example. The Catechism is described as a "compendium of all Catholic doctrine regarding both faith and morals" — an organised presentation of the essential teachings of the Catholic Church in regard to both faith and morals, written by bishops, theologians and other experts. Its existence illustrates the wider principle: doctrine is set out systematically by the Church's own teachers, which is possible only because their authority to do so is already accepted.

Premises

Counter-arguments

A rebuttal is that these details describe sources of authority — scripture together with tradition and the magisterium — rather than distinctive articles of belief, whereas the question asks what Christians believe. As the passage itself notes, basing doctrine on scripture plus tradition and accepting the deutero-canonical books is shared with the Eastern Orthodox Churches, so it identifies a broad catholic-tradition family rather than what is peculiarly Roman Catholic. Critics add that the Catechism is a text that organises and presents doctrine, not itself an item of belief. Listing holy books and traditions describes where Catholic teaching is found more than it states what Catholics actually hold.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Basing doctrine on scripture together with tradition and the magisterium is shared with Eastern Orthodoxy, so it identifies a broad catholic-tradition family rather than what is distinctively Roman Catholic. [Rejecting P3] The Catechism is a source that organises doctrine, not itself an article of belief; listing texts describes where teaching is found more than what Catholics believe.