{"id":91432,"date":"2025-05-06T19:38:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T23:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=91432"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:38:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T19:38:48","slug":"luther-the-myth-of-a-supposed-catholic-ban-of-the-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2025\/05\/luther-the-myth-of-a-supposed-catholic-ban-of-the-bible.html","title":{"rendered":"Luther&#8217;s Mythical Catholic &#8220;Ban&#8221; of the Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><figure id=\"attachment_91435\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-91435\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2025\/05\/LuxLutherBible.png\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-91435 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2025\/05\/LuxLutherBible.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"356\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-91435\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Photo Credit<\/strong>:\u00a0copyright\u00a0<em>Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">This is the transcript of my video, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_m149m1fjCM&amp;t=39s\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Did The Catholic Church Really Ban The Bible?<\/a> [<em>Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 11 minutes, 5-6-25]. Luther\u2019s words will be in <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">blue<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*****<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\"><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color\" role=\"text\">It\u2019s a common Protestant myth that the Catholic Church is and has always been fundamentally hostile to the Bible and has desired to keep it out of the hands<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\">\n<div class=\"ytwTranscriptSegmentViewModelTimestampA11yLabel\">of the people for fear that its doctrines would be exposed as contrary to the Bible. Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, repeatedly claimed that the Bible wasn\u2019t available before his time and indeed was deliberately hidden. In his commentary on Peter and Jude from 1523, he stated in his comment on 1 Peter 3:15,<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"ytwTranscriptSegmentViewModelTimestampA11yLabel\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color\" role=\"text\">Up to this time, the idea that the ley should read the Scriptures has been treated with derision. <\/span>For in this the devil has hid on a fine trick to tear the Bible out of the hands of the laity; and he has thought thus: If I can keep the laity from reading the Scriptures, I will then turn the priests from the Bible to Aristotle and so let them gossip as they will. The laity must hear just what they preach; while if the lady should read the Scriptures, the priests would have to study them, too, in order that they might not be detected and overcome. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"ytwTranscriptSegmentViewModelTimestampA11yLabel\">In his <em>Table Talk<\/em>, Luther is reported to have said on February 22nd, 1538, <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u201cThirty years ago, no one read the Bible and it was unknown to all. And when I was 20 years old, I had never seen a Bible.\u201d<\/span> <span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color\" role=\"text\">This comes from the magisterial Weimar set of German writings of Luther, volume 3 of <em>Table Talk<\/em>, number <\/span>3767, from Anton Lauterbach\u2019s diary. The 55-volume <em>Luther\u2019s Works<\/em> in English chose \u2014 for whatever reason \u2014 not to include it. In his 1543 pamphlet, <em>On the Jews and Their Lies<\/em>, Luther stated that <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u201cUnder the papacy, the Bible became unrecognizable.\u201d<\/span> The myth is sadly propagated to this day.<\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div class=\"ytwTranscriptSegmentViewModelTimestampA11yLabel\">John Piper, born in 1946, a prominent and influential Reformed Baptist theologian and pastor, stated in 2006 that Luther \u201cspoke against the backdrop of a thousand years of church darkness without the Word.\u201d That was in his book called <em>The Legacy of Sovereign Joy<\/em>, page 96. Are Luther and Piper correct, or was the Bible available to a significant extent to the populace in German before his time? I contend that it certainly <em>was<\/em>. Andrew Gow, born in 1962: an expert on the period and professor of history at the University of Alberta, wrote an excellent 37-page article on this very topic in 2009 that I\u2019ll link below. Here are some key statements from his copiously documented piece:<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"ytwTranscriptSegmentViewModelTimestampA11yLabel\">One of the most persistent inaccuracies regarding the European Middle Ages, both among the general public and even among scholars, is the notion that the Roman church forbad or banned the reading of the Bible in the vernacular. . . . Despite the immense literature on medieval German Bibles, many (non-specialist scholars still see Luther\u2019s Bible as a radical novelty and break with the \u201cmedieval\u201d past . . . Vernacular Bibles circulated and were read widely . . . all through the later Middle Ages. . . .<\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div class=\"ytwTranscriptSegmentViewModelTimestampA11yLabel\"><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color\" role=\"text\">In 1927, the prolific Bible scholar Hans Vollmer . . . wrote, . . . \u201cIt is quite common <\/span>in Protestant circles to underestimate the knowledge of biblical texts among late medieval Christians,\u201d . . .<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\"><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color\" role=\"text\">In 2001, Owen Chadwick noted in a book addressed to a larger readership <\/span>that there were many printed editions of the Bible before Luther. . . . In fact, there were 22 Germanic editions by 1518. . . .<\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\">In the later 15th and early 16th centuries, biblical material was widespread, popular, and well known among literate towns people, clerics, and nobles alike, especially in the Empire. . . .<\/div>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\">*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\"><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color\" role=\"text\">As Hans Rost demonstrated in 1939 in a lengthy and detailed chapter, biblical piety and knowledge of the Bible were central to public, iconic, <\/span>dramatic, literary, musical, liturgical, and architectural culture in the Middle Ages in general. . . .<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\"><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color\" role=\"text\">In 1939, Rost announced that the research of the previous two centuries had conclusively shown how dependent <\/span>Luther was on earlier Bible translations.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\">Gow is citing Dr. Rost\u2019s 428-page book called <em>The Bible in the Middle Ages<\/em>, published in German in 1939. He discussed how 18th century Lutherans already knew that the \u201chidden Bible before Luther\u201d was a pure myth. For example, in 1719, Yoachim Ernst Berger stated, \u201cAnyone can see for himself that our saintly Luther was not the first to translate the Bible into German, as many would believe and would have him be.\u201d The great bibliographer George Wolfgang Panzer wrote about the various pre-Lutheran German Bibles in 1777.<\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\">Several striking statements have been made by the Anglican Alistair McGrath, born in 1953, the famous and arguably the best Protestant historian on theology in our time. He stated in 1987 that quote, \u201cNo universal or absolute prohibition of the translation of Scriptures into the vernacular was ever issued by a medieval pope or council, nor was any similar prohibition directed against the use of such translations by the laity.\u201d That\u2019s from his book, <em>The Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation<\/em>, page 124. <span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color\" role=\"text\">In a later book, he noted the high irony of how Lutheran Protestants changed their tune about the Bible after 1525:<\/span><\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\">The magisterial reformation initially seems to have allowed that every individual had the right to interpret Scripture, but the Peasants\u2019 Revolt of 1525 appears to have convinced some such as Luther, that individual believers, especially German peasants, were simply not capable of interpreting Scripture. It is one of the ironies of the Lutheran Reformation that a movement which laid such stress upon the importance of Scripture should subsequently deny its less educated members direct access to that same Scripture for fear that they might misinterpret it (in other words, reach a different interpretation from that of the magisterial reformers).<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\">\n<div class=\"ytwTranscriptSegmentViewModelTimestampA11yLabel\">That\u2019s from his book, <em>Reformation Thought: An Introduction<\/em>, fourth edition from 2012, page 110. I have the second edition from 1993 in my own library where the above excerpt is followed by an equally interesting and even <em>more<\/em> ironic statement:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\"><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color\" role=\"text\">For example, the school regulations of the Duchy of Wurttemburg laid down that only the most able school children were to be allowed <\/span>to study the New Testament in their final years, and even then only if they studied it in Greek or Latin. The remainder \u2014 presumably the vast bulk \u2013, were required to read Luther\u2019s Lesser Catechism instead. The direct interpretation of Scripture was thus effectively reserved for a small privileged group of people. The principle of the \u201cclarity of Scripture\u201d appears to have been quietly marginalized in the light of the use made of the Bible by the more radical elements within the Reformation. Similarly, the idea that everyone had the right and ability to interpret Scripture faithfully became the sole possession of the radicals.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\">Old and hyper-partisan myths die hard. As a Christian apologist since 1981, I try my very best when dealing with historical matters to document as<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"ytwTimelineItemViewModelContentItems\">\n<div class=\"ytwTranscriptSegmentViewModelTimestampA11yLabel\">fairly and accurately as I can, the truth regarding any particular dispute. When it comes to Protestant versus Catholic controversies, it\u2019s necessary to read both sides to get to the whole truth. Thankfully, the best scholars on either side almost always agree on the broad facts regarding historical matters. The task is to find them and see what they have to say. And that takes time and effort. I can save folks some of that labor by taking the time to dig deeper in order to get past the myths and the worthless clatter that often accompany these debates.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>*****<\/p>\n<div><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My Related Articles<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/were-vernacular-bibles-unknown-before-luther.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/were-vernacular-bibles-unknown-before-luther.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1746573092150000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0o0KM6b5nGoNZqRN87sUSg\" class=\" decorated-link\">Were Vernacular Bibles Unknown Before Luther? (Luther\u2019s Dubious Claims About the Supposed Utter Obscurity of the Bible Before His Translation)<\/a>\u00a0[6-15-11]<b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/09\/catholic-church-historic-enemy-of-the-bible.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2015\/09\/catholic-church-historic-enemy-of-the-bible.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1746573092150000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3Xbmb1puzD3xKEEC4ubl1G\" class=\" decorated-link\">Was the Catholic Church Historically an \u201cEnemy\u201d of the Bible?<\/a>\u00a0[9-11-15]<b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncregister.com\/blog\/did-luther-rescue-the-bible-in-german-from-utter-obscurity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.ncregister.com\/blog\/did-luther-rescue-the-bible-in-german-from-utter-obscurity&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1746573092150000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0ympGIwf5zbC0OOX3_UPiO\" class=\" decorated-link\">Did Luther Rescue the Bible in German from Utter Obscurity?<\/a>\u00a0[<i>National Catholic Register<\/i>, 10-30-17]<b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2025\/04\/luthers-table-talk-how-historically-accurate-is-it.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2025\/04\/luthers-table-talk-how-historically-accurate-is-it.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1746573092150000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0xQPWwdBlrlxBH5blT3E3Q\" class=\" decorated-link\">Luther\u2019s \u201cTable Talk\u201d: How Historically Accurate Is It?<\/a>\u00a0[4-7-25]<\/p>\n<div>Andrew C. Gow,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110605012744\/http:\/\/www.arts.ualberta.ca\/JHS\/Articles\/article_115.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110605012744\/http:\/\/www.arts.ualberta.ca\/JHS\/Articles\/article_115.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1746573092150000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1XKeFMarICA_eV4dSf-_5L\" class=\" decorated-link\">\u201cThe Contested History of\u00a0 a Book: The German Bible in the Later Middle Ages and Reformation in Legend, Ideology, and Scholarship\u201d\u00a0<\/a>(\u00a0<i>The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures<\/i>, Vol. 9, Article 13 [2009] )<\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div>Trevor Anderson,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/regensburgforum.com\/2017\/06\/05\/vernacular-scripture-in-the-reformation-era-re-examining-the-narrative\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/regensburgforum.com\/2017\/06\/05\/vernacular-scripture-in-the-reformation-era-re-examining-the-narrative\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1746573092150000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3E3Ngdqtc8CKQRI2qG8sT8\" class=\" decorated-link\">\u201cVernacular Scripture in the Reformation Era: Re-examining the Narrative\u201d\u00a0<\/a>(<i>The Regensburg Forum<\/i>, 6-5-17)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>My Related Book<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div><i><a class=\" decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2008\/04\/books-by-dave-armstrong-martin-luther.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Martin Luther: Catholic Critical Analysis and Praise<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(April 2008, 264 pages)<\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>My Related Web Pages<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a class=\" decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2006\/11\/martin-luther-a-catholic-appraisal-index-page-for-dave-armstrong.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2006\/11\/martin-luther-a-catholic-appraisal-index-page-for-dave-armstrong.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1746281798240000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0t00a0fVDOE_3boIBrpb0A\">Martin Luther: a Catholic Critique &amp; Appraisal<\/a><br>\n*<br>\n<a class=\" decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2011\/10\/lutheranism-catholic-critique-index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2011\/10\/lutheranism-catholic-critique-index.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1746281798240000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2MBMzbR2jMnouopUC7cLHC\">Lutheranism: Catholic Critique\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Videos in The Martin Luther Series on <em>Lux Veritatis<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a class=\" decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q209CXOQQYo&amp;t=173s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Martin Luther Support the DEATH PENALTY for Heretics?<\/a>\u00a0[<em>Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 5-1-25]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\" decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CDkDV7Am3JM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">13 Reasons Luther Was Excommunicated from the Catholic Church<\/a>\u00a0[<em>Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 5-2-25]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\" decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EvNxvJOzmEU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The MYTH of Luther\u2019s \u201cSnow-Covered Dung Hills\u201d<\/a>\u00a0[<em>Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 5-3-25]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a class=\" decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=W4ukkd9CLPw&amp;t=54s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation: Shocking Divisions Revealed!<\/a>\u00a0[<em>Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 5-4-25]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\" decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FDi0x24sMsM&amp;t=43s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">What Did Martin Luther REALLY BELIEVE About Mary\u2019s Immaculate Conception?<\/a>\u00a0[<em>Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 5-5-25]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\" decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_m149m1fjCM&amp;t=39s&amp;pp=0gcJCdkKAYcqIYzv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Luther\u2019s Mythical Catholic \u201cBan\u201d of the Bible<\/a>\u00a0[<em>Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 5-6-25]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\" decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7OPaE66fLCI&amp;t=40s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Was Martin Luther an Extreme \u201cFaith Alone\u201d Antinomian?<\/a>\u00a0[<em>Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 5-8-25]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"ad__child-13 ad__align ad__slot--wrapper\" data-instance-child=\"iGmLn\">\n<div id=\"incontent15\" class=\"ad__slot\" role=\"region\" data-unit=\"Alfv5\" aria-label=\"Advertisement\" data-google-query-id=\"CIftibvO3IsDFa8VigMdOcM5FQ\">\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>***<\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Photo Credit<\/strong>:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">copyright<em>\u00a0Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Summary<\/em>: One of the more curious beliefs of Luther (among many) is his insistence that the Bible was essentially \u201cburied\u201d or hidden prior to his revolt. It ain\u2019t true, as I thoroughly prove.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 This is the transcript of my video, Did The Catholic Church Really Ban The Bible? [Lux Veritatis, 11 minutes, 5-6-25]. Luther\u2019s words will be in blue. ***** It\u2019s a common Protestant myth that the Catholic Church is and has always been fundamentally hostile to the Bible and has desired to keep it out of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":91435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,23],"tags":[19912,18635,542,19903,19909,19906],"class_list":["post-91432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-and-tradition","category-martin-luther","tag-biblical-knowledge-in-the-middle-ages","tag-catholic-church-the-bible","tag-chained-bibles","tag-luthers-german-bible","tag-medieval-vernacular-translations-of-the-bible","tag-protestant-reformation-the-bible"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Luther&#039;s Mythical Catholic &quot;Ban&quot; of the Bible<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the more curious beliefs of Luther (among many) is his insistence that the Bible was essentially &quot;buried&quot; or hidden prior to his revolt. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. 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