Apocrypha - A class of literature which has claims of sacred origins, but which lacks authenticity and is not included in the canon of the Bible. Protestants also apply the term undeservedly to deuterocanonical (see definition below) texts not included in their Bibles.

Biblical Inspiration - The special influence of the Holy Spirit on the writers of Sacred Scripture in virtue of which God Himself becomes the principal author of the books written and the sacred writer is the subordinate author. According to the Church's teaching, "by supernatural power, God so moved and impelled them to write, He was so present to them, that the things which He ordered and those only they first rightly understood, then willed faithfully to write down, and finally expressed in apt words and with infallible truth." Biblical inspiration is often confused with revelation, but is in fact different (see Revelation).

Canon - An established rule or standard of guidance, or a list or catalogue of such rules. In Biblical usage, it is the catalogue of inspired writings known as the Old and New Testaments, and identified as such by the Church.

Deuterocanonical - A term which describes those books and passages of the Old and New Testaments about which there was controversy at one time in Christian history, but which were accepted as Biblical canon early on. In the Old Testament they are the books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus (a.k.a. Sirach), Baruch, and I and II Maccabees, as well as passages from Esther (10:4-16, 14) and Daniel (3:24-90, 13, 14). In the New Testament they are the books of Hebrews, James, Jude, II Peter, II and III John, and Revelation, as well as the last 12 verses of Mark's Gospel (16:9-20). All of these are included in the Catholic Bible. However, Protestants reject the deuterocanonical texts of the Old Testament and the last 12 verses of Mark's Gospel, labeling them as apocryphal and omitting them from their Bibles.

Protocanonical - A term used to describe those texts of the Old and New Testaments whose sacredness were never questioned and whose acceptance among Christians was never questioned. The origins of protocanonical books are well-documented and ascribed with little doubt to individuals who were either prophets, apostles, or those who were closely associated with them. Any book or passage of the Bible not considered deuterocanonical is by definition protocanonical.

Revelation - Not to be confused with inspiration (see Biblical Inspiration), revelation is the disclosure by God of Himself and His will to the human race. The disclosure comes to human beings by way of communication, which implies the communicator, who is God; the receiver, who is the human being; and a transmitter or intermediary. Depending on the intermediary, there are two general forms of revelation:

• Natural Revelation - the type of revelation that occurs when the intermediary is the natural world of creation (as when someone experiences a profound realization after speaking with someone or having observed something), or when a person arrives at a conclusion through the use of reason (in which case there is no intermediary).
• Supernatural Revelation - often referred to as "divine speech" in the Scriptures, this type of revelation occurs when God chooses to communicate with someone through a special grace or in some other way that far exceeds his manifestation through nature. In the Old Testament, supernatural revelation occurred when God spoke to His people through the prophets; and in the New Testament, it occurred when He spoke directly to His people in the person of His son, Jesus Christ.

Septuagint - The most important translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek. According to legend, Ptolemy II (309-246 B.C.), king of Egypt, wanted a copy of the Jewish law for the library he was building in Alexandria. At Ptolemy's request, Eleazar, then high priest of the Jews, sent 72 scholars (6 from each of the tribes) to translate the law from Hebrew into Greek, which was the common language of the Jews living in Egypt. Because some accounts say there were 70 priests instead of 72, their translation came to be known as the Septuagint (or LXX, the Roman numeral for 70). This translation, which contains the deuterocanonical texts, was the version of the Old Testament most commonly referred to by New Testament writers and became the basis for the Christian belief in Jesus as the Messiah. Thus, the Old Testament used by the early Christians (and still used by Catholics today) is translated from the Septuagint.