The Catholic Defender: Them’s fightin’ words at Christmas.... Douay vs KJV
- Donald Hartley
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Bad, agenda-driven Bible translations change legit Christian theology into heresy.
10 years ago today, we released the Case for December 25th, 2 BC which refuted the often-cited heresy that Jesus was born on some other day.
Today, we are refuting the false Protestant notions about Christmas itself.
These notions have sprung forth from the error-riddled King James Version.
Tonight, we will discuss my article that refutes that mush using the most accurate English Bible ever made.
Tonight, you will see why the Douay Rheems is the Gold Standard and the KJV is fool's gold.
The claim that the Douay-Rheims (DR) is the "gold standard" and the King James Version (KJV) is "fool's gold" is a viewpoint commonly held within certain traditional Catholic circles, though it is not a universally accepted academic or theological consensus. Both Bibles are historic translations (early 1600s) that share a similar poetic style, but they arise from different textual traditions and theological motivations.
The Case for the Douay-Rheims (The "Gold Standard" Perspective)
The Douay-Rheims is a direct translation of the Latin Vulgate, which was declared the authoritative edition of Scripture by the Council of Trent.
It was created to uphold Catholic doctrine, specifically retaining terms related to the sacraments and church structure that were changed in Protestant translations.
The DR includes the deuterocanonical books (often called the Apocrypha in Protestant bibles) in their traditional places within the Old Testament.
Proponents argue that St. Jerome, when creating the Vulgate, had access to older manuscripts that no longer exist, potentially making it more accurate in places.
The KJV was translated by Anglicans and is often accused of altering or omitting elements, such as the deuterocanonical books, to align with Protestant theology.
Critics like Bible scholar Joel Hoffman argue the KJV is "monumentally inaccurate" due to advancements in the science of translation in the 400 years since it was written, as well as shifts in English usage.
The standard KJV removed the Deuterocanonical books, which were part of the Christian canon for centuries.
While the Douay-Rheims (1609/1610) predates the KJV (1611), most people today use the Challoner revision (1700s), which was heavily influenced by the KJV to make it more readable.
It is a literal translation of the Latin Vulgate, which the Council of Trent declared free from moral or theological error.
Unlike many modern translations, it retains traditional, precise theological terms (e.g., using "priest" instead of "elder" and "penance" instead of "repentance").
It includes the Deuterocanonical books (such as Tobit and Maccabees) as part of the inspired text, whereas the KJV eventually moved these to an appendix or removed them entirely.
Some scholars call it the "fool's gold standard" because the English language has changed drastically in 400 years, and modern translation science has improved significantly.
The KJV was translated by Anglican scholars under King James I to support Anglican and Protestant theology, often removing elements crucial to Catholic belief.
While KJV uses Greek and Hebrew sources, it relies on the Textus Receptus, which modern scholarship considers less accurate than earlier manuscripts discovered since the 17th century.
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