What specific books did Martin Luther move to the Apocrypha?
Executive summary
Martin Luther did not “remove” the deuterocanonical books from his Bible; he placed the Roman Catholic deuterocanonical/Apocryphal books in a separate intertestamental section and labeled them “not held equal to the Sacred Scriptures, and yet useful and good to read.” The set commonly identified as the Apocrypha in Lutheran tradition consists of the 14 books found in Catholic Old Testaments: Tobit (Tobias), Judith, Wisdom (of Solomon), Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, and 1–2 Maccabees, plus additions to Esther and Daniel; Luther’s 1534 German Bible printed these between the Testaments with a prefatory note to that effect [1] [2] [3].
1. What Luther actually did: relocation, not wholesale deletion
Luther included the deuterocanonical books in his German translation but treated them as a separate category. He placed them between the Old and New Testaments and prefaced them with a statement that they were “not held equal to the Sacred Scriptures, and yet are useful and good for reading,” which functionally distinguishes them from the protocanonical Old Testament while allowing them to remain in the printed Bible [1] [2].
2. Which books are meant when we say “the Apocrypha” in Luther’s Bible
Reporting and Lutheran teaching consistently identify the Apocrypha in Protestant usage as the 14 books included in Roman Catholic Bibles but not in the Hebrew canon: Tobit (Tobias), Judith, Wisdom (of Solomon), Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees, and the additions to Esther and Daniel (the standard description used by Lutheran publishers and synods) — the same corpus that Concordia Publishing House and Lutheran histories describe as “for centuries” included in Luther’s Bible [3] [1].
3. How scholars and Lutheran bodies describe Luther’s stance
Luther’s position is described in multiple sources as ambivalent: he routinely excluded the Apocrypha from theological authority (not to be used to establish doctrine) while still preserving them in his printed Bible and at times treating some of their material with respect. Lutheran commentators and synods note his famous prefatory wording that distinguishes these books from canonical Scripture yet calls them useful reading material [4] [1].
4. Common misconceptions and the origin of the “removed” narrative
Some accounts frame Luther as having “removed” books; Catholic commentators and polemical pieces sometimes use that language to emphasize divergence from the Catholic 73‑book canon. But the documentary record cited by Lutheran and neutral sources shows Luther printed the Apocrypha in his Bible rather than omitting them entirely — he redistributed their status and placement [5] [1].
5. The practical outcome in Protestant Bibles after Luther
Luther’s practice influenced later Protestant printing conventions: many Lutheran editions retained the Apocrypha in their own intertestamental section and national Protestant traditions varied (some English Bibles later excluded them entirely). Lutheran publishing houses and synods have continued to acknowledge those books as part of Lutheran heritage while reiterating they are not equal to canonical Scripture [3] [1] [6].
6. Where sources diverge and what they don’t say
Sources here agree on Luther’s inclusion and qualifying prefatory note [1] [2]. Catholic‑oriented pieces characterize Luther’s changes as a “shortened canon” and sometimes say he “removed” inspired books, but available sources in this set do not show Luther physically deleting those books from his printed Bibles — rather, they document his reclassification and placement [5] [7]. Detailed lists in some pieces name the familiar seven (or fourteen, counting additions) usually called Apocrypha, but the search results provided do not include a single, explicit modern list inside one citation that itemizes each title verbatim; the Catholic Register names some (Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1–2 Maccabees) while Lutheran publishers speak of the 14‑book corpus more generally [5] [3].
7. Why this matters: doctrine, liturgy and historical memory
Luther’s choice shaped Protestant attitudes: the Apocrypha remained available for reading and devotional use in many Lutheran contexts but were explicitly disqualified from defining doctrine. That middle path explains why Lutheran hymnody and preaching sometimes draws on Apocryphal material while orthodox Lutheran confessions and later Protestant Bibles often omit these books from the canonical list [3] [1].
Limitations: this analysis relies only on the supplied results and therefore references the consensus descriptions and Lutheran/Catholic framing present there; more granular archival evidence (e.g., exact 1534 table of contents or Luther’s full prefatory text in translation) is not quoted verbatim in these sources and thus “not found in current reporting” among the provided items [1] [3].