Censorship of the Bible includes restrictions and prohibition of possessing, reading, or using the Bible in general or any particular editions or translations of it.

Violators of Bible prohibitions have at times been punished by imprisonment, forced labor, banishment and execution, as well as by the burning or confiscating the Bible or Bibles used or distributed. The censorship may be because of explicit religious reasons, but also for reasons of public policy or state control, especially in authoritarian states or following violent riots.

Censorship of the Bible occurred in the past and is still going on today. In the 20th century, Christian resistance to the Soviet Union's policy of state atheism occurred through Bible-smuggling.^[1] The People's Republic of China, officially an atheist state, engages in Bible burning as a part of antireligious campaigns there.^[2]

From the point of view of most Protestants, the topic mostly refers to historical and regional prohibitions of the Catholic Church or Catholic states against reading or possessing Bibles, especially not of the Latin Vulgate translation, and particularly the laity.

From a Catholic point of view, the censorship of the Bible in certain regions was done both by restricting Bibles from those lacking instruction and by censoring translations thought to encourage deviations from Catholic doctrine.^[3] The Index Librorum Prohibitorum^[a] of the Catholic Church included various translations or editions of the Bible. In most cases, the bans on pious lay people possessing or publicly reading certain Bibles were related to vernacular Scripture editions not derived from the Vulgate, or from heretical or confusing material included in the same book. Clerics were never forbidden to possess the Vulgate Bible translation in the Latin language.

The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew and partly in Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, a form of ancient Greek. The books were translated into several other languages, including Latin and Gothic. From about AD 300 onward, Latin began to assert itself as the language of worship in Western Christianity. This was aided by the fact many European languages, called the Romance languages, are all descended from Latin. In contrast the earliest written Western Germanic languages date only from the 6th century. From AD 382-420, a new translation was made into the Latin vernacular, the Vulgate, which became the dominant translation for Western Christianity in the 7th-9th centuries. From about the 9th century it was regarded as the only valid Bible translation.^[b] In Eastern Christianity, on the other hand, Greek remained dominant.

During the Diocletianic Persecution, Bibles were targeted as part of a larger program intended to wipe out Christianity. On February 24, 303, Diocletian's first so-called "Edict against the Christians" was published.^[4][c] Among other persecutions against Christians, Diocletian ordered the destruction of their scriptures and liturgical books across the entire Roman empire.^[8][d]

There were some controversies whether the translation in Old Church Slavonic was permissible. According to St. Methodius, he was officially allowed to use it by John VIII in 880. Yet Christians were forbidden to use the Old Church Slavonic translation by John X in 920 and by the Lateran Synod of 1059, with the synod being confirmed by Nicholas II and Alexander II. In a letter to Vratislav II of Bohemia dated 2 January 1080, Pope Gregory VII revoked his predecessors' permission to use the Slavonic language. The reason he gave was that "Not without reason has it pleased Almighty God that Holy Scripture should be a secret in certain places, lost, if it were plainly apparent to all men, perchance it would be little esteemed and be subject to disrespect; or it might be falsely understood by those of mediocre learning, and lead to error."^[10][11][e]

Between 1170–80, Peter Waldo commissioned a cleric from Lyon to translate the New Testament into the vernacular "Romance" (Franco-Provençal).^[12] He is credited with providing Western Europe the first translation of Scriptures in a 'modern tongue' outside of Latin.^[13] In 1199, Pope Innocent III, writing in a letter to the bishop of Metz about Waldensians, banned secret meetings (which he labeled as occultis conventiculis, or "hidden assemblies") in which the Bible was freely discussed.^[14]: 29 However, he noted that the desire to read and study the divine scriptures, was not to blame: rather, this desire was a disposition that he recommended.^{[f] [15]}

After the end of the Albigensian Crusade, the provincial Council of Toulouse (1229) tightened the provisions against the heretics in this ecclesiastical province. The Inquisition was the first to work nationwide, and the University of Toulouse was founded, to which the Catholic Institute of Toulouse is also called. At the synod a general Scripture book ban was pronounced for lay people of this ecclesiastical province, only Psalterium and Brevier in Latin were allowed.^{[16][17][18][19]}

We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old and New Testaments; unless anyone from the motives of devotion should wish to have the Psalter or the Breviary for divine offices or the hours of the blessed Virgin; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books."^[20]

This quote was not repeated in 1233 at the provincial Council held in Bréziers. Although sections of the Council Toulouse were used, this statement was omitted.^[21]

At the synod of Béziers (Concilium Biterrense) in 1246^[g] it was also decided that the laity should have no Latin and vernacular and the clergy no vernacular theological books.^[22]

At the provincial Second Council of Tarragona (Conventus Tarraconensis) in 1234, the Spanish bishops, according to a decree of King James I of Aragon, declared that it was forbidden to anyone, to own a Romance language translation of books of the Old and New Testament. This had to be burned within eight days, otherwise they would be suspected as heretics.^{[23][24][25][26]}

At the diocesan synod of Trier (Synodus Dioecesana Trevirensis) convened by Archbishop Theodoric II in 1231, alleged heretics called anachronistically Euchites were described as having translated the scriptures into German:^[27]

…heresy was arising on all sides. In the year of 1231 in Trier, heretics were caught in three schools. And several of them belonged to that sect, and many of them were taught from the sacred scriptures, which they had translated into German.^[28]

— Synod of Diocese of Tier

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor issued an edict against German interpretations of Scripture at the request of Pope Urban V 1369 in Lucca, This was in order that such interpreters would not seduce laymen and malevolent spirits to heresy or error.^[29] Nevertheless, his son allowed the German translation of the Wenceslas Bible in 1385, a manuscript that, if finished, would have been the costliest and largest Bible of the Middle Ages.^[30]

John Wycliffe (1330–1384), a theologian with pre-Reformation views, is associated with the first translations of the Bible from Latin into English from 1382 to 1395. Some of his theological teachings were rejected in 1381 by Oxford University and in 1382 by the church. For fear of a popular uprising,^{[citation needed]} Wycliffe was not charged. The translations of the Bible and added material caused great unrest among some clergy, and several defensive provincial synods were convened, such as the provicial 3rd Council of Oxford (ended in 1408). Under the chairmanship of Archbishop Thomas Arundel, official positions against Wycliffe were written in the Oxford Constitution and Arundel's Constitution. The latter reads as follows:^[31]

that no one in the future by his own authority will translate any text of Holy Scripture into the English tongue or any other, into any other by way of book or treatise. Nor let any such a book or treatise be read, whether new in the time of said John Wycliffe written or written in the future, be read in part or whole, in public or in private, under the punishment of the greater excommunication, till that translation has been approved by the bishop of the place or, if necessary, a provincial council. But those who transgress this should be punished like a heretic and false teacher.

— Arundel's Constitution

Unlike before, new translations of liturgical readings and preaching texts (psalms, pericopes from the Gospels and Epistles) were now bound to an examination by church authorities. Individuals like William Butler wanted to go even further and also limit Bible translations to the Latin language alone. In 1401, Parliament passed the De heretico comburendo law in order to suppress Wycliffe's followers and censor their books. Arundel allegedly condemned Wycliffe as "that pestilent wretch of damnable memory, yea, the forerunner and disciple of anti-christ who, as the complement of his wickedness, invented a new translation of the Scriptures into his mother-tongue."^[32]

At the ecumenical Council of Constance in 1415, Wycliffe was ultimately proclaimed a heretic; with his body to be removed from a church burial place.^[34] However, the Bible or vernacular translation are not mentioned in the list of Wycliffe's 45 heretical positions by the Council, nor are they mentioned in the censorship of "the books called by him Dialogus and Trialogus and many other treatises, works and pamphlets."^[35] His associates or helpers Nicholas Hereford and John Purvey recanted Wycliffite teachings, possibly under duress.

The so-called Wycliffite translations of the Bible have survived to the present day in over 200 manuscripts, usually as selections of books, many without unorthodox added material.^[36]

Wycliffe's Bible was not printed until 1731, when Wycliffe was historically conceived as the forefather of the English Reformation.^[37]

The next English Bible translation was that of William Tyndale, whose Tyndale Bible had to be printed from 1525 outside England in areas of Germany sympathetic to Protestantism. Tyndale himself was executed after refusing to recant his Lutheranism, and was not charged for infringing any law relating to vernacular translation.

In 1376, Pope Gregory XI ordered that all literature on the Bible should be placed under ecclesiastical direction. As a result, only the Vulgate and a few poor quality^{[dubious – discuss]} translations in national languages were tolerated.^[38]

The nature and extent of censorship of vernacular bibles in various regions over history is contested by historians.^{[14]: 24–28}

The following list has information that may be useful in weighing up claims in popular histories, and information elsewhere in this article:

• Pope Innocent III's Cum ex iniuncto (1199) did not ban vernacular bibles or translation, but the secret meetings of the Waldensians.^[14]: 29
• The "Councils" of Toulouse, Bréziers, Tarragona, Oxford and Tier were provincial councils (i.e., of local bishops) or synods, not ecumenical councils that set the policy for the whole Church.
• The Synod of the Lateran (1112) was a synod, and should not be confused with the First (1122), Second (11), Third (1139), Fourth (1215) or Fifth (1512–1517) Lateran Councils which were ecumenical councils. The first four did not mention books, translations or bibles. Lateran V Session X established authorization requirements for printed books (as distinct from manuscripts) in general.
• John Wycliffe's 1382 censure by the University of Oxford did not mention vernacular bibles or translation, but primarily concerned his eucharistic doctrine. The Pope's subsequent censure of his twenty-four propositions did not mention vernacular bibles or translation.^[39]
• De heretico comburendo (1401) does not mention the vernacular bibles or translation. Its implementation act, Suppression of Heresy Act 1414 similarly does not ban vernacular bibles or translation, and indeed specifies that possession of such must not be taken as evidence of heresy.
• The heresy condemnations of Wycliffe and Huss at the ecumenical Council of Constance did not mention vernacular bibles or translation.^[40]
• Tyndale's heresy charges did not mention vernacular bibles or translation, nor were they illegal in the jurisdiction of his arrest and trial.^[41]

Around 1440–1450 Johannes Gutenberg invented a printing press with movable type, with which he produced the Gutenberg Bible. His invention quickly spread throughout Europe. In 1466 the Mentelin Bible was the first vernacular language Bible to be printed. It was a word-for-word translation from the Latin Vulgate.^[42]

Pope Paul II (pontificate 1464–1471) confirmed the decree of James I of Aragon on the prohibition of Bibles in vernacular languages.^[43] Under Isabella I of Castile and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon, the printing of vernacular Bibles was prohibited in Spanish state law. The Spanish Inquisition which they instituted ordered the destruction of all Hebrew books and all vernacular Bibles in 1497. This was five years after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. In 1498, the Inquisition stated that it was impossible to translate the Bible into a modern language without making mistakes that would plunge unskilled and especially new converts into doubts about faith.^[44]

The complete translation of the Bible into a Romance language,^[h] a transfer of the Vulgate into Valencian, was made by the Carthusian Order's General Bonifaci Ferrer (1355-1417) and was printed in 1478.

By letter of March 17, 1479, Sixtus IV authorized the rector and dean of the University of Cologne to intervene with ecclesiastical censors against printers, buyers and readers of heretical books. This authorization was approved by Pope Alexander VI. In several theological and non-theological books from this period a printing patent is included in the publications. From this time also printing patents of the Patriarch of Venice can be found. With the censorship of January 4, 1486 and an executive order of January 10, the Elector-Archbishop Berthold von Henneberg of Mainz can be considered a pioneer in censorship regulation in the German-speaking countries for Mainz, Erfurt, and Frankfurt. His censorship decisions did not concern secular topics, but instead targeted specific religious texts, especially translations from Latin and Greek into the German. Berthold was of the opinion that the German language was too poor to reproduce the precise and well-formulated Latin and Greek texts. Up to this time, no heretical writings had appeared printed in German, but since 1466 about ten relatively identical German Bible translations were completed. He commented:^[45]

Divine printing makes the use of books accessible to the world for instruction and edification. But many, as we have seen, misuse this art out of lust for glory and greed for money, so that they destroy humanity instead of enlightening it. Thus, in the hands of the people, which are translated from Latin into German, libri de divinis officiis et apicibus religionis nostrae can be found for the reduction of religion and its peaks. The sacred laws and canons, however, are composed by wise and eloquent men with such great care and skill, and their understanding is so difficult that the duration of human life, even for the most discerning, is scarcely sufficient to cope with them. Nevertheless, some cheeky and ignorant people have dared to translate those writings into such poor ordinary German that even scholars are seduced by their work into great misunderstandings.

— Berthold von Henneberg

In 1490 a number of Hebrew Bibles and other Jewish books were burned in Andalucía at the behest of the Spanish Inquisition.^[46]

In the early 1500s, several independent Catholic efforts brought out new Greek, Latin and Hebrew editions for scholars, which bootstapped the vernacular translations that followed.

From 1516 to 1535, Erasmus of Rotterdam published several editions of his Novum Instrumentum omne: it was a double edition of the New Testament with both a revised Latin version as well as the first print of the Greek text. In 1520 the Complutensian Polyglot Bible (Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic) with both Testaments was published. In 1527, Santes Pagnino published his word-for-word New and Old Testament (Latin, Greek, Hebrew in Latin letters). All were made with Papal approval.^[47]

On the eve of the Council of Trent, there was no outright ban on vernacular Bible reading in the Catholic world, but only regionally diversified positions. In Germany, the Low Countries, Bohemia, Poland, and Italy, vernacular Bibles circulated and were widely read since the Middle Ages. Censorship measures, however, existed in England and Spain, where the official Church had to deal with what it considered erroneous “Bible-based” faith-systems. In France, it was the advent of l’évangélisme in the 1520s that gave cause to more restrictive measures.

— Wim François^[14]

The 1515 ecumenical Fifth Council of the Lateran, Session X, established requirements for printed books (as distinct from manuscripts):^[48] bishops were to set up book-vetting experts: it specifically mentioned books translated into Latin and vernacular books, but not Scriptures specifically.

In 1517 Luther published his Ninety-five Theses. In 1521 he was excommunicated with the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem, declared a heretic, and was issued with the Edict of Worms. In 1522, the first translation of Luther's New Testament was published. It was translated on the basis of the Greek text of Erasmus. In 1534 the entire Holy Scripture was printed in German, completing the Luther Bible.

The Edict of Worms against Luther was not enforced throughout the empire. In 1523, at the Reichstag in Nuremberg the papal nuncio Francesco Chieregati asked for the Holy Roman Empire to enforce the clause of the Lateran V Council against printing any book without the permission of the local bishop or his representative. He also wanted the Edict of Worms to be enforced. Instead, on March 6, 1523, it was decreed that until the demanded new ecumenical council could be held, local rulers themselves should ensure that no new writings were printed or sold in their territories unless they had been approved by reasonable men. Other writings, especially those of an insulting nature, were to be banned under severe punishment.

The 1529 Diet of Speyer limited its decrees essentially to repeating the resolutions of 1523 Diet of Augsburg. On May 13, 1530, the papal nuncio gave the Emperor a memorandum which recommended that the Edict of Worms and the bull of Leo X was to be implemented by imperial decree and on pain of punishment. Following the Protestation at Speyer at the conclusion of the Reichstag on November 19, 1530, it was decided that nothing should be printed without specifying the printer and the printing location. The nuncio's request had failed.

As part of the 1541 Diet of Regensburg which set the terms of the Regensburg Interim, the rule against publishing insults was repeated.

At the 1548 Diet of Augsburg, which pronounced the terms of the Augsburg Interim, the ordinance against insults was repeated and the previous provisions were extended to include the name of the author or poet. In addition, books were to be checked before printing by the "ordinary authority of every place." There was a sentiment against that which was "rebellious and ignominious or unruly or obnoxious to the Catholic Doctrine of the Holy Christian Church." The already printed books of Luther were to be suppressed. The Holy Roman Imperial Fiscal official was to intervene against the offending authorities.

Around this time, the papal Index Librorum Prohibitorum began to be developed. After the 1555 Peace of Augsburg ended the Augsburg Interim and increased religious freedom by declaring cuius regio, eius religio, the papal Index Librorum Prohibitorum was only observed as law in Catholic territories.

In 1534, the Canterbury Convocation requested that the king commission a new translation of the Bible by suitable persons and authorize the reading of the new translation. Although the king did not designate translators, new translations appeared from 1535 and afterwards. In 1536 and 1538 Thomas Cromwell prescribed that Coverdale's translation of the Bible was to be placed in every church. These Bibles were to be printed in a large size and chained to prevent theft. This translation came to be called the "Great Bible" or "Chained Bible."

Pius IV's (pontificate 1559–1565) initial, extreme and short-lived Index (1559), released during the early stages of the Council of Trent, there are 30 Bible editions including Martin Luther's, 10 New Testament editions including Erasmus', and two short catch-all rules for similar Bibles:^[49][50]

• Latin: Biblia cum recognitione Martini Luteri.
  • Bible with the revisions of Martin Luther
• Latin: Cum universis similibus Bibliis ubicunque excusis.
  • with all similar Bibles from anywhere.
• Latin: Novum Testamentum cum duplici interpretatione D. Erasmi & veteris interpretis. Harmonia item Evangelica, & copioso Indice
  • New Testament with double interpretation of Erasmus and old interpretation (Vulgate), i.e., the 4th edition. Also harmony and copious index.
• Latin: Cum omnibus similibus libris Novi Testamenti.
  • and all similar New Testament books.

1559 publish list of banned/illegal books/Bibles

In 1546, in an early session of the Council of Trent, Spanish Cardinal Pedro Pacheco alarmed his peers by suggesting a blanket ban on vernacular Bibles.^[14] The Papal legates argued against it, noting such bans in various regions had been driven by secular authorities for local pragmatic political purposes such as forcing peace; their secretary writing:

And, would the realms of the Spanish and French ever receive the Sacred Books translated in the vernacular? Surely not, since such a translation has been prohibited by royal edicts under the threat of severe punishments, these people would let themselves be guided more by the secular power than by conciliar permission. Moreover, the people in this area have long since learned through experience what kind of scandal, damage, impiousness, and evil such translation has brought in their realms. And would the Germans, Italians, Polish, and other nations be prepared to accept a negative decision? Surely not, since, by contrast, they have seen in several parts of their territory what kind of edification and instruction may result from such a version.

— Angelo Massarelli, Letter to Cardinal Pacheco, March 22, 1546^[14]

Historian Wim François notes "that Massarelli's depiction has not received the same resonance as Martin Luther's bold assertion, that the Bible was largely unavailable to the medieval faithful (which implied that he and his coreligionists had finally made the Word accessible to the common people), is an understatement."^[14]

The Council of Trent, in the early 1560s, declined to make a specific list, but gave general rules for which documents and authors should be allowed or suppressed: the Decretum de indice librorum. With the papal bull Dominici gregis custodiae the so-called Latin: Index tridentinus (Tridentine Index) was published on March 24, 1564 by the Pope.

• The Decretum reset banned books to the situation in 1515. (Rule 1.) On that base:

• All the writings of all arch-heresiarchs (all Reformers) were included on the index, if they dealt with religion. (Rule 2)

• Reading of Catholic vernacular translations of the Vulgate was allowed, requiring only written permission of the reader's confessor (e.g., the local priest) for protection. (Rule 4)

• Sound Latin translations, even by heretics, of Church Fathers and the Old Testament which elucidated rather than compete with the Vulgate was allowable for scholars, if expurgated; however, translations of the New Testament by heretics were dangerous and had little utility: nevertheless, expurgated annotations were allowed. (Rule 3)

• New works should be submitted to Bishops, with a regime that favoured expurgation rather than outright banning, depending on local conditions. (Rules 6, 8, 10)

For Bibles and commentaries, Rules 3 and 4 came into play:

Rule 3.
The translations of older ecclesiastical writers (for example, Church Fathers) published by authors of the first class (heretics, i.e. Reformers) are allowed if they do not oppose the sound doctrine. Translations by scholars and pious men of Old Testament books originating from first-class authors may be authorized by bishops, but only as explanations of the Vulgate for understanding the Scriptures and not as Bible texts. On the other hand, translations in Latin of the New Testament are not to be permitted by first-class authors, because reading them does not bring much benefit to the readers. Instead, such translations pose much danger. Commentaries by first-class authors, on the condition they are associated with such Old Testament or Vulgate translations, may be allowed for use by pious and learned men after theologically suspect men have been dealt with by theological faculties or the Roman Inquisition: this is true of the so-called Bible of the Vatablus. Forewords and Prolegomena are to be removed from the Bibles of Isidore Clarius; But let no one take the text of it as the text of the Vulgate.^[51]

Rule 4.

Since experience teaches that if the reading of the Bible in the vernacular is permitted to all without distinction more harm than good results because of the audacity of men, the judgment of the bishop and inquisitor should be decisive with respect to vernacular translations.

The reading of the Bible in vernacular translations by Catholic writers may be permitted at the judgement of the applicable counselor or confessor. The counselor or confessor may permit the reading of such translations when they realize that reading such translations can bring no harm, but instead will augment faith and piety.

This permission should be given in writing. He who reads or has read a Bible in the vernacular without such permission should not be able to receive absolution from his sins until he has delivered the Bible translation to the bishop. Booksellers who sell or otherwise procure Bibles in the vernacular to those who lack permission shall be required to pay for books for the bishop to use for religious purposes. Other punishments may be given according to the nature of the offense, with penalties that expire at a set time. Members of Religious orders may not read and buy such Bibles without the permission of their superiors.^[51]

The rules were reprinted in each version until the reform in 1758. Believers were forbidden to make, read, own, buy, sell or give away these unauthorized books on the basis of excommunication.^[52]

Subsequent versions of the list were called the Latin: Index Librorum Prohibitorum or the "Roman index" to distinguish it from the (deived) Indexes of other major Catholic regions.

The rule remained valid until 1758. How it was dealt with in each country was different. In a Catholic country like Bavaria, it was state law. In particular, booksellers had their licenses revoked for violating it. In contrast, in Württemberg, a refuge of Protestantism, the index functioned more like a blacklist. But it also found application in elite Catholic schools in secularized France until the 20th century. In general, secularized France almost never used the Roman Index.^[51][53]