Josephus

Numerous authors quote Josephus when discussing the canon of the Old Testament. He was the Jewish historian who gave us Antiquities of the Jews and War of the Jews. Boettner suggests :

Josephus, the noted Jewish historian, about 90 A.D., gave a list of the books of the Jewish law and prophets, but he did not include the Apocryphal books. Other Jewish sources support Josephus.
(Roman Catholicism, by Loraine Boettner, p82; ISBN: 0-87552-130-4; The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company)

The opinion of Josephus is rejected by the Roman Catholic Church, as far as I can tell, because he was a Jew and was hence against Christianity. He did not recognise Christ so he was not enlightened by the Holy Spirit. His choice reflects his desires to re-establish Judaism and the Jewish aspects of the faith.

But this doesn' t really hold much water.

Why?

Because the Apocrpyhal books, the Deuterocanonical books, pertain to the Old Testament. They do not talk of Christ. They do not add to the work of Jesus at the cross, they do not give insight into the life of Jesus, nor that of the early church. These books relate to the Jewish people and Jewish history. Particularly as they were written, apparently, during the period of Jewish history leading up to the birth of Jesus.

So the question of the validity of these books, surely it is a matter of whether they were recognised by Jews or not. They were not written by members of the early church. They were not written by disciples of Jesus. They were not written after the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus.

They existed before Christ. So they were available to Jews before Christ. And there seems to be no evidence whatsoever to indicate that they were ever accepted as part of the Hebrew canon.

Another interesting point with regards to Josephus is seen in this article about him from New Advent, the online Roman Catholic encylopedia :

Jewish historian, born A.D. 37, at Jerusalem; died about 101. He belonged to a distinguished priestly family, whose paternal ancestors he himself traces back five generations; his mother's family claimed descent from the Machabeans. He received a good education, and association with distinguished scholars developed his intellectual gifts, more especially his memory and power of judgment. He also made himself fully acquainted with and tried the leading politico-religious Jewish parties of his age -- the Essenes, Pharisees, and Sadducees.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08522a.htm

It seems strange that a Jew who claims descent from the Machabeans does not include the very books about the Machabean revolt in his list of the Hebrew canon (1 & 2 Macabees), unless of course his concern was to accurately portray history, and not glorify his own family background.

So we have a Jewish historian, who most people recognise as being an authority on Jewish history, who claims descent from the Machabeans who suggests that the accepted Hebrew canon around the time of Jesus is that which Protestant use for their Old Testament, rejecting the Apocrpyhal/Deuterocanonical books which relate to the history of the Jews and which were written before the birth of Jesus.