Biblical canon
The
Biblical canon is an exclusive list of
books written during the formative period of the
Jewish or
Christian faiths; the leaders of these communities believed these books to be inspired by
God or to express the authoritative history of the relationship between God and his people.
There are differences between
Christians and Jews (as well as between different
Christian traditions) concerning which books meet the standards for canonization. The different criteria for, and the process of, canonization for each community dictates what members of that community consider to be their
Bible.
At this time, all of the below canons are considered to be
closed; that is, most adherents of the various groups do not think that additional books can be added to their Bible. By contrast, an
open canon would be a list of books which is considered to be open to additional books, should they meet the other criteria. Each of the canons described below was considered open for a time before being closed. Generally, the closure of the canon reflects a belief from the faith community that the formative period of the religion has ended, and that texts from that period can be collected into an authoritative body of work.
The relationship between the closing of the canon and beliefs about the nature of
revelation may be subject to different interpretations. Some believe that the closing of the canon signals the end of a period of divine revelation; others believe that revelation continues even after the canon is closed, either through individuals or through the leadership of a divinely sanctioned religious institution. Among those who believe that revelation continues after the canon is closed, there is further debate about what kinds of revelation is possible, and whether the revelation can add to established
theology.
Traditionally more open to discussion and editorial interpretation is the concept of a
canonic text, that is, a single, authoritative text for each of the books in the canon, one which depends on editorial selections from among manuscript traditions that had been independent of one another. Significant separate manuscript traditions in the canonic
Hebrew Bible are represented in the
Septuagint translation's variants from the
Masoretic text that was established through the Masoretes' scholarly collation of varying manuscripts, and in the independent manuscript traditions that are represented by the
Dead Sea scrolls. Additional, otherwise unrecorded texts for
Genesis and the early chapters of
Exodus lie behind the
Book of Jubilees. These, and the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves, emphasize that even canonic Hebrew texts did not possess any single hard and fast
authorized manuscript tradition, in the
first centuries BCE.
New Testament Greek and Latin texts presented enough significant differences that a manuscript tradition arose of presenting
diglot texts, with Greek and Latin on facing pages. The canon that was put together by Emperor Constantine was actually lost for almost a century.It so happens that the list of books contained by Eusebius, the one who was given the responsibility of gathering the books of the canon actually had many more books than the Bible we have today.There were many others that did not make it into the Bible as they were deemed unsuitable
Jerome's
Vulgate was a successful attempt at establishing a canonic text, one that passed without challenge until the
humanist textual inquiries of the 15th and 16th centuries.
See also: TanakhThe
Jews recognize the twenty-four books of the
Hebrew Bible as the Tanakh. Evidence suggests that the process of canonization of the Tanakh occurred between
200 BCE and
200 CE. The first suggestion of a Jewish Canon comes in the
2nd century BCE. The book of
2 Maccabees, itself not a part of the Jewish canon, describes
Nehemiah (around
400 BCE) as having "founded a library and collected books about the kings and prophets, and the writings of David, and letters of kings about votive offerings" (2 Macc 2:13). The book also suggests that
Ezra brought the
Torah back from
Babylon to
Jerusalem and the
Second Temple as described in Nehemiah 8. Both I and II Maccabees suggest that
Judas Maccabeus likewise collected sacred books. They do not, however, suggest that the canon was at that time closed; moreover, it is not clear that these sacred books were identical to those that later became part of the canon.
Additional evidence of a collection of sacred scripture similar to portions of the Hebrew Bible comes from the book of
Sirach (dating from
180 BCE and also not included in the Jewish canon), which includes a list of names of great men in the same order as is found in the Torah and the
Nevi'im (Prophets), and which includes the names of some men mentioned in the
Ketuvim (Writings). Based on this list of names, some scholars have conjectured that the author,
Yeshua ben Sira (Joshua son of Sirach) had access to, and considered authoritative, the books of
Genesis,
Exodus,
Leviticus,
Numbers,
Deuteronomy,
Joshua,
Judges,
Samuel,
Kings,
Isaiah,
Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, and the
Twelve minor prophets. His list excludes names from
Ruth,
Song of Songs,
Esther,
Daniel, and
Job, suggesting that he either did not have access to these books, or did not consider them authoritative. In the prologue to the Greek translation of ben Sirach's work, his grandson mentions both the Torah and the Nevi'im, as well as a third group of books which is not yet named as Ketuvim (the prologue simply identifies "the rest of the books"). Based on this evidence, some scholars have suggested that by the 2nd century BCE the books of the Torah and Nevi'im were considered canonical, but that the books of the Ketuvim were not.
The
Septuagint (LXX) translation of the
Hebrew language Bible into
Koine Greek, probably in the
1st and 2nd centuries BCE, provided a text for the Greek-speaking world, and was used by the writers of the
New Testament. In this text (actually
scrolls rather than a
book) the
Torah and
Nevi'im are established as canonical, but again, Ketuvim have not yet been definitively canonized (some editions of the Septuagint include, for instance I-IV Maccabees or the 151st Psalm, while others do not include them, also there are the Septuagint additions to Esther, Jeremiah, and Daniel and
1 Esdras).
The
Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at caves near
Qumran refer to the Torah and Nevi'im and suggest that these portions of the Bible had already been canonized before
68 CE. A scroll that contains all or parts of 41 Biblical psalms, although not in the same order as in the current
Book of Psalms, and which includes eight texts not found in the Book of Psalms, suggests that the Book of Psalms had not yet been canonized.
In the
first century,
Philo Judaeus of Alexandria discussed sacred books, but made no mention of a tripartite division of the Bible, however, in
De vita contemplativa[
1], a disputed text, v.25, is stated: "studying ... the laws and the sacred oracles of God enunciated by the holy prophets, and hymns, and psalms, and all kinds of other things by reason of which knowledge and piety are increased and brought to perfection."
Josephus, however, refers to sacred scriptures divided into three parts: the five books of the Torah; thirteen books of the Nevi'im, and four other books of hymns and wisdom. The number of 22 books mentioned by Josephus does not correspond to the number of books in the current canon. Some scholars have suggested that he considered
Ruth part of
Judges, and
Lamentations part of
Jeremiah. Other scholars suggest that at the time Josephus wrote, such books as
Esther and
Ecclesiastes were not yet considered canonical.
Significantly, Josephus characterizes the 22 books as canonical because they were divinely inspired; he mentions other historical books that were not divinely inspired and that therefore do not belong in the canon.
The first reference to a 24-book Jewish canon is found in
2 Esdras 14:45-46, which was probably written in the first half of the
second century::"Make public the twenty-four books that you wrote first, and let the worthy and the unworthy read them; but keep the seventy that were written last, in order to give them to the wise among your people."
RSVThe "seventy" might refer to the
Septuagint,
apocrypha, or
mystical works.
The
Pharisees also debated the status of these extra-canonical books; in the 2nd century,
Rabbi Akiva declared that those who read them would not share in the afterlife (Sanhedrin 10:1).
The
Mishnah, compiled by the second century, describes some of the debate over the status of some books of
Ketuvim, and in particular whether or not they render the hands "impure". Yadaim 3:5 calls attention to the debate over
Song of Songs and
Ecclesiastes. The Megillat Taanit, in a discussion of days when fasting is prohibited but that are not noted in the Bible, mentions the holiday of
Purim. Based on these, and a few similar references,
Heinrich Graetz concluded in
1871 that there had been a
Council of Jamnia (or
Yavne in Hebrew) which had decided Jewish canon sometime in the late
1st century (
c. 70–
90). This became the prevailing scholarly consensus for much of the
20th century. However, from the
1960s onwards, based on the work of J.P. Lewis,
S.Z. Leiman, and others, this view increasingly came into question. In particular, later scholars noted that none of the sources actually mentioned books that had been withdrawn from a canon, and questioned the whole premise that the discussions were about canonicity at all, asserting that they were actually dealing with other concerns entirely.
Today, there is no scholarly consensus as to when the Jewish canon was set.
The small community of the remnants of the
Samaritans in Palestine includes only
their version of the Torah and the
book of Joshua in their canon. This grouping is sometimes referred to as the
Hexateuch. The Samaritan community possesses a copy of the Torah that they believe to have been penned by
Aaron himself.
Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant
Early Christianity of the first three centuries
Early Christianity had no well-defined set of
scriptures outside of the
Septuagint[Assuming Koine Greek primacy, which is the majority view, however, a small minority assume Aramaic primacy, meaning an original Aramaic Gospel which would cite the Aramaic Old Testament.]. The
New Testament refers to the "
Law and
Prophets", for example the
Gospel of Luke records
Jesus stating: "written. . .in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. . .the Scriptures" and
Acts of the Apostles records
Paul of Tarsus stating: "I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets". The earliest Christian canon is found in the
Bryennios manuscript, published by J.-P. Audet in
JTS [
2] 1950, v1, pp 135-154, dated to around
100, written in
Koine Greek,
Aramaic and
Hebrew; it is this
27-book Old Testament list: "
Genesis,
Exodus,
Leviticus,
Numbers,
Deuteronomy,
Jesus Nave,
Judges,
Ruth, 4 of Kings (
Samuel and
Kings),
2 of Chronicles,
2 of Esdras,
Esther,
Psalms,
Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes,
Song of Songs,
Job,
Minor prophets,
Isaiah,
Jeremiah,
Ezekiel,
Daniel" (
2 of Esdras might include
1 Esdras;
Esther,
Jeremiah and
Daniel might include their Septuagint additions;
Jesus Nave[According to the Catholic Encyclopedia [3]: "In the Fathers, the book is often called "Jesus Nave". The name dates from the time of Origen, who translated the Hebrew "son of Nun" by uìòs Nauê and insisted upon the Nave as a type of a ship; hence in the name Jesus Nave many of the Fathers see the type of Jesus, the Ship wherin the world is saved."] is an early translation of
Joshua son of Nun). Early Christianity also relied on the
Sacred Oral Tradition of what
Jesus had said and done, as reported by the apostles and other followers. Even after the
Gospels were written and began circulating, some Christians preferred the oral Gospel as told by people they trusted (e.g.
Papias,
c. 125).
By the end of the
1st century, some
Letters of Paul were collected and circulated, and were known to
Clement of Rome (
c. 95),
Ignatius of Antioch (died
117), and
Polycarp of Smyrna (
c. 115) but they weren't usually called
scripture/graphe as the Septuagint was and they weren't without critics. In the late
4th century Epiphanius of Salamis (died
402)
Panarion 29 says the
Nazarenes had rejected the Pauline epistles and
Irenaeus Against Heresies 26.2 says the
Ebionites rejected him. Acts 21:21 records a rumor that Paul aimed to subvert the Old Testament (see Romans 3:8, 31). 2 Peter 3:16 says his letters have been abused by
heretics who twist them around "as they do with the other scriptures." In the 2nd and 3rd centuries
Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 6.38 says the
Elchasai "made use of texts from every part of the Old Testament and the Gospels; it rejects the Apostle (Paul) entirely"; 4.29.5 says
Tatian the Assyrian rejected Paul's Letters and
Acts of the Apostles; 6.25 says
Origen accepted 22 canonical books of the Hebrews plus
Maccabees plus the
four Gospels but
Paul "did not so much as write to all the churches that he taught; and even to those to which he wrote he sent but a few lines."
Bruce Metzger in his
Canon of the New Testament, 1987, draws the following conclusion about Clement:
Clement's Bible is the Old Testament, to which he refers repeatedly as Scripture (graphe), quoting it with more or less exactness. Clement also makes occasional reference to certain words of Jesus; though they are authoritative for him, he does not appear to enquire how their authenticity is ensured. In two of the three instances that he speaks of remembering 'the words' of Christ or of the Lord Jesus, it seems that he has a written record in mind, but he does not call it a 'gospel'. He knows several of Paul's epistles, and values them highly for their content; the same can be said of the Epistle to the Hebrews, with which he is well acquainted. Although these writings obviously possess for Clement considerable significance, he never refers to them as authoritative 'Scripture'.
Marcion of Sinope:
c. 150, was the first of record to propose a definitive, exclusive, unique canon of Christian scriptures. (Though
Ignatius did address christian scripture, before Marcion, against the heresies of the
Judaizers and
Dociests, he did not publish a canon.) Marcion rejected the theology of the
Old Testament, which he claimed was incompatible with the teaching of
Jesus regarding God and morality. The
Gospel of Luke, which Marcion called simply the
Gospel of the Lord, he edited to remove any passages that connected Jesus with the Old Testament. This was because he believed that the god of the
Jews,
YHWH, who gave them the
Jewish Scriptures, was an entirely different god than the Supreme God who sent Jesus and inspired the
New Testament. He used ten
Letters of Paul as well (excluding
Hebrews and the
Pastoral Epistles) assuming his
Epistle to the Laodiceans referred to
canonical Ephesians and not the
apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans or another text no longer extant. He also edited these in a similar way. To these, which he called the
Gospel and the Apostolicon, he added his
Antithesis which contrasted the
New Testament view of God and morality with the
Old Testament view of God and morality. By editing he thought he was removing
judaizing corruptions and recovering the original inspired words of Jesus and Paul. Marcion's canon and theology were rejected as
heretical by the early church; however, he forced other Christians to consider which texts were canonical and why. He spread his beliefs widely; they became known as
Marcionism.
Henry Wace in his introduction [
4] of 1911 stated: "A modern divine. . .could not refuse to discuss the question raised by Marcion, whether there is such opposition between different parts of what he regards as the word of God, that all cannot come from the same author." The
Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 stated: "they were perhaps the most dangerous foe Christianity has ever known."
Adolf von Harnack in
Origin of the New Testament [
5], 1914, argued that Marcion viewed the church at this time as largely an Old Testament church (one that "follows the Testament of the Creator-God") without a firmly established New Testament canon, and that it gradually formulated its New Testament canon in response to the challenge posed by Marcion. The Prologues to the Pauline Epistles (which are not a part of the text, but short introductory sentences as one might find in modern study Bibles [
6]), found in several older Latin
codices, are now widely believed to have been written by Marcion or one of his followers. Harnack notes [
7]: "We have indeed long known that Marcionite readings found their way into the ecclesiastical text of the Pauline Epistles, but now for seven years we have known that Churches actually accepted the Marcionite prefaces to the Pauline Epistles! De Bruyne has made one of the finest discoveries of later days in proving that those prefaces, which we read first in
Codex Fuldensis and then in numbers of later manuscripts, are Marcionite, and that the Churches had not noticed the cloven hoof."
Muratorian fragment [
8]: this
7th Century latin manuscript is often considered to be a translation of the first non-Marcion New Testament canon, and dated at between
170 (based on an internal reference to
Pope Pius I and arguments put forth by
Bruce Metzger) and as late as the end of the
4th century (according to the
Anchor Bible Dictionary[Hahneman, Geoffrey Mark. The Muratorian Fragment and the Development of the Canon. Oxford: Clarendon, 1992. Sundberg, Albert C., Jr. "Canon Muratori: A Fourth Century List." Harvard Theological Review 66 (1973): 1-41.]). This partial canon lists the four gospels and the
Letters of Paul, as well as two books of Revelation, one of
John, another of
Peter (the latter of which it notes is not often read in the churches). It rejects the
Epistle to the Laodiceans and Epistle to the Alexandrians both said to be forged in Paul's name to support
Marcionism.
Diatessaron: c.
173, a one-volume harmony of the four Gospels, translated and compiled by
Tatian the Assyrian into
Syriac. In Syriac speaking churches, it effectively served as the only New Testament scripture until Paul's Letters were added during the 3rd century. Some believe that Acts was also used in Syrian churches alongside the
Diatessaron, however, Eusebius'
Ecclesiastical History 4.29.5 states: "They, indeed, use the Law and Prophets and Gospels, but interpret in their own way the utterances of the Sacred Scriptures. And they abuse Paul the apostle and reject his epistles, and do not accept even the Acts of the Apostles." [Note also that there were many books with the title of
'Acts', written about the same time by different writers. Moreover, at one time the
Gospel of Luke and the Biblical 'Acts' appear to have been one continuous document.] In the 4th century, the
Doctrine of Addai lists a 17 book NT canon using the Diatessaron and Acts and 15 Pauline Epistles (including
3rd Corinthians). The Diatessaron was eventually replaced in the 5th century by the
Peshitta, which contains a translation of all the books of the
27-book NT except for
2 John,
3 John,
2 Peter,
Jude and
Revelation and is the
Bible of the
Syriac Orthodox Church where some members believe it is the original New Testament, see
Aramaic primacy.
Irenaeus of Lyons: c.
185, claimed that there were exactly four Gospels, no more and no less, as a touchstone of orthodoxy. He argued that it was illogical to reject Acts of the Apostles but accept the Gospel of Luke, as both were from the same author. In
Against Heresies 3.12.12 [
9] he ridiculed those who think they are wiser than the
Apostles because they were still under
Jewish influence. This was crucial to refuting Marcion's anti-Judaizing, as Acts gives honor to
James,
Peter,
John and
Paul alike. At the time,
Jewish Christians tended to honor James (a prominent Christian in Jerusalem described in the New Testament as an
apostle and
pillar, and by Eusebius and other church historians as the first
Bishop of Jerusalem) but not Paul, while
Pauline Christianity tended to honor Paul more than James.
Codex Claromontanus canon [
10]: c.
250, a page found inserted into a
6th Century copy of the Epistles of Paul and
Hebrews, has the
27-book OT plus Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, 1-2,4 Maccabees, and the
27-book NT plus
3rd Corinthians, Acts of Paul, Apocalypse of Peter, Barnabas, and Hermas, but missing Philippians, 1-2 Thessalonians, and Hebrews.
Era of the Seven Ecumenical Councils
Eusebius, around the year 300, recorded a New Testament canon in his
Ecclesiastical History Book 3, Chapter XXV::"1... First then must be put the holy quaternion of the
Gospels; following them the
Acts of the Apostles... the
epistles of Paul... the
epistle of John... the
epistle of Peter... After them is to be placed, if it really seem proper, the
Apocalypse of John, concerning which we shall give the different opinions at the proper time. These then belong among the
accepted writings."
"3 Among the
disputed writings, which are nevertheless recognized by many, are extant the so-called
epistle of James and that of
Jude, also the
second epistle of Peter, and those that are called the
second and
third of John, whether they belong to the
evangelist or to another person of the same name. Among the rejected [Kirsopp Lake translation: "not genuine"] writings must be reckoned also the
Acts of Paul, and the so-called
Shepherd, and the
Apocalypse of Peter, and in addition to these the extant
epistle of Barnabas, and the so-called
Teachings of the Apostles; and besides, as I said, the
Apocalypse of John, if it seem proper, which some, as I said, reject, but which others class with the accepted books. And among these some have placed also the
Gospel according to the Hebrews... And all these may be reckoned among the
disputed books"
"6... such books as the
Gospels of Peter, of
Thomas, of
Matthias, or of any others besides them, and the
Acts of Andrew and
John and the other apostles... they clearly show themselves to be the fictions of
heretics. Wherefore they are not to be placed even among the rejected writings, but are all of them to be cast aside as absurd and impious."
The Apocalypse of John, also called Revelation, is counted as both
accepted (Kirsopp Lake translation: "Recognized") and
disputed, which has caused some confusion over what exactly Eusebius meant by doing so. From other writings of the Church Fathers, we know that it was disputed with several canon lists rejecting its canonicity. EH 3.3.5 adds further detail on Paul: "Paul's fourteen epistles are well known and undisputed. It is not indeed right to overlook the fact that some have rejected the
Epistle to the Hebrews, saying that it is disputed by the church of Rome, on the ground that it was not written by Paul." EH 4.29.6 mentions the
Diatessaron: "But their original founder, Tatian, formed a certain combination and collection of the Gospels, I know not how, to which he gave the title Diatessaron, and which is still in the hands of some. But they say that he ventured to paraphrase certain words of the apostle [Paul], in order to improve their style."
Cheltenham Canon ([
11], [
12]), (also known as
Mommsen's): c.
350, a page found inserted in a
10th Century manuscript, has a 24 book OT and 24 book NT which provides syllable and line counts but omits Hebrews, Jude and James, and seems to question the epistles of John and Peter beyond the first.
Synod of Laodicea:
c. 363, was one of the first synods that set out to judge which books were to be read aloud in churches. The decrees issued by the thirty or so clerics attending were called
canons. Canon 59 decreed that only canonical books should be read, but no list was appended in the Latin and Syriac manuscripts recording the decrees. The list of canonical books, Canon 60 [
13], sometimes attributed to the Synod of Laodicea is a later addition according to most scholars and has a 22 book OT and
26-book NT (excludes Revelation).
Athanasius: in
367, in Festal Letter 39 [
14] listed a 22 book OT and
27-book NT and 7 books not in the canon but to be read: Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobit, Didache, and the Pastor (probably Hermas). This list is the very similar to the modern Protestant canon. Other differences are his exclusion of
Esther and his inclusion of
Baruch and the
Letter of Jeremiah as part of
Jeremiah.
In
c. 380, the redactor of the
Apostolic Constitutions attributed a canon to the
Twelve Apostles themselves ([
15]) as the 85th of his list of such
apostolic decrees:
Canon 85. Let the following books be esteemed venerable and holy by all of you, both clergy and laity. [A list of books of the Old Testament ...] And our sacred books, that is, of the New Testament, are the four Gospels, of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; the fourteen Epistles of Paul; two Epistles of Peter; three of John; one of James; one of Jude; two Epistles of Clement; and the Constitutions dedicated to you, the bishops, by me, Clement, in eight books, which is not appropriate to make public before all, because of the mysteries contained in them; and the Acts of us, the Apostles. (From the Latin version.)Some later Coptic and Arabic translations add Relevation and the Epistles of Clement.
Pope Damasus I: is often considered to the father of the modern Catholic canon. Though purporting to date from a "
Council of Rome" under Pope Damasus I in
382, the so-called "Damasian list" appended to the pseudepigraphical
Decretum Gelasianum [
16] is actually a valuable though non-papal list from the early 6th century. Denziger's recension is found in the links at
Decretum Gelasianum. The "Damasian Canon" was published by C.H. Turner in
JTS, vol. 1, 1900, pp 554-560. In
405,
Pope Innocent I in Letter #6 (to Exuperius) described a canon identical to Trent (without the distinction between protocanonicals and deuterocanonicals).
In the late
380s,
Gregory of Nazianus produced a canon ([
17]) in verse which agreed with that of his contemporary Athanasius, other than placing the "Catholic Epistles" after the Pauline Epistles and omitting Revelation.
Bishop Amphilocus of
Iconium, in his poem
Iambics for Seleucus ([
18]) written some time after
394, discusses debate over the canonical inclusion of a number of books, and almost certainly rejects the later Epistles of Peter and John, Jude, and Revelation.
3rd
Synod of Carthage [
19]: in
397, ratified the canon accepted previously at the Synod of Hippo Regius in North Africa in
393 and which was purportedly endorsed by
Pope Damasus I. The 27-book NT canon included
the Gospels, four books; the Acts of the Apostles, one book; the Epistles of Paul, thirteen; of the same to the Hebrews; one Epistle; of Peter, two; of John, apostle, three; of James, one; of Jude, one; the Revelation of John.When St.
Jerome translated the Bible into
Latin, producing the
Vulgate bible
c. 400, he argued for the
Veritas Hebraica, meaning the truth of the
Jewish Bible over the
Septuagint translation. At the insistence of the Pope, however, he added existing translations for what he considered doubtful books, but did not personally translate them anew. This period marks the beginning of a more widely recognized canon, although the inclusion of some books was still debated: Epistle to Hebrews, James, 2 John, 3 John, 2 Peter, Jude and Revelation. Grounds for debate included the question of authorship of these books (note that the so-called Damasian "Council at Rome" had already rejected
John the Apostle's authorship of 2 and 3 John, while retaining the books), their suitability for use (Revelation at that time was already being interpreted in a wide variety of
heretical ways), and how widely they were actually being used (2 Peter being amongst the most weakly attested of all the books in the Christian canon).
The late-
5th or early-
6th Century Peshitta of the
Syrian Orthodox Church ([
20]) includes a 22-book NT, excluding II Peter, II John, III John, Jude, and Revelation. (The
Lee Peshitta of 1823 follows the Protestant canon
)
List of the Sixty Books [21]: dated to the 7th century, has 34 OT books and 26-book NT (excludes Revelation) and 9 books "outside the sixty": Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, 1-4 Maccabees, Esther, Judith, Tobit and a 25 book apocrypha.
Orthodox Synod in Trullo: in 692, rejected by Pope Constantine, approved Gregory Theologus' 22 book OT and 26-book NT (excludes Revelation) and the Canons of the Apostles of the Apostolic Constitutions of which Canon #85 [22] is a list of the 27-book OT plus Judith, Sirach, 1-3Maccabees, Didache, 1-2Clement, and 26-book NT (excludes Revelation), and the Apostolic Constitutions which themselves were rejected because they were said to contain heretical interpolations.
John of Damascus: c.
654 - 749, in Exact Exposition of Orthodox Faith 4.17'' accepted Didache and Apostolic Constitutions.
Medieval developments
Nicephorus: the Patriarch of Jerusalem,
806-
815, in a
Stichometria [
23] appended to the end of his
Chronography rejected Esther, Tobit, Judith,
Wisdom of Solomon,
Sirach, Maccabees,
Psalms of Solomon,
Enoch, Didache, Barnabas, Hermas,
Clement,
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of the Hebrews, 3rd Corinthians, Acts of Paul, Revelation, Apocalypse of Peter.
Reformation Era
Protestant Reformation: begun by
Martin Luther, who made an attempt to remove the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the canon (echoing the consensus of many Christian Humanists and partially because they were perceived to go against certain Protestant doctrines such as
sola gratia and
sola fide), but this was not generally accepted among his followers. However, these books are ordered last in
German-language Lutheran Bibles to this day.
Bruce Metzger's
Canon of the New Testament says in
1596 Jacob Lucius published a Bible at Hamburg which labeled Luther's four as "Apocrypha"; David Wolder the pastor of Hamburg's Church of St. Peter published in the same year a triglot Bible which labeled them as "non canonical"; J. Vogt published a Bible at Goslar in
1614 similar to Lucius'; Gustavus Adolphus of Stockholm in
1618 published a Bible with them labeled as "Apocr(yphal) New Testament."
Luther also eliminated the "doubtful" books from his Old Testament, terming them "
Apocrypha, that are books which are not considered equal to the Holy Scriptures, but are useful and good to read". He also argued unsuccessfully for the relocation of
Esther from the Canon to the Apocrypha, since without the deuterocanonical sections, it never mentions God. As a result Catholics and Protestants continue to use different canons, which differ in respect to the Old Testament.
Charles Caldwell Ryrie's
Basic Theology counters in 1986 the claim that
Martin Luther rejected the Book of James as being canonical. Here's what Luther wrote in his preface to the New Testament in which he ascribes to the several books of the New Testament different degrees of doctrinal value. "St. John's Gospel and his first Epistle, St. Paul's Epistles, especially those to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and St. Peter's Epistle-these are the books which show to thee Christ, and teach everything that is necessary and blessed for thee to know, even if you were never to see or hear any other book of doctrine. Therefore, St. James' Epistle is a perfect straw-epistle compared with them, for it has in it nothing of an evangelic kind." Thus Luther was comparing (in his opinion) doctrinal value, not canonical validity.
There is some evidence that the first decision to omit these books entirely from the Bible was made by Protestant laity rather than clergy. Bibles dating from shortly after the
Reformation have been found whose tables of contents included the entire Roman Catholic canon, but which did not actually contain the disputed books, leading some historians to think that the workers at the printing presses took it upon themselves to omit them. However, Anglican and Lutheran Bibles usually still contained these books until the
20th century, while Calvinist Bibles did not. Several reasons are proposed for the omission of these books from the canon. One is the support for Catholic doctrines such as
Purgatory and prayer for the dead found in
2 Maccabees. Luther himself said he was following Jerome's teaching about the
Veritas Hebraica.
According to the
Catholic Encyclopedia article on the
Canon of the New Testament: "The idea of a complete and clear-cut canon of the New Testament existing from the beginning, that is from Apostolic times, has no foundation in history. The Canon of the New Testament, like that of the Old, is the result of a development, of a process at once stimulated by disputes with doubters, both within and without the Church, and retarded by certain obscurities and natural hesitations, and which did not reach its final term until the dogmatic definition of the
Tridentine Council."
Council of Trent: on
April 8,
1546, by vote (24 yea, 15 nay, 16 abstain) approved the present
Roman Catholic Bible Canon including the
Deuterocanonical Books. This is said to be the same list as produced at the
Council of Florence in
1451, this list was defined as canonical in the profession of faith proposed for the
Jacobite Orthodox Church. Because of its placement, the list was not considered binding for the Catholic church, and in light of
Martin Luther's demands, the Catholic Church examined the question of the Canon again at the Council of Trent, which reaffirmed the Canon of the Council of Florence. The Old Testament books that had been in doubt were termed
deuterocanonical, not indicating a lesser degree of inspiration, but a later time of final approval. Beyond these books, some editions of the latin
Vulgate include
Psalm 151, the
Prayer of Manasseh,
1 Esdras (called 3 Esdras),
2 Esdras (called 4 Esdras), and the
Epistle to the Laodiceans in an appendix, styled "Apogryphi".
Thirty-Nine Articles: in
1563, of the
Church of England, article 6, recognized the Roman Catholic Canon including the Deuterocanonicals with the caveat "for example of life and instruction in manners ... [but not] to establish any doctrine."
King James Bible: of
1611, included deuterocanon and apocrypha from the Vulgate and Septuagint.
Westminster Confession of Faith: in
1647, of
Calvinism, decreed a
39-book OT and
27-book NT, all others labelled as apocrypha [
24].
Synod of Jerusalem[
25]: in
1672, decreed the
Greek Orthodox Canon which is the same as the
Roman Catholic but includes
Psalm 151,
1 Esdras,
3 Maccabees,
4 Maccabees,
Psalms of Solomon,
Odes,
Letter of Jeremiah. The Greek Orthodox generally consider the
Septuagint to be divinely inspired.
Thomas Jefferson: in
1819, produced the
Jefferson Bible, by excluding sayings of Jesus which he felt were easily determined to be inauthentic ("like picking diamonds from dunghills" -To Adams,
24 January 1814).
Vatican I: on
April 24,
1870, approved the additions to
Mark (v.16:9-20),
Luke, (22:19b-20,43-44) and
John, (7:53-8:11) which are not present in early manuscripts.
Pope Pius XI: on
June 2,
1927, decreed the
Comma Johanneum was open to dispute.
The
Jesus Seminar in
1993 ranked sayings of Jesus for authenticity by consensus vote and published
The Five Gospels : What Did Jesus Really Say? The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus. In addition to the canonical four gospels, the fifth gospel is the
Gospel of Thomas.
Most Christian churches accept the
27-book NT, except the
Syriac Orthodox Church, which uses the
Peshitta and the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church (which lists four books of Sinodos (church practices), two Books of Covenant, "Ethiopic Clement", and "Ethiopic Didascalia" within a broader New Testament canon, although their narrow canon is the same as that of other churches; see
this webpage for much more detailed information on the Ethiopian Canon), and the
Armenian Orthodox church, which includes the
Third Epistle to the Corinthians. The canon of the
Tewahedo Church is looser than for most other traditional Christian groups. The Ethiopian "narrow" Old Testament canon includes the books found in the
Septuagint accepted by the Orthodox plus
Enoch,
Jubilees,
1 Esdras and
2 Esdras,
3 Maccabees, and
Psalm 151; but their three books of the Maccabees are quite different in content from those of the other Christian churches which include them. The order of the books is somewhat different from that of other groups, as well. This Church also has a "broader canon" that includes more books.
The books that were not canonized, but that are known to have existed in antiquity, are stylistically or in subject matter similar to the New Testament, and claim apostolic authorship, are known as the
New Testament apocrypha.
Modern Evangelicals
Many
Evangelical Christian groups do not accept the theory that the Christian Bible was not known until various local and
Ecumenical Councils, which they deem to be "Roman-dominated", made their official declarations.
These groups believe that the New Testament supports that Paul (2 Timothy 4:11-13), Peter (2 Peter 3:15-16), and ultimately John (Revelation 22:18-19) finalized the canon of the New Testament. They note that Peter, John, and Paul wrote 20 (or 21) of the 27 books of the NT and personally knew all the other NT writers. (Books not attributed to these three are: Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, James, and Jude. The authorship of Hebrews has long been disputed.)
Protestants tend not to accept the
Septuagint as the correct Hebrew Bible. They claim that the
Masoretic text was known and used by the end of the first Century. They note that early Christians knew the Hebrew Bible since around
170 Melito of Sardis listed all the books of the Old Testament that those in the Evangelical faiths now use (except, according to the
Catholic Encyclopedia, the Book of Esther, and with the addition of the Book of Wisdom). Melito's canon is found in
Eusebius EH4.26.13-14 [
26]:
Accordingly when I went East and came to the place where these things were preached and done, I learned accurately the books of the Old Testament, and send them to thee as written below. Their names are as follows: Of Moses, five books: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy; Jesus Nave, Judges, Ruth; of Kings, four books; of Chronicles, two; the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, Wisdom also, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Job; of Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah; of the twelve prophets, one book ; Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras. From which also I have made the extracts, dividing them into six books.
However, Melito's account still does not determine that the
specific documentary tradition used by the Jews necessarily was that which was eventually assembled into the Masoretic text, several centuries later.
Modern interpretation of canonization
Many modern Protestants point to four "Criteria for Canonicity" to justify the books that have been included in the Old and New Testament, which are judged to have satisfied the following:#Apostolic Origin â€" attributed to and based on the preaching/teaching of the first-generation apostles (or their close companions).#Universal Acceptance â€" acknowledged by all major Christian communities in the ancient world (by the end of the fourth century).#Liturgical Use â€" read publicly when early Christian communities gathered for the Lord's Supper (their weekly worship services).#Consistent Message â€" containing a theological outlook similar or complementary to other accepted Christian writings.
The basic factor for recognizing a book's canonicity for the New Testament was divine inspiration, and the chief test for this was apostolicity. The term
apostolic as used for the test of canonicity does not necessarily mean apostolic authorship or derivation, but rather
apostolic authority.
Apostolic authority is never detached from the authority of the Lord. See
Apostolic succession.
It is sometimes difficult to apply these criteria to all books in the accepted canon, however, and some point to books that Protestants hold as apocryphal which would fulfill these requirements. In practice, Protestants hold to the Jewish canon for the Old Testament and the Catholic canon for the New Testament.
*
Books of the Bible for a side-by-side comparison of Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant canons.
*
Table of books of Judeo-Christian Scripture*
Lost books of the Old Testament*
Lost books of the New Testament*Anchor Bible Dictionary
*Ante-Nicene Fathers, Eerdmans Press
*Apostolic Fathers, Lightfoot-Harmer-Holmes, ISBN 0801056764
*Encyclopedia of the Early Church, Oxford
*Beckwith, R.T.
OT Canon of the NT Church ISBN 0802836178
*Brakke, David. "Canon formation and social conflict in fourth century Egypt," in
Harvard Theological Review 87:4 (1994) pp 395 – 419.
Athanasius' role in the formation of the N.T. canon.
*Bruce, F.F.,
Canon of Scripture ISBN 083081258X
*Davis, L.D.
First Seven Ecumenical Councils ISBN 0814656161
*Ferguson
Encyclopedia of Early Christianity*Fox, Robin Lane.
The Unauthorized Version. 1992. A classical historian dispassionately discusses the formation of the canons.
*Gamble.
NT Canon ISBN 0800704709
*Hennecke-Schneemelcher.
NT Apcrypha*Jurgens, W.A.
Faith of the Early Fathers ISBN 0814656161
*Metzger, Bruce.
Canon of the NT ISBN 0198261802
*John Salza,
Scripture Catholic,
Septuagint references*Sundberg.
OT of the Early Church Harvard Press 1964
*
Catholic Encyclopedia: Canon of the Old Testament*
Catholic Encyclopedia: Canon of the New Testament*
Jewish Encyclopedia: Bible Canon*
Development of the Canon of the New Testament*
Noncanonical Literature*
Early Christian Writings*
The Nag Hammadi library*
Gnostic Society Library page on The Nag Hammadi library*
United Bible Societies, Translation Information Clearinghouse: Canon Update Annotated bibliography of recently published research
*
Judaica Press Translation - Online Jewish translation of the Biblical canon. The Tanakh and
Rashi's entire commentary.
*
OrthodoxWiki: Holy Scripture
