query: who decided which books to include in the canon of the new testament

pos: Development of the Christian biblical canon Roman Catholic Church. The canons of the Church of England and English Calvinists were decided definitively by the Thirty-Nine Articles (1563) and the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), respectively. The Synod of Jerusalem (1672) established additional canons that are widely accepted throughout the Orthodox Church. The Old and New Testament canons did not develop independently of each other and most primary sources for the canon specify both Old and New Testament books. For the biblical scripture for both Testaments, canonically accepted in major traditions of Christendom, see Biblical canon § Canons of various Christian traditions. The Old Testament (sometimes abbreviated

pos: Books of the Bible formerly the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. In general, among Christian denominations, the New Testament canon is an agreed-upon list of 27 books, although book order can vary. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant traditions. The Slavonic, Armenian and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Books of the Bible Different religious groups include different books in their biblical canons, in varying orders, and sometimes divide or combine books. Christian Bibles range from the 73 books of the Catholic Church canon, the 66 books of the canon of some

pos: Development of the New Testament canon Development of the New Testament canon The canon of the New Testament is the set of books Christians regard as divinely inspired and constituting the New Testament of the Christian Bible. For most, it is an agreed-upon list of twenty-seven books that includes the Canonical Gospels, Acts, letters of the Apostles, and Revelation. The books of the canon of the New Testament were written before 120 AD. For the Orthodox, the recognition of these writings as authoritative was formalized in the Second Council of Trullan of 692. The Catholic Church made dogmatic definition upon its Biblical canon in 382 at

pos: Pseudepigrapha misrepresented. Such works include the following: Some Christian scholars maintain that nothing known to be pseudepigraphical was admitted to the New Testament canon. However, reputable biblical scholars, such as Dr. Bart D. Ehrman, have demonstrated that only seven of Paul's epistles are convincingly genuine. All of the other 20 books in the New Testament appear to be written by unknown people who were not the well-known biblical figures to whom the early Christian leaders originally attributed authorship. Even the Catholic Church has admitted that the New Testament Gospels are pseudepigraphical. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes, The first four historical books of

pos: Development of the Old Testament canon of the Catholic Church. All of these we also judge to be Canonical Books, and confess them to be Sacred Scripture. Not all books of the Old Testament are covered in the "Prophetologion", the official Old Testament lectionary: "Because the only exposure most Eastern Christians had to the Old Testament was from the readings during services, the Prophetologion can be called the Old Testament of the Byzantine Church." Development of the Old Testament canon The Old Testament is the first section of the two-part Christian Biblical canon; the second section is the New Testament. The Old Testament includes the books

pos: Bible the canon of which, at the insistence of the Pope, was in accord with the earlier Synods. With the benefit of hindsight it can be said that this process effectively set the New Testament canon, although there are examples of other canonical lists in use after this time. The Protestant Old Testament of today has a 39-book canon – the number of books (though not the content) varies from the Jewish Tanakh only because of a different method of division – while the Roman Catholic Church recognizes 46 books (51 books with some books combined into 46 books) as the

pos: Development of the New Testament canon seems that not always have all of these been considered on the same level as the others, yet nevertheless these also have been counted and reckoned with the rest of Scripture, both by Synods and by many of the most ancient and eminent Theologians of the Catholic Church. All of these we also judge to be Canonical Books, and confess them to be Sacred Scripture..." Development of the New Testament canon The canon of the New Testament is the set of books Christians regard as divinely inspired and constituting the New Testament of the Christian Bible. For most, it is

pos: Deuterocanonical books Deuterocanonical books The deuterocanonical books (from the Greek meaning "belonging to the second canon") are books and passages considered by the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church to be canonical books of the Old Testament but which are considered non-canonical by Protestant denominations. They are seven books from the Septuagint, the standard translation of the Hebrew Bible in the Hellenistic period, written during the reign of Ptolemy II (283–246 BCE) and referenced extensively in the New Testament, particularly in the Pauline Epistles. With the rise of Rabbinic Judaism at the end of the Second Temple Period, the Hebrew Canon

pos: Apocrypha explain the theological and cultural transitions which took place between the Old and New Testaments. They are also sometimes called "intertestamental" by religious groups who do not recognize Hellenistic Judaism as belonging with either "Jewish" or "Christian" testaments. Slightly varying collections of apocryphal, deuterocanonical, or intertestamental books of the Bible form part of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox canons (cf Development of the Old Testament canon). The deuterocanonical or intertestamental books of the Catholic Church include 1-2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Additions to Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, the Prayer of Azariah,

pos: Books of the Bible of Christian Bibles is called the Old Testament, which contains, at minimum, the above 24 books but divided into 39 books and ordered differently. The Catholic Church and Eastern Christian churches also hold that certain deuterocanonical books and passages are part of the Old Testament canon. The second part is the New Testament, containing 27 books; the four Canonical gospels, Acts of the Apostles, 21 Epistles or letters and the Book of Revelation. The King James Bible—which has been called "the most influential version of the most influential book in the world, in what is now its most influential language"

pos: Development of the Christian biblical canon Development of the Christian biblical canon The Christian biblical canons are the books Christians regard as divinely inspired and which constitute a Christian Bible. Which books constituted the Christian biblical canons of both the Old and New Testament was generally established by the 5th century, despite some scholarly disagreements, for the ancient undivided Church (the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions, before the East–West Schism). In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic canon was reaffirmed by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent (1546), which provided "the first infallible and effectually promulgated pronouncement on the Canon" by the

neg: Development of the New Testament canon groups, and the order, naming, and chapter/verse division of some of the books is also slightly different. The "broader" Ethiopian New Testament canon includes four books of "Sinodos" (church practices), two "Books of Covenant", "Ethiopic Clement", and "Ethiopic Didascalia" (Apostolic Church-Ordinances). However, these books have never been printed or widely studied. This "broader" canon is also sometimes said to include, with the Old Testament, an eight-part history of the Jews based on the writings of Flavius Josephus, and known as "Pseudo-Josephus" or "Joseph ben Gurion" ("Yosēf walda Koryon"). The "Encyclopedia of Theology" says that the 27 books which make up

neg: Development of the New Testament canon 1290 to include in the Armenian canon several apocryphal books: Advice of the Mother of God to the Apostles, the Books of Criapos, and the ever-popular Epistle of Barnabas. The Armenian Apostolic church at times has included the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs in its Old Testament and the Third Epistle to the Corinthians, but does not always list it with the other 27 canonical New Testament books. The New Testament of the Coptic Bible, adopted by the Egyptian Church, includes the two Epistles of Clement. The canon of the Tewahedo Churches is somewhat looser than for other traditional Christian

neg: Christian biblical canons New Testament apocrypha as part of the Bible. Today, most biblical compilations comply with either the standards set forth by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1825 which corresponds to the Protestant Bible, or with one that includes the deuterocanonical books prescribed for Catholic Bibles and the "anagignoskomena" for Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bibles. Other common variations include the pocket-sized Gideons International versions that include the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs although the selection of books for inclusion does not comprise a canon. Christian biblical canons A Christian biblical canon is the set of books that a particular Christian

neg: Bible canonical Old Testament. The Eastern Orthodox Churches recognize 3 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, Prayer of Manasseh and Psalm 151 in addition to the Catholic canon. Some include 2 Esdras. The Anglican Church also recognizes a longer canon. The term "Hebrew Scriptures" is often used as being synonymous with the Protestant Old Testament, since the surviving scriptures in Hebrew include only those books, while Catholics and Orthodox include additional texts that have not survived in Hebrew. Both Catholics and Protestants (as well as Greek Orthodox) have the same 27-book New Testament Canon. The New Testament writers assumed the inspiration of the Old

neg: Development of the Christian biblical canon for English Calvinism established the official finalizations for those new branches of Christianity in light of the break with Rome. The Synod of Jerusalem of 1672 made no changes to the New Testament canon for any Orthodox, but resolved some questions about some of the minor Old Testament books for the Greek Orthodox and most other Orthodox jurisdictions (who chose to accept it). Development of the Christian biblical canon The Christian biblical canons are the books Christians regard as divinely inspired and which constitute a Christian Bible. Which books constituted the Christian biblical canons of both the Old and New

neg: Old Testament common Protestant canon comprises 39 books. The 39 books in common to all the Christian canons correspond to the 24 books of the Tanakh, with some differences of order, and there are some differences in text. The additional number reflects the splitting of several texts (Kings, Samuel and Chronicles, Ezra–Nehemiah and the minor prophets) into separate books in Christian bibles. The books which are part of a Christian Old Testament but which are not part of the Hebrew canon are sometimes described as deuterocanonical. In general, Protestant Bibles do not include the deuterocanonical books in their canon, but some versions

neg: Development of the New Testament canon 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. The Council of Trent on April 8, 1546, approved the enforcement of the present Roman Catholic Bible Canon including the Deuterocanonical Books as an article of faith (the contents of the canon itself having already been

neg: Christian theology in the Jewish canon, but not the Catholic Old Testament, which contains additional texts. Both Catholics and Protestants have the same 27-book New Testament Canon. Roman Catholic and Eastern Christians recognize 73 books as canonical, with 46 books for the Old Testament 7 more than Protestants. The Old Testament canon entered into Christian use in the Septuagint, a Greek translation with a few books in Greek originally. In addition to the Septuagint, Christianity subsequently added various writings that would become the New Testament. Somewhat different lists of accepted works continued to develop in antiquity. In the 4th century a series

neg: Development of the Old Testament canon Development of the Old Testament canon The Old Testament is the first section of the two-part Christian Biblical canon; the second section is the New Testament. The Old Testament includes the books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) or protocanon, and in various Christian denominations also includes deuterocanonical books. Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Protestants use different canons, which differ with respect to the texts that are included in the Old Testament. Martin Luther, holding to Jewish and other ancient precedent, excluded the deuterocanonical books from the Old Testament of his translation of the Bible, placing them in a section he labeled

neg: Catholic Bible deuterocanonical books); and in addition Enoch, Jubilees, 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Rest of the Words of Baruch and 3 books of Meqabyan (Ethiopian books of Maccabees entirely different in content from the 4 Books of Maccabees of the Eastern Orthodox). A "broader" Ethiopian New Testament canon includes 4 books of "Sinodos" (church practices), 2 "Books of Covenant", "Ethiopic Clement", and "Ethiopic Didascalia" (Apostolic Church-Ordinances). This "broader" canon is sometimes said to include with the Old Testament an 8-part history of the Jews based on the writings of Titus Flavius Josephus, and known as "Pseudo-Josephus" or "Joseph ben Gurion" ("Yosēf walda

neg: Development of the New Testament canon a canon catalogue, and the 5th part is a catalogue of apocryphal writings which are to be rejected. The canon catalogue gives all 27 books of the "Catholic New Testament". , lists the following New Testament books according to Jerome, (c. 394), from his "Epistle" 53: Augustine of Hippo declared that one is to "prefer those that are received by all Catholic Churches to those which some of them do not receive. Among those, again, which are not received by all, he will prefer such as have the sanction of the greater number and those of greater authority, to such

neg: Easter letter they appear in modern editions of the New Testament), the 14 Pauline Epistles (listed with the Letter to the Hebrews placed between those to the Thessalonians and the Pastoral Epistles), and the Book of Revelation. Although the order in which Athanasius places the books is different from what is now usual, his list is the earliest reference to the present canon of the New Testament. Athanasius reckons, not as part of the canon of Scripture, but as books "appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us, and who wish for instruction in the word of

neg: Deuterocanonical books canon which includes a selection of books that did not appear in the Hebrew Bible; the councils were under significant influence of Augustine of Hippo, who regarded the canon as already closed. Canon XXIV from the Synod of Hippo (393 AD) records the Scriptures which are considered canonical; the Old Testament books as follows: On 28 August 397, the Council of Carthage (397 AD) confirmed the canon issued at Hippo; the recurrence of the Old Testament part as stated: The Council of Carthage (419 AD) in its canon 24 lists the deuterocanonical books except Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah

neg: Christianity in the 2nd century it directly. The oldest list of books for the New Testament canon is the Muratorian fragment dating to c. 170. It shows that by 200 there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to what is now the 27-book New Testament, which included the four gospels. Thus, while there was debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the current books of the New Testament were accepted by almost all Christians by the middle of the 2nd century, with the exception of James, Hebrews, and 2nd Peter. However, these 3 books were also agreed upon and recognized

neg: Apocrypha Testament, excluding apocryphal books in his non-binding canon as unworthy to be properly called Scripture, but included most of them in a separate section, as per Jerome. Luther did not include the deuterocanonical books in 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." The Eastern Orthodox Church accepts a few more books than appear in the Catholic canon. The word "apocryphal" () was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered too profound or

neg: Melito's canon thought to be part of Ezra (being referred to as Esdras), and with Lamentations being part of Jeremiah. Melito's canon does not include the Deuterocanonical books, except for the possible inclusion of the Book of Wisdom, which is disputed. Melito's canon is found in Eusebius EH4.26.13–14: See also Development of the Hebrew Bible canon. St. Athanasius is often quoted as endorsing 39 books in his Old Testament, rejecting any "apocryphal" (pseudepigraphal) writings. However, his 39 books are different from the Protestant canon in that he rejects Esther and includes Baruch. About the Deuterocanonical books he adds: Melito's list almost fully

neg: Protestant Bible Protestant Bible A Protestant Bible is a Christian Bible whose translation or revision was produced by Protestants. Such Bibles comprise 39 books of the Old Testament (according to the Jewish Hebrew Bible canon, known especially to non-Protestants as the protocanonical books) and the 27 books of the New Testament for a total of 66 books. This is often contrasted with the 73 books of the Catholic Bible, which includes seven deuterocanonical books as a part of the Old Testament. The division between protocanonical and deuterocanonical books is not accepted by all Protestants who simply view books as being canonical or

neg: New Testament become the mind of the Church". Some synods of the 4th century published lists of canonical books (e.g. Hippo and Carthage). The existing 27-book canon of the New Testament was reconfirmed (for Roman Catholicism) in the 16th century with the Council of Trent (also called the Tridentine Council) of 1546, the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563 for the Church of England, the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647 for Calvinism, and the Synod of Jerusalem of 1672 for Eastern Orthodoxy. Although these councils did include statements about the canon, when it came to the New Testament they were only reaffirming the

neg: Deuterocanonical books an event that was recorded in one of the deuterocanonical books, 2 Maccabees. For instance, the author of Hebrews references oral tradition which spoke of an Old Testament prophet who was sawn in half in Hebrews 11:37, two verses after the 2nd Maccabees reference. Other New Testament authors such as Paul also reference or quote period literature which was familiar to the audience but that was not included in the deuterocanonical or the protocanonical Old Testament books. The Jewish historian Josephus (c. 94 AD) speaks of there being 22 books in the canon of the Hebrew Bible, reported also by

neg: Samuel Prideaux Tregelles Testament (1857-1872). They include an "Account of the Printed Text of the Greek New Testament" (1854), a new edition of T. H. Horne's "Introduction" (1860), and Canon Muratorianus: "Earliest Catalogue of Books of the New Testament" (1868). Tregelles was a member of the English revision committee overseeing the preparation of the Bible translation known as the Revised Version (or English Revised Version) of which the New Testament was published in 1881, six years after his death. Tregelles also wrote "Heads of Hebrew Grammar" (1852), translated Gesenius's "Hebrew Lexicon" (1846, 1857) from Latin, and was the author of a little work

neg: Apocrypha Maccabees, the Epistle of Jeremiah the Book of Odes, the Prayer of Manasseh and Psalm 151 are included in some copies of the Septuagint, some of which are accepted as canonical by Eastern Orthodox and some other churches. Protestants accept none of these additional books as canon either, but see them having roughly the same status as the other Apocrypha. New Testament apocrypha—books similar to those in the New Testament but almost universally rejected by Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants—include several gospels and lives of apostles. Some were written by early Jewish Christians (see the Gospel according to the Hebrews). Others

neg: Development of the Old Testament canon Testament and pushes his version of the New Testament to be the Christian canon. Irenaeus wrote: With different perspective, Tertullian said: Everett Ferguson, in chapter 18 of "The Canon Debate", makes a note that: "[Wolfram] Kinzig suggests that it was Marcion who usually called his Bible "testamentum" [Latin for testament]". In the same chapter, Ferguson also says that Tertullian criticizes Marcion regarding the naming of the books in his list. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Marcionites "were perhaps the most dangerous foe Christianity has ever known". Other scholars propose that it was Melito of Sardis who originally coined the

neg: Bible Testament, probably earliest stated in , "All scripture is given by inspiration of God". The Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is wider than the canons used by most other Christian churches. There are 81 books in the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible. The Ethiopian Old Testament Canon includes the books found in the Septuagint accepted by other Orthodox Christians, in addition to Enoch and Jubilees which are ancient Jewish books that only survived in Ge'ez but are quoted in the New Testament, also Greek Ezra First and the Apocalypse of Ezra, 3 books of Meqabyan, and Psalm 151 at the

neg: Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament, were not universally accepted by the early Church. These books may be called the "New Testament deuterocanonicals", which are now included in the 27 books of the New Testament recognized by almost all Christians. The deuterocanonicals of the New Testament are as follows: Luther made an attempt to remove the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the canon (notably, he perceived them to go against his new doctrines such as "sola gratia" and "sola fide"), but this was not generally accepted among his followers. However, these books are ordered last in the German-language Luther

neg: Melito's canon corresponds to the Jewish Tanakh and Protestant canon, and does not include additional books which are found in the Greek Septuagint. According to Archibald Alexander, it is thought by many to include the Book of Wisdom, which is part of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Christianity Deuterocanon, but which others dispute. Melito's canon Melito's canon is attributed to Melito of Sardis, one of the early Church Fathers of the 2nd century. Melito provides what is possibly the earliest known Christian canon of what he termed the "Old Testament", having traveled to Palestine (probably to the library at Caesarea Maritima) seeking

neg: New Testament apocrypha in 363-364 CE rejected (although it accepted all of the other 26 books in the New Testament). This was possibly due to fears of the influence of Montanism which used the book extensively to support their theology. See Revelation of John for more details. Athanasius wrote his Easter letter in 367 CE which defined a canon of 27 books, identical to the current canon, but also listed two works that were "not in the canon but to be read:" The Shepherd of Hermas and the Didache. Nevertheless, the early church leaders in the 3rd and 4th Centuries generally distinguished between

neg: Development of the Old Testament canon as scripture. The Synod of Hippo (in 393), followed by the Council of Carthage (397) and the Council of Carthage (419), may be the first council that explicitly accepted the first canon which includes the books that did not appear in the Hebrew Bible; the councils were under significant influence of Augustine of Hippo, who regarded the canon as already closed. Canon xxxvi from the Synod of Hippo (393) records the Scriptures which is considered canonical; the Old Testament books as follows: On 28 August 397, the Council of Carthage confirmed the canon issued at Hippo; the recurrence of the

neg: History of Christianity current New Testament. In his Easter letter of 367, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, gave the earliest preserved list of exactly the books that would become the New Testament canon. The African Synod of Hippo, in 393, approved the New Testament, as it stands today, a decision repeated by the Council of Carthage (397) and the Council of Carthage (419). These councils were under the authority of St. Augustine, who regarded the canon as already closed. Likewise, Damasus' commissioning of the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible, c. 383, was instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West. In

neg: Development of the New Testament canon includes an explicit list of canonical books. Many Evangelical Christian groups (which have their origin in c. 1730 England) 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. Some note that Peter, John, and Paul wrote 20 (or 21) of the 27-books of the NT and personally knew all the other NT

neg: Protocanonical books as distinguished from the remaining books (the Antilegomena) which gained a later acceptance. It may also be used to refer to all 27 books in their entirety, since they all have been recognized for 1500 years by almost all Christians, especially when making a distinction between them and uncanonical writings of the early Church. For more information concerning the development of the New Testament canon, see the article Biblical canon. Protocanonical books The protocanonical books are those books of the Old Testament that are also included in the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh) and that came to be considered canonical during

neg: Development of the New Testament canon sola fide, but this was not generally accepted among his followers. However, these books are ordered last in the German-language Luther Bible to this day. Among confessions of faith drawn up by Protestants, several identify by name the 27-books of the New Testament canon, including the French Confession of Faith (1559), the Belgic Confession (1561), and the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) during the English Civil War. The Thirty-Nine Articles, issued by the Church of England in 1563, names the books of the Old Testament, but not the New Testament. None of the Confessional statements issued by any Lutheran church

neg: Apocrypha later to become Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox alike. The East did already differ from the West in not considering every question of canon yet settled, and it subsequently adopted a few more books into its Old Testament. It also allowed consideration of yet a few more to continue not fully decided, which led in some cases to adoption in one or more jurisdictions, but not all. Thus, there are today a few remaining differences of canon among Orthodox, and all Orthodox accept a few more books than appear in the Catholic canon. The Psalms of Solomon, 3 Maccabees, 4

neg: Biblical canon Finally, the Book of Joseph ben Gurion, or Pseudo-Josephus, is a history of the Jewish people thought to be based upon the writings of Josephus. The Ethiopic version (Zëna Ayhud) has eight parts and is included in the Orthodox Tewahedo broader canon. Among the various Christian denominations, the New Testament canon is a generally agreed-upon list of 27 books. However, the way in which those books are arranged may vary from tradition to tradition. For instance, in the Slavonic, Orthodox Tewahedo, Syriac, and Armenian traditions, the New Testament is ordered differently from what is considered to be the standard arrangement.

neg: Luther Bible his translation of the New Testament, Luther moved Hebrews and James out of the usual order, to join Jude and the Revelation at the end, and differentiated these from the other books which he considered "the true and certain chief books of the New Testament. The four which follow have from ancient times had a different reputation." His views on some of these books changed in later years, and became more positive. Luther chose to place the Biblical apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments. These books and addenda to Biblical canon of the Old Testament are found in the

neg: Bible Church primarily used the Septuagint or the Targums among Aramaic speakers, the apostles did not leave a defined set of new scriptures; instead the canon of the New Testament developed over time. Groups within Christianity include differing books as part of their sacred writings, most prominent among which are the biblical apocrypha or deuterocanonical books. Significant versions of the English Christian Bible include the Douay-Rheims Bible, the Authorized King James Version, the English Revised Version, the American Standard Version, the Revised Standard Version, the New American Standard Version, the New King James Version, the New International Version, and the English

neg: Council of Laodicea Rome. He was soon succeeded by Valentinian I, who named his brother Valens Emperor of the East. The major concerns of the Council involved regulating the conduct of church members. The Council expressed its decrees in the form of written rules or canons. Among the sixty canons decreed, several aimed at: The 59th canon forbade the readings in church of uncanonical books. The 60th canon listed Canonical books, with the New Testament containing 26 books, omitting the Book of Revelation, and the Old Testament including the 22 books of the Hebrew Bible plus the "Book of Baruch" and the "Epistle

neg: Luther's canon Luther's canon Luther's canon is the biblical canon attributed to Martin Luther, which has influenced Protestants since the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. While the Lutheran Confessions, specifically did not define a canon, it is widely regarded as the canon of the Lutheran Church. It differs from the 1546 Roman Catholic canon of the Council of Trent in that it rejects the Deuterocanonical books and questions the seven New Testament books, called "Luther's Antilegomena", four of which are still ordered last in German-language Luther Bibles to this day. Luther included the deuterocanonical books in his translation of the German Bible, but he

neg: Melito of Sardis compiled the earliest known Christian canon of the Old Testament, a term he coined. A passage cited by Eusebius contains Melito's famous canon of the Old Testament. Melito presented elaborate parallels between the Old Testament or Old Covenant, which he likened to the form or mold, and the New Testament or New Covenant, which he likened to the truth that broke the mold, in a series of Eklogai, six books of extracts from the Law and the Prophets presaging Christ and the Christian faith. His opinion of the Old Covenant was that it was fulfilled by Christians, whereas the Jewish

neg: Protestant Bible under the heading of Apocrypha and sometimes carrying a statement to the effect that the such books were non-canonical. The German Luther Bible of 1522 did include the Apocrypha within its boards. However, unlike in previous Catholic Bibles which interspersed the books of the Apocrypha throughout the Old Testament, Martin Luther placed the Apocrypha in a separate section after the Old Testament. The books of the Apocrypha were not listed in the table of contents of Luther's 1532 Old Testament and, in accordance with Luther's view of the canon, they were given the well-known title: "Apocrypha: These Books Are Not

neg: Christianity and Judaism see Development of the Old Testament canon) in their biblical canon that are not in today's Jewish canon, although they were included in the Septuagint. Christians reject the Jewish Oral Torah, which was still in oral, and therefore unwritten, form in the time of Jesus. Christians believe that God has established a New Covenant with people through Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Epistles, and other books collectively called the New Testament (the word "testament" attributed to Tertullian is commonly interchanged with the word "covenant"). For some Christians, such as Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, this

neg: Bible the Vulgate appendix. The term Pseudepigrapha commonly describes numerous works of Jewish religious literature written from about 300 BCE to 300 CE. Not all of these works are actually pseudepigraphical. It also refers to books of the New Testament canon whose authorship is misrepresented. The "Old Testament" Pseudepigraphal works include the following: Notable pseudepigraphal works include the Books of Enoch (such as 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch, surviving only in Old Slavonic, and 3 Enoch, surviving in Hebrew, c. 5th to 6th century CE). These are ancient Jewish religious works, traditionally ascribed to the prophet Enoch, the great-grandfather of the patriarch

neg: Old Testament Old Testament The Old Testament (abbreviated OT) is the first part of Christian Bibles, based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible (or Tanakh), a collection of ancient religious writings by the Israelites believed by most Christians and religious Jews to be the sacred Word of God. The second part of the Christian Bible is the New Testament. The books that comprise the Old Testament canon, as well as their order and names, differ between Christian denominations. The Catholic canon comprises 46 books, and the canons of the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches comprise up to 51 books and the most

neg: Development of the Old Testament canon According to Gerald A. Larue, Josephus' listing represents what came to be the Jewish canon, although scholars were still wrestling with problems of the authority of certain writings at the time that he was writing. Barber says that Josephus' 22 books were not universally accepted, since other Jewish communities used more than 22 books. In 1871, Heinrich Graetz concluded 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, the theory of

neg: Development of the New Testament canon somewhat similar to the twenty-seven-book NT canon, which included four gospels and argued against objections to them. Thus, while there was a good measure of debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the major writings are claimed to have been accepted by almost all Christians by the middle of the 3rd century. In his Easter letter of 367, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, gave a list of the books that would become the twenty-seven-book NT canon, and he used the word "canonized" ( "kanonizomena") in regard to them. The first council that accepted the present canon of the

neg: Deuterocanonical books texts that had never been found in the Septuagint at all. The Council of Trent therefore needed to clarify which of the Old Testament books in 16th century Vulgate bibles were in the canon; and which were not. Deuterocanonical and Apocryphal books included in the Latin Vulgate Philip Schaff says that "the Council of Hippo in 393, and the third (according to another reckoning the sixth) Council of Carthage in 397, under the influence of Augustine, who attended both, fixed the catholic canon of the Holy Scriptures, including the Apocrypha of the Old Testament, ... This decision of the transmarine

neg: Development of the Christian biblical canon OT) is the first section of the two-part Christian Biblical canon and is based on the Hebrew Bible but can include several Deuterocanonical books or Anagignoskomena depending on the particular Christian denomination. For a full discussion of these differences, see Books of the Bible. Following Jerome's principle of "Veritas Hebraica" (Latin for "Hebrew truth"), the Protestant Old Testament consists of the same books as the Hebrew Bible, but the order and numbering of the books are different. Protestants number the Old Testament books at 39, while Jews number the same books as 24. This is because Jews consider Samuel, Kings,

neg: Development of the New Testament canon weaker feeling than those in the West for the necessity of making a sharp delineation with regard to the canon. They were more conscious of the gradation of spiritual quality among the books that they accepted (e.g. the classification of Eusebius, see also Antilegomena) and were less often disposed to assert that the books which they rejected possessed no spiritual quality at all. Similarly, the New Testament canons of the Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Egyptian Coptic and Ethiopian Churches all have minor differences. The Revelation of John is one of the most uncertain books; in the East, chiliasm and Montanism brought

neg: Statenvertaling English for wider distribution. This massive work was published in London by Henry Hill 1657. The source material for the Old Testament was the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. The New Testament was translated from the "Textus Receptus" with references to the Majority Text. The Statenvertaling was written with specific guidelines for translation established by the Synod during its 8th session on November 20, 1618. The four main instructions to the translators were: Regarding the Biblical apocrypha, the synod decided to translate these books but not to make them part of the canon. They were placed after the books of

neg: Development of the Old Testament canon the New Testament when it quotes the Old Testament. Other, older versions of the texts in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, have since been discovered among the Dead Sea scrolls and the Cairo Geniza. The traditional explanation of the development of the Old Testament canon describes two sets of Old Testament books, the protocanonical and the deuterocanonical books. According to this, some Church Fathers accepted the inclusion of the deuterocanonical books based on their inclusion in the Septuagint (most notably Augustine), while others disputed their status based on their exclusion from the Hebrew Bible (most notably Jerome). Michael Barber argues that

neg: Development of the New Testament canon the Hebrews was written by Paul, for a time ending all debate on the subject. The first council that accepted the present canon of the books of the New Testament may have been the Synod of Hippo in North Africa (393). A brief summary of the acts was read at and accepted by the Synod of Carthage (397) and Council of Carthage (419). These councils were convened under the authority of St. Augustine, who regarded the canon as already closed. This North African canon reaffirmed at the Council of Trent of 1546. In c. 405, Pope Innocent I sent a

neg: Development of the Old Testament canon Church, first found as last chapter of the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions. Canon n. 85 of the "Ecclesiastical Canons of the Same Holy Apostles" is a list of canonical books, includes 46 books of Old Testament canon which essentially corresponds to that of the Septuagint. The Old Testament part of the Canon n. 85 stated as follows: Karl Josef von Hefele argues that "This is probably the least ancient canon in the whole collection"; even he and William Beveridge believe that the writings of the Apostolic Canons dating from end of the second or early of the third

neg: Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon the aforementioned books of the narrower canon are also by definition part of the broader canon. The Orthodox Tewahedo broader Old Testament has one additional book: the Ethiopic version of the Book of Joseph ben Gurion or Yosëf wäldä Koryon, elsewhere called "Josippon", or referred to by its author, Pseudo-Josephus, categorizing its authorship as pseudepigraphaphical. The book is a history of the Jewish people thought to be based upon the writings of Josephus, in eight parts. The Orthodox Tewahedo broader New Testament canon has eight additional books. These are the four books of Sinodos, the two divisions of the Book

neg: New Testament which was to be given by Christ would be complete. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired and constituting the New Testament of the Christian biblical canon. In the period extending roughly from 50 to 150 AD, a number of documents began to circulate among the churches, including epistles, gospel accounts, memoirs, prophecies, homilies, and collections of teachings. While some of these documents were apostolic in origin, others drew upon the tradition the apostles and ministers of the word had utilized in their individual missions, and still others represented

neg: History of the Eastern Orthodox Church This also continued into the age when the practice of the religion of Christianity became legal (see the Ecumenical Councils). The Biblical canon began with the officially accepted books of the Koine Greek Old Testament (which predates Christianity). This "canon", called the Septuagint or "seventy", continues to be the Old Testament of the Orthodox faith, along with the New Testament's Good news (gospels), Revelations and Letters of the Apostles (including Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Hebrews). The earliest text of the New Testament was written in common or Koine Greek. The texts of the Old Testament

neg: Development of the Christian biblical canon New Testament canon was, like that of the Old Testament, a gradual process. Irenaeus (died c. 202) quotes and cites 21 books that would end up as part of the New Testament, but does not use Philemon, Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 3 John and Jude. By the early 3rd century Origen of Alexandria may have been using the same 27 books as in the modern New Testament, though there were still disputes over the canonicity of Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Revelation (see also Antilegomena). Likewise by 200 the Muratorian fragment shows that there existed a

neg: Luther's canon "Up to this point we have had to do with the true and certain chief books of the New Testament. The four which follow have from ancient times had a different reputation." It is opined by some that Luther's low view of these books was more due to his theological reservations than on any historical basis regarding them. In his book "Basic Theology", Charles Caldwell Ryrie countered the claim that Luther rejected the Book of James as being canonical. In his preface to the New Testament, Luther ascribed to several books of the New Testament different degrees of doctrinal value:

neg: Development of the New Testament canon Peter, Jude and Revelation. After the Council of Ephesus, the Church of the East became separated, and retained this canon of only 22-books (the Peshitta) up to the present day. The Syriac Orthodox Church uses this text as well (known in the West Syriac dialect as the Peshitto), but with the addition of the other books normally present in the New Testament canon. The late-5th or early-6th century Peshitta of the Syriac Orthodox Church includes a 22-book NT, excluding II Peter, II John, III John, Jude, and Revelation. The "Lee Peshitta" of 1823 follows the Protestant canon. , lists the

neg: Khaboris Codex Khaboris Codex Khaburis Codex (alternate spelling Khaboris, Khabouris) refers to two manuscripts in the Aramaic language. The earlier of the two is an early Aramaic manuscript of the New Testament dating to between 300-310 CE and the later copy is a 10th Century duplicate thereof. The Khaburis Codices contain the complete Peshitta New Testament containing 22 books, in comparison to the Western New Testament canon which contains 27 books. The missing books are known as the "Western Five," namely, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude and Revelation. There have been claims that the earlier document's colophon identifies it as

neg: New Testament the Gospel of Matthew known today was composed in Greek and is neither directly dependent upon nor a translation of a text in a Semitic language. The process of canonization of the New Testament was complex and lengthy. In the initial centuries of early Christianity, there were many books widely considered by the church to be inspired, but there was no single formally recognized New Testament canon. The process was characterized by a compilation of books that apostolic tradition considered authoritative in worship and teaching, relevant to the historical situations in which they lived, and consonant with the Old Testament.

neg: Christian biblical canons introduce the text. Still, there were unsuccessful attempts even as late as 1290 AD to include in the Armenian canon several apocryphal books: Advice of the Mother of God to the Apostles, the Books of Criapos, and the ever-popular Epistle of Barnabas. The Armenian Apostolic church at times has included the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs in its Old Testament and the Third Epistle to the Corinthians, but does not always list it with the other 27 canonical New Testament books. Before the Protestant Reformation, there was the Council of Florence (1439–1443). During the life, and with the approval of

neg: Catholic theology (with some variations), and the 27 books of the New Testament containing books originally written primarily in Greek. The Roman Catholic and Orthodox canons include other books from the Septuagint Greek Jewish canon which Roman Catholics call Deuterocanonical. Protestants consider these books apocryphal. Some versions of the Christian Bible have a separate Apocrypha section for the books not considered canonical by the publisher. Roman Catholic theology distinguishes two senses of scripture: the literal and the spiritual. The "literal" sense of understanding scripture is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound

neg: Biblical canon the matter, however, they were not defining something new, but instead "were ratifying what had already become the mind of the Church". Thus from the 4th century there existed unanimity in the West concerning the New Testament canon (as it is today), and by the 5th century the East, with a few exceptions, had come to accept the Book of Revelation and thus had come into harmony on the matter of the New Testament canon. As the canon crystallised, non-canonical texts fell into relative disfavour and neglect. Martin Luther (1483–1546) moved seven Old-Testament books (Tobit, Judith, 1-2 Maccabees, Book of

neg: Historiography of early Christianity Peshitta appears to be influenced). Later Jerome would express his preference for adhering strictly to the Jewish canon, but his view held little currency even in his own day. It was not until the Protestant Reformation that substantial numbers of Christians began to reject those books of the Septuagint which are not found in the Jewish canon, referring to them as biblical apocrypha. In addition, some New Testament books were also disputed, see Antilegomena. The Historicity of the canonical Gospels refers to the reliability and historic character of the four New Testament gospels as historical documents. These gospels, Matthew, Mark,

neg: Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon of Rome. The Ethiopic Didascalia, or Didesqelya, is a book of Church order in 43 chapters, distinct from the Didascalia Apostolorum, but similar to books I–VII of the Apostolic Constitutions, where it most likely finds its origins. There is a project underway to translate the complete Ethiopian canon into English for the benefit of Ethiopian expatriates. Old Testament New Testament Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon The Orthodox Tewahedo churches within the Oriental Orthodox Church currently have the largest and most diverse biblical canon in traditional Christendom. Western scholars have classified the books of the Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon into two categories

neg: Melito's canon Melito's canon Melito's canon is attributed to Melito of Sardis, one of the early Church Fathers of the 2nd century. Melito provides what is possibly the earliest known Christian canon of what he termed the "Old Testament", having traveled to Palestine (probably to the library at Caesarea Maritima) seeking to acquire accurate information about which books should be accepted as canonical. Other candidates for earliest Christian canon include the Bryennios List and the Muratorian fragment. The "Catholic Encyclopedia" states that "Melito's canon consists exclusively of the protocanonicals minus Esther". Nehemiah and Lamentations are also not mentioned, but the former is

neg: Apocrypha tradition. With them, these apocryphal books were highly esteemed. A well-known Gnostic apocryphal book is the Gospel of Thomas, the only complete text of which was found in the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. The Gospel of Judas, a Gnostic gospel, also received much media attention when it was reconstructed in 2006. Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians as well as Protestants generally agree on the canon of the New Testament, see Development of the New Testament canon. The Ethiopian Orthodox have in the past also included I & II Clement and Shepherd of Hermas in their New Testament

neg: New Testament apocrypha modern lists; for example, the Book of Revelation was regarded as disputed by some Christians (see Antilegomena), while Shepherd of Hermas was considered genuine by others, and appears (after the Book of Revelation) in the Codex Sinaiticus. The Syriac Peshitta, used by all the various Syrian Churches, originally did not include 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude and Revelation (and this canon of 22 books is the one cited by John Chrysostom (~347-407) and Theodoret (393-466) from the School of Antioch). Western Syrians have added the remaining five books to their New Testament canons in modern times (such as

neg: Biblical canon theologians like Origen of Alexandria may have been using—or at least were familiar with—the same 27 books found in modern New Testament editions, though there were still disputes over the canonicity of some of the writings (see also Antilegomena). Likewise by 200, the Muratorian fragment shows that there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to what is now the New Testament, which included four gospels and argued against objections to them. Thus, while there was a good measure of debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the major writings were accepted by almost all Christians

neg: Christianity in the 4th century and that Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus are examples of these Bibles. Together with the Peshitta and Codex Alexandrinus, these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles. In order to form a New Testament canon of uniquely Christian works, proto-orthodox Christians went through a process that was complete in the West by the beginning of the fifth century. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, in his Easter letter of 367, which was approved at the Quinisext Council, listed the same twenty-seven New Testament books as found in the Canon of Trent. The first council that accepted the present canon of the New

neg: Apostolic Constitutions 692 but rejected by Pope Constantine. In the Western Church only fifty of these canons circulated, translated to Latin by Dionysius Exiguus on about 500 AD, and included in the Western collections and afterwards in the "Corpus Juris Canonici". Canon n. 85 is a list of canonical books: a 46-book Old Testament canon which essentially corresponds to that of the Septuagint, 26 books of what is now the New Testament (excludes Revelation), two Epistles of Clement, and the Apostolic Constitutions themselves, also here attributed to Clement, at least as compiler. It is also known as the Epitome, and usually named

neg: Development of the New Testament canon if they wished to deny that Marcion's list was the true one, it was incumbent on them to define what the true one "was." The expansion phase of the "New Testament canon" thus could have begun in response to Marcion's proposed "limited canon". The Muratorian fragment is the earliest known example of a defined list of mostly New Testament books. It survives, damaged and thus incomplete, as a bad Latin translation of an original, no longer extant, Greek text that is usually dated in the late 2nd century, although a few scholars have preferred a 4th-century date. This is an

neg: Maccabees Second Maccabees, which describe in detail the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem and the lighting of the menorah. These books are not part of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) which came from the Jewish canon; however, they were part of the Alexandrian canon which is also called the Septuagint (sometimes abbreviated LXX). Both books are included in the Old Testament used by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, since those churches consider the books deuterocanonical. They are not included in the Old Testament books in most Protestant Bibles since most Protestants consider the books apocryphal. Multiple references to Hanukkah are also

neg: New Testament same list first. These councils also provided the canon of the Old Testament, which included the so-called apocryphal books . The original texts were written in the first century of the Christian Era, in Greek, which was the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean from the conquests of Alexander the Great (335–323 BC) until the Muslim conquests in the 7th century AD. All the works that eventually became incorporated into the New Testament are believed to have been written no later than around 120 AD. John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of

neg: Biblical canon Protestant Bibles in Russia and Ethiopia usually follow the local Orthodox order for the New Testament. The Syriac Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East both adhere to the Peshitta liturgical tradition, which historically excludes five books of the New Testament Antilegomena: 2 John, 3 John, 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation. However, those books are included in certain Bibles of the modern Syriac traditions. Other New Testament works that are generally considered apocryphal nonetheless appear in some Bibles and manuscripts. For instance, the Epistle to the Laodiceans was included in numerous Latin Vulgate manuscripts, in the eighteen German

neg: Development of the New Testament canon following "Syrian catalogue of St. Catherine's", c. 400: The Syriac Peshitta, used by all the various Syriac Churches, originally did not include 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude and Revelation (and this canon of 22-books is the one cited by John Chrysostom (~347–407) and Theodoret (393–466) from the School of Antioch). It also includes Psalm 151 and Psalm 152–155 and 2 Baruch. Western Syrians have added the remaining 5 books to their NT canons in modern times (such as the "Lee Peshitta" of 1823). Today, the official lectionaries followed by the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, with headquarters at Kottayam

neg: Religious text canon refers to the generally accepted, uniform, and often unchanging collection of texts which a religious denomination considers comprehensive in terms of their specific application of texts. For example, the content of a Protestant Bible may differ from the content of a Catholic Bible - insofar as the Protestant Old Testament does not include the Deuterocanonical books while the Roman Catholic canon does. Protestants and Catholics use the same 27 book NT canon, as well as the same 39 book OT protocanon, also shared by Jews. The word "canon" comes from the Sumerian word meaning "standard". The terms "scripture" and

neg: Christian biblical canons Eastern Orthodox books of the Old Testament include the Roman Catholic deuterocanonical books, plus 3 Maccabees and 1 Esdras (also included in the Clementine Vulgate), while Baruch is divided from the Epistle of Jeremiah, making a total of 49 Old Testament books in contrast with the Protestant 39-book canon. Other texts printed in Orthodox Bibles are considered of some value (like the additional Psalm 151, and the Prayer of Manasseh) or are included as an appendix (like the Greek 4 Maccabees, and the Slavonic 2 Esdras). Most of the Old Testament books of the Protestant Apocrypha are called deuterocanonical by

neg: Development of the New Testament canon writers. (Books not attributed to these three are: Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, James, and Jude. The authorship of Hebrews has long been disputed.) 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: 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

neg: New Testament apocrypha Fathers. While some of the following works appear in complete Bibles from the fourth century, such as 1 Clement and The Shepherd of Hermas, showing their general popularity, they were not included when the canon was formally decided at the end of that century. Among historians of early Christianity the books are considered invaluable, especially those that almost made it into the final canon, such as Shepherd of Hermas. Bart Ehrman, for example, said: The victors in the struggles to establish Christian Orthodoxy not only won their theological battles, they also rewrote the history of the conflict; later readers then

neg: Development of the Old Testament canon Old Testament part as stated: The 'two books of Esdras' referred to in the canon lists of both North African councils are now commonly recognised as corresponding to the books entitled Esdras A and Esdras B in manuscripts of the Septuagint and Vetus Latina; which in modern schlarship are known as 'Greek Esdras' and 'Ezra-Nehemiah' respectively. Augustine of Hippo is referring to both these texts when says: "...and the two of Ezra, which last look more like a sequel to the continuous regular history which terminates with the books of Kings and Chronicles." The five books of Solomon refer to

neg: Development of the Old Testament canon named as Canonical books the books of the Hebrew Bible and the deuterocanonical books named as "Ecclesiastical" books. Pope Innocent I (405 AD) in a letter sent to the bishop of Toulouse cited as Canonical books the books of the Hebrew Bible plus the deuterocanonical books as a part of the Old Testament Canon. The Decretum Gelasianum which is a work written by an anonymous scholar between 519 and 553 contains a list of books of Scripture presented as having been made Canonical by the Council of Rome (382 AD). This list mentions the Hebrew Bible plus the deuterocanonical books

neg: Apocrypha traditional 27 books of the New Testament. Protestants also rejected the Catholic term "deuterocanonical" for these writings, preferring to apply the term "apocryphal" which was already in use for other early and disputed writings. As today (but along with others reasons), various reformers argued that those books contained doctrinal or other errors and thus should not have been added to the canon for that reason. The differences between canons can be seen under Biblical canon and Development of the Christian biblical canon. Explaining the Eastern Orthodox Church's canon is made difficult because of differences of perspective with the Roman Catholic

neg: Andrew Steinmann Andrew Steinmann Andrew Steinmann is Distinguished Professor of Theology and Hebrew at Concordia University Chicago. He has authored a dozen books and numerous articles relating to Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, Biblical Hebrew, and Biblical Aramaic. His publications include books on the Old Testament canon, biblical chronology, Hebrew and Aramaic grammar, and commentaries on several Old Testament books. Steinmann attended the University of Cincinnati, graduating with a B. S. in Chemical Engineering. He pursued studies to enter the ministry of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, receiving a M. Div. from Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Subsequently he served as Associate Pastor

neg: Christian biblical canons Christian biblical canons A Christian biblical canon is the set of books that a particular Christian denomination or denominational family regards as being divinely inspired and thus constituting an authorised Christian Bible. Such bibles are always divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Early Church primarily used the Greek Septuagint (or LXX) as its source for the Old Testament. Among Aramaic speakers, the Targum was also widely used. The apostles did not leave a defined set of scriptures; instead the canon of both the Old Testament and the New Testament developed over time. The Catholic Encyclopedia article

neg: Development of the New Testament canon day called that of the sun" (Sunday) alongside the "writings of the prophets." A defined set of four gospels (the "Tetramorph") was asserted by Irenaeus, "c". 180, who refers to it directly. By the early 3rd century, Origen may have been using the same twenty-seven books as in the present New Testament canon, though there were still disputes over the acceptance of the Letter to the Hebrews, James, II Peter, II John, III John, Jude and Revelation, known as the Antilegomena. Likewise, the Muratorian fragment is evidence that, perhaps as early as 200, there existed a set of Christian writings

neg: Christianity and Judaism have been handed down to this day by apostolic succession. Christians refer to the biblical books about Jesus as the New Testament, and to the canon of Hebrew books as the Old Testament. Judaism does not accept the retronymic labeling of its sacred texts as the "Old Testament", and some Jews refer to the New Testament as the Christian Testament or Christian Bible. Judaism rejects all claims that the Christian New Covenant supersedes, abrogates, fulfills, or is the unfolding or consummation of the covenant expressed in the Written and Oral Torahs. Therefore, just as Christianity does not accept that Mosaic

neg: Development of the New Testament canon Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 350) from his "Catechetical Lectures" 4.36: The Council of Laodicea, "c." 363, was one of the first councils 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, sometimes attributed to the Council of Laodicea is a later addition according to most scholars and has a 22-book OT

neg: New Testament are incorporated (along with readings from the Old Testament) into the various Christian liturgies. The New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music. The New Testament is a collection of Christian works written in the common (Koine) Greek language of the first century, at different times by various writers, and the modern consensus is that it provides important evidence regarding Judaism in the first century AD. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books. The canon or list of the books of

neg: Development of the Old Testament canon Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, and Ecclesiasticus. The four books of Kings refer to the two books of Samuel and the two books of Kings (see Books of Kings Composition) Successively the Council of Carthage (419) in its "Canon 24" listed exactly the same Old Testament Canon of the previous councils. Consequently the Roman Catholic canon established by the Council of Trent in 1546 differs from that of Augustine of Hippo wrote in his book "On Christian Doctrine (Book II Chapter 8)" (397 AD) only in respect of the two books of Ezra. Augustine counted both Greek