The word "canon" comes from the Greek word kanon--(a rod used to measure). A biblical canon is a list of books considered authoritative as Scripture by a particular religious community.
"Inside books" are those included in a biblical canon. Sometimes which book is inside or outside depends upon whom you are talking with. For example the Roman Catholic Old Testament has more books than the Protestant one.
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Read an excerpt from The Bible: The Book that Bridges the Millennia about how our canon was formed. |
1. Bible Quiz: Read the following Hebrew Scriptures:
Do you recall where else these verses are referenced?
2. When considering what Scripture became part of the canon, do you think that decision-makers gave more weight to these books because Jesus referenced them?
3. What were the criteria for Protestants in deciding which books were to be Old Testament canon? For Roman Catholics?
How the Biblical Canon Was Chosen: The canon of the Bible was not chosen overnight.
Learn more about canonical history from other web sites.
The Biblical Canon Of The Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today by R. W. Cowley Ostkirchliche Studien, 1974, Volume 23, pp. 318-323. The Biblical corpus is recognised in Ethiopia as a limited group of writings, and is generally called 'the 81 books'. This present study is concerned with establishing the canon list considered to be normative today by the authorities most respected by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
Books of the Ethiopian Bible (the Ethiopian books are listed in a transliteration of the Amharic language.)
The Canon of the New Testament by F. F. Bruce. Chapter 3 in The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (5th edition; Leicester: Intervarsity Press, 1959)
Canon of The New Testament by W. Hartono. The question why the New Testament has twenty seven books, not more and not less, hardly comes to our mind. While all of us are unlikely to think that they just simply dropped from the sky, we may not realize the long process which took place before those twenty seven books were finally selected.
Canon of the New Testament. This article from the Roman Catholic Perspective explores the New Testament Canon; the period of discussion; the period of fixation; and subsequent history of the New Testament Canon.
Development of the New Testament Canon by Glenn Davis. This survey covers a small part of the huge body of New Testament studies --- how the Church selected certain writings as authoritative and separated them from a larger body of early Christian literature.
The Ecumenical Councils from a Roman Catholic Perspective. Lists councils and heresies from the 1st one to most recent ones. Includes the Council of Trent, which declared Protestantism a heresy.
The Hebrew and Christian Bibles: A Comparative Chart by Prof. Felix Just, S.J., Loyola Marymount University. Although the "New Testament" used by almost all Christians contains the same twenty-seven books, there are several important differences between the "Old Testament" used by various Jewish and Christian groups.
How the Books of the New Testament Were Selected, Chapter 2 of An Introduction to the New Testament by Richard Heard (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1950). The process by which the books of our New Testament came to acquire their canonical authority was a long one, and in the case of such books as II Peter and Revelation involved much controversy. There were two main stages in the growth of the canon, first a period extending from the writing of the books to about A.D. 200 when most of the New Testament books had been collected and had acquired a position of authority side by side with that of the Old Testament, and then a further period of two centuries and more in which the bounds of the New Testament were finally fixed with very general agreement.
The Origins of the Hebrew Bible and Its Components by Mark Hamilton. The sacred books that make up the anthology modern scholars call the Hebrew Bible - and Christians call the Old Testament - developed over roughly a millennium. (PBS Frontline, "From Jesus to Christ")
How the Biblical Canon Was Chosen
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Disclaimer: Some links jump to outside sites for further information on the Bible, interpretations, the canon, translations, manuscripts, resources, and other perspectives. Links do not constitute an endorsement by the Women's Division of the information on other web sites. External web sites offer us diverse perspectives; afford us an opportunity to compare them to United Methodist positions; and, encourage us to critically analyze the issues raised by The Bible: the Book that Bridges the Millennia web pages.
