The
Council of Trent (1545–1563) was an ecumenical council that explicitly laid out the 73-book canon for the
Catholic Church, consisting of 46 books in the
Old Testament and 27 books in the
New Testament. Prior to that council, the collection of scriptures was affirmed by such regional councils as the
Council of Rome (382),
Synod of Hippo (393), two of the
Councils of Carthage (397 and 419 respectively), and the
Council of Florence (1431–1449). The canons of the
Church of England and English
Presbyterians were conclusively decided 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
Eastern Orthodox Church. Various forms of
Jewish Christianity persisted until around the fifth century, and canonized very different sets of books, including
Jewish–Christian gospels which have been lost to history. These and many other works are classified as
New Testament apocrypha by scholars. 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
§ Canons of various traditions.
Purpose of canon For churches which espouse
sola scriptura it is necessary and critical to have a clear and complete list of the canonical books. For churches which espouse
sacred Tradition or
Magisterium as well as Scripture, the issue can be more organic, as the Bible is an artifact of the church rather than
vice versa. Theologian
William J. Abraham has suggested that in the primitive church and patristic period the "primary purpose in canonizing Scripture was to provide an authorized list of books for use in worship. The primary setting envisaged for the use of Scripture was not that of the science of theology, or that of the debates of scholars, but the spiritual nourishment of the people of God...the factor which ultimately carried the day (for what was in the canon) was actual usage in the Church."
Early Church Earliest Christian communities The
Early Church used the
Old Testament, namely the
Septuagint (LXX) among Greek speakers, with a canon perhaps as found in the
Bryennios List or
Melito's canon. The
Apostles did not otherwise leave a defined set of new
scriptures; instead, the
New Testament developed over time. Writings attributed to the apostles circulated among the earliest
Christian communities. Possible apostolicity was a strong argument used to suggest the canonical status of a book.
Marcion's list Marcion of Sinope was the first Christian leader in recorded history (though later considered
heretical) to propose and delineate a uniquely Christian canon (c. 140). This included 10 epistles from
Paul, as well as an edited version of the
Gospel of Luke, which today is known as the
Gospel of Marcion. By doing this, he established a particular way of looking at
religious texts that persists in Christian thought today. After Marcion, Christians began to divide texts into those that aligned well with the
canon (meaning 'measuring line', 'rule', or 'principle') of accepted theological thought and those that promoted heresy. This played a major role in finalizing the structure of the collection of works called the Bible. It has been proposed that the initial impetus for the
proto-orthodox Christian project of canonization flowed from opposition to the list produced by Marcion. Irenaeus additionally quotes from passages of all the books that would later be put in the New Testament canon except the
Letter to Philemon,
II Peter,
III John, and the
Epistle of Jude in
Against Heresies, refers to the
Shepherd of Hermas as "scripture" and appears to regard
I Clement as authoritative. , an early 3rd-century collection of
Pauline epistles By the early 3rd century, Christian 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 by the middle of the 3rd century.
Eastern Church Alexandrian Fathers Origen of Alexandria (184/85–253/54), an early scholar involved in the codification of the biblical canon, had a thorough education both in Christian theology and in pagan philosophy, but was posthumously condemned at the
Second Council of Constantinople in 553 since some of his teachings were considered to be heresy. Origen's canon included all of the books in the current New Testament canon except for four books:
James,
2nd Peter, and the
2nd and
3rd epistles of John. He also included the
Shepherd of Hermas which was later rejected. The religious scholar
Bruce Metzger described Origen's efforts, saying "The process of canonization represented by Origen proceeded by way of selection, moving from many candidates for inclusion to fewer." In his Easter letter of 367, Patriarch
Athanasius of Alexandria gave a list of exactly the same books that would become the
New Testament–27 book–proto-canon, and used the phrase "being canonized" (
kanonizomena) in regard to them.
Fifty Bibles of Constantine In 331,
Constantine I commissioned
Eusebius to deliver fifty Bibles for the
Church of Constantinople.
Athanasius recorded
Alexandrian scribes around 340 preparing Bibles for
Constans. Little else is known, though there is plenty of speculation. For example, it is speculated that this may have provided motivation for canon lists, and that
Codex Vaticanus and
Codex Sinaiticus are examples of these Bibles. Those codices contain almost a full version of the
Septuagint; Vaticanus lacks only 1–3
Maccabees and Sinaiticus lacks 2–3 Maccabees,
1 Esdras,
Baruch and
Letter of Jeremiah. Together with the
Peshitta and
Codex Alexandrinus, these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles. There is no evidence among the
canons of the First Council of Nicaea of any determination on the canon; however,
Jerome (347–420), in his
Prologue to Judith, makes the claim that the
Book of Judith was "found by the Nicene Council to have been counted among the number of the Sacred Scriptures".
Eastern canons The Eastern Churches had, in general, a weaker feeling than those in the West for the necessity of making sharp delineations with regard to the canon. They were more conscious of the gradation of spiritual quality among the books that they accepted (for example, 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. For example, the
Trullan Synod of 691–692, which
Pope Sergius I (in office 687–701) rejected (see also
Pentarchy), endorsed the following lists of canonical writings: the
Apostolic Canons (c. 385), the
Synod of Laodicea (c. 363), the
Third Synod of Carthage (c. 397), and the
39th Festal Letter of Athanasius (367). And yet, these lists do not agree. Similarly, the New Testament canons of the
Syriac,
Armenian,
Egyptian Coptic and
Ethiopian Churches all have minor differences, yet five of these Churches are part of the
same communion and hold the same theological beliefs.
Peshitta The
Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the
Syriac tradition. Most of the
deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament are found in the Syriac, and the
Wisdom of Sirach is held to have been translated from the
Hebrew and not from the
Septuagint. This New Testament, originally excluding certain
disputed books (2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation), had become a standard by the early 5th century. The five excluded books were added in the
Harklean Version (616) of
Thomas of Harqel. The standard
United Bible Societies 1905 edition of the New Testament of the Peshitta was based on editions prepared by Syriacists
Philip E. Pusey (d. 1880),
George Gwilliam (d. 1914) and
John Gwyn. All twenty seven books of the common western
New Testament are included in this British & Foreign Bible Society's 1905 Peshitta edition.
Western Church Latin Fathers The first Council that accepted the present Catholic canon (the
Canon of Trent of 1546) may have been the
Synod of Hippo Regius, held in North Africa in 393. A brief summary of the acts was read at and accepted by the
Council of Carthage (397) and also the
Council of Carthage (419). These Councils took place under the authority of
Augustine of Hippo (354–430), who regarded the canon as already closed.
Augustine of Hippo declared without qualification that one is to "prefer those that are received by all Catholic Churches to those which some of them do not receive" (On Christian Doctrines 2.12). In the same passage, Augustine asserted that these dissenting churches should be outweighed by the opinions of "the more numerous and weightier churches", which would include Eastern Churches, the prestige of which Augustine stated moved him to include the
Book of Hebrews among the canonical writings, though he had reservation about its authorship.
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 church however, was subject to ratification; and the concurrence of the
Roman see it received when
Innocent I and
Gelasius I (414) repeated the same index of biblical books. This canon remained undisturbed till the sixteenth century, and was sanctioned by the
council of Trent at its fourth session." According to Lee Martin McDonald, the
Revelation was added to the list in 419. These councils were convened under the influence of
Augustine of Hippo, who regarded the canon as already closed.
Pope Damasus I's
Council of Rome in 382 (if the
Decretum is correctly associated with it) issued a biblical canon identical to that mentioned above. When bishops and Councils spoke on the matter of the Biblical canon, 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, with the exception of the
Book of Revelation. In the 5th century the
East too, with a few exceptions, came to accept the Book of Revelation and thus came into harmony on the matter of the New Testament canon. As the primary canon crystallised, non-canonical texts fell into relative disfavour and neglect.
Council of Florence , listing "The Books of the Old Testament", "The Books called Apocrypha", and "The Books of the New Testament" Before the
Protestant Reformation, the
Council of Florence (1439–1443) took place. With the approval of this
ecumenical council, Pope
Eugenius IV (in office 1431–1447) issued several
papal bulls (
decrees) with a view to restoring the
Eastern churches, which the Catholic Church considered as
schismatic bodies, into
communion with Rome. Catholic theologians regard these documents as
infallible statements of
Catholic doctrine. The
Decretum pro Jacobitis contains a complete list of the books received by the Catholic Church as inspired, but omits the terms "canon" and "canonical". The Council of Florence therefore taught the inspiration of all the Scriptures, but did not formally pronounce itself on canonicity.
Luther's canon and apocrypha Martin Luther (1483–1546) proposed that the genuine mark of canonical material was that it preached Christ. All of these apocrypha are called
anagignoskomena by the Eastern Orthodox Church per the
Synod of Jerusalem. As with the
Lutheran Churches, the
Anglican Communion accepts "the Apocrypha for instruction in life and manners, but not for the establishment of doctrine", and many "lectionary readings in
The Book of Common Prayer are taken from the Apocrypha", with these lessons being "read in the same ways as those from the Old Testament". The Protestant Apocrypha contains three books (3 Esdras, 4 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh) that are accepted by many Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches as canonical, but are regarded as non-canonical by the Catholic Church and are therefore not included in modern Catholic Bibles.
Anabaptists use the
Luther Bible, which contains the intertestamental books;
Amish wedding ceremonies include "the retelling of the marriage of Tobias and Sarah in the Apocrypha". The fathers of Anabaptism, such as
Menno Simons, quoted "them [the Apocrypha] with the same authority and nearly the same frequency as books of the
Hebrew Bible" and the texts regarding the martyrdoms under Antiochus IV in
1 Maccabees and
2 Maccabees are held in high esteem by the Anabaptists, who historically faced persecution. Lutheran and Anglican lectionaries continue to include readings from the Apocrypha.
Council of Trent In response to
Martin Luther's demands, the
Council of Trent on 8 April 1546 approved the present
Catholic Bible canon, which includes the
deuterocanonical books, and the decision was confirmed by an
anathema by vote (24 yea, 15 nay, 16 abstain). The council confirmed the same list as produced at the
Council of Florence in 1442, Augustine's 397–419
Councils of Carthage, The Old Testament books that had been rejected by Luther were later termed "deuterocanonical", not indicating a lesser degree of inspiration, but a later time of final approval. The
Sixto-Clementine Vulgate contained in the Appendix several books considered as apocryphal by the council:
Prayer of Manasseh,
3 Esdras, and
4 Esdras. 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.
Protestant confessions Several
Protestant confessions of faith identify the 27 books of the New Testament canon by name, including the
French Confession of Faith (1559), the
Belgic Confession (1561), and the
Westminster Confession of Faith (1647). The
Second Helvetic Confession (1562), affirms "both Testaments to be the true Word of God" and appealing to
Augustine's
De Civitate Dei, it rejected the canonicity of the Apocrypha. The
Thirty-Nine Articles, issued by the Church of England in 1563, names the books of the Old Testament, but not the New Testament. The Belgic Confession and the Westminster Confession named the 39 books in the Old Testament and, apart from the aforementioned New Testament books, expressly rejected the canonicity of any others. The Lutheran
Epitome of the Formula of Concord of 1577 declared that the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures comprised the Old and New Testaments alone.
Luther himself did not accept the canonicity of the Apocrypha although he believed that its books were "Not Held Equal to the Scriptures, but Are Useful and Good to Read". Lutheran and Anglican lectionaries continue to include readings from the Apocrypha. Thus Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches generally do not view these New Testament apocrypha as part of the Bible. == Canons of various Jewish and Christian traditions ==