Biblical canon

Lore & Background

The Jewish Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) contains 24 books divided into three parts: the five books of the Torah, the eight books of the Nevi'im, and the eleven books of Ketuvim. Evidence suggests the process of canonization occurred between 200 BC and 200 AD, with a popular position that the Torah was canonized c. 200 BC, and the Writings c. 100 AD—though this position is increasingly criticised by modern scholars. The Septuagint, which closely resembles the Hebrew Bible but includes additional texts, is used as the Christian Greek Old Testament in some liturgical contexts.

Reader's Guide

The concept of a biblical canon is central to understanding how Jewish and Christian communities define their sacred scriptures. The article notes that different religious groups include different books in their canons, in varying orders, and sometimes divide or combine books. The Catholic Church and Eastern Christian churches hold that certain deuterocanonical books and passages are part of the Old Testament canon, while Protestant canons contain 39 Old Testament books. The New Testament almost always contains 27 books. For churches espousing sola scriptura, a clear and complete list of canonical books is necessary and critical; for those espousing sacred Tradition or Magisterium, the issue can be more organic. Theologian William J. Abraham suggested that the primary purpose in canonizing Scripture was to provide an authorized list of books for use in worship, with actual usage in the Church being the factor that ultimately carried the day.

Did You Know?

• The English word 'canon' comes from the Greek kanōn, meaning 'rule' or 'measuring stick'.
• The Jewish Tanakh contains 24 books, while the Catholic Old Testament contains 46 books.
• The Samaritan canon includes only the Torah, rejecting all other parts of the Bible.

The Meaning and Origins of 'Canon'

The term 'canon' traces back to the Greek word kanōn, which literally signified a rule or measuring stick—a tool for establishing standards. Over centuries, this concept of measurement was applied to scripture itself. By the fourteenth century, the word had come to designate the specific collection of books that the Christian Church recognized as genuine and divinely inspired. This semantic journey from a physical measuring instrument to a theological boundary marker reflects how religious communities sought to define the limits of authoritative text. The very act of naming a canon implies a standard against which texts are measured: does a given writing meet the criteria of authenticity and inspiration that a particular faith community has established? This framing reveals that canon formation is not merely a passive gathering of ancient scrolls but an active, deliberate process of judgment and selection carried out by religious authorities across denominations.

The Jewish Canon and Its Contested Formation

Rabbinic Judaism's scriptural collection, the Tanakh, comprises twenty-four books organized into three major divisions: the Torah (five books of teaching), the Nevi'im (eight prophetic books), and the Ketuvim (eleven writings), composed primarily in Biblical Hebrew with some Aramaic passages. The timeline for when these books achieved canonical status remains a subject of scholarly debate. A widely cited framework places the Torah's canonization around 400 BC, the Prophets around 200 BC, and the Writings around 100 AD, possibly at a hypothetical Council of Jamnia. However, modern scholars increasingly challenge this neat sequence. Marc Zvi Brettler, for instance, argues that the scriptures beyond the Torah and Prophets remained fluid, with different Jewish communities granting authority to different texts. The overall process likely unfolded between 200 BC and 200 AD, with figures like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Judas Maccabeus playing roles in collecting and preserving sacred writings, and some scholars even attributing canon-fixation to the Hasmonean dynasty.

The Samaritan Pentateuch and a Singular Canon

The Samaritan community, whose distinct identity emerged following the Assyrian conquest of Samaria in 722 BC, preserves a version of the Torah written in the Samaritan alphabet. Their scriptural canon is strikingly narrow: they accept only the five books of the Torah as inspired scripture, rejecting all other portions of the Bible—a position scholars suggest may parallel that of the ancient Sadducees. The Samaritan Pentateuch diverges from the Masoretic Text in both minor ways, such as altered genealogical ages, and major theological claims, including a commandment mandating monogamy that appears exclusively in their version. Most significantly, their text places Moses's receipt of the Ten Commandments on Mount Gerizim rather than Mount Sinai, and directs sacrificial worship to Gerizim instead of Jerusalem. Despite these differences, scholars consult the Samaritan text to reconstruct the original Pentateuch and trace text-family development, with some Dead Sea Scrolls identified as proto-Samaritan. The Samaritans in Nablus claim to possess the oldest extant copy of the Torah, believed to be written by Abisha, grandson of Aaron, reinforcing their self-identification as the true guardians of the Law.

The Christian Canon in Plural Form

Rather than a single unified list, the Christian biblical canon exists in multiple configurations shaped by denominational authority and historical council decisions. The Council of Trent (1545–1563) formally established the Catholic 73-book canon: forty-six Old Testament books (including deuterocanonical works) and twenty-seven New Testament books. Protestant Bibles, by contrast, recognize thirty-nine Old Testament books, while the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Assyrian churches each maintain their own distinct lists of accepted texts. The New Testament portion is remarkably stable across traditions, almost always containing twenty-seven books: four gospels, Acts, twenty-one epistles, and Revelation. The Old Testament section draws heavily from the Hebrew Bible's twenty-four books but reorders and subdivides them, and the Septuagint in Koine Greek—closely resembling the Hebrew Bible yet including additional texts—serves as the Greek Old Testament in certain liturgical settings. Some Christian groups also maintain an 'open canon,' recognizing additional holy scriptures that fall outside the traditional Bible. Earlier regional councils, including Rome (382), Hippo (393), and Carthage (397 and 419), had already affirmed scriptural collections before Trent's definitive pronouncement.