In his honest - selling novel , " The Da Vinci Code , " Dan Brown wrote that the Bible was assembled during the illustrious Council of Nicea in 325 C.E. , when Emperor Constantine and Christian church authority purportedly banned tough books that did n’t adjust to their secret agenda .
Except that ’s not how it really pass . “The Da Vinci Code " was fiction , but Brown was n’t the first to accredit the Council of Nicea with decide thebooks of the Bible in orderliness . Voltaire , write in the eighteenth hundred , reiterate acenturies - sure-enough myththat the Bible was canonized in Nicea by placing all of the known books on a table , say a prayer and envision which illegitimate texts strike down to the floor .
Listing the Books of the Bible in Order
The accurate content of the Bible obviously changes depending on which denomination you follow , and at which point in other chronicle . However , the Catholic Church leadership today officially recognizes 73 books as their bible . Listed below is the canonic rules of order according to the United Conference of Catholic Bishops .
The Old Testament
The New Testament
Who Chose the Books of the Bible?
In truth , there was no single church authority or council that convened to rubber pigeonhole the scriptural canon ( prescribed list of books in the Christian Bible ) — not at Nicea or anywhere else in antiquity , explainsJason Combs , an assistant prof at Brigham Young University specializing in ancient Christianity .
" Dan Brown did us all a disservice , " Combs say . " We do n’t have evidence that any group of Christians catch together and said , ' Let ’s hash this out once and for all . ' " ( The Council of Nicea was convenedto resolve a spiritual matterunrelated to the books of the Bible . )
The Long Process of Canonization
What grounds scholars do have — in the form of theological treatise , letter and church histories that have come through for millennia — decimal point to amuch longer process of canonization .
From the first through the fourth century and beyond , unlike church leaders and theologians made contestation about which poetic books belonged in the canon , often drift their opponents as heretics .
Writing and Editing the Bible
Various masses write the historical books that make up the Bible over a period of more than 1,000 years , between1200 B.C.E. and the first one C C.E.
The Bible hold in a sort of wisdom lit , admit poetry , history , songs , tale , alphabetic character and prophetic writing . These were originally written on scrolls of sheepskin , as contradict to being encapsulated in " books " as we recollect of them today . ( Remember , theprinting presswasn’t invented until 1440 . )
Over time , the books that were deemed authentic and authoritative by the residential area who used them were included in the canyon , and the residue were discarded .
Although the mass of that editing work ended in the late 300s , the debate over which books were theologically legit carry on until at least the sixteenth century when Christian church meliorist Martin Luther issue his German rendering of the Bible .
Luther had issues with the Word of James , which underline the role of " whole shebang " alongside faith , so he bind James and Hebrews in the back of the Bible alongside Jude and Revelation , which he also thought were questionable . Combs says that in Luther ’s original Bible , those four al-Qur’an do n’t even come out in the table of contents .
Disputed, Spurious and Downright Heretical
Eusebius was a Christian historian writing in the early 300s who providedone of the early listsdeclaring which books were considered legit and which were borderline fake .
Eusebius get out his tilt down into unlike categories : recognise , disputed , specious and heretical . Among the " agnize " were the four gospel ( Matthew , Mark , Luke and John ) , Acts of the Apostles and Paul ’s epistles .
Under " disputed , " Eusebius include James and Jude — the same record book Luther did n’t care — plus a few others that are now considered canyon , like 2 Peter , 2 John and 3 John .
Eusebius ' take on the " bastardly " and " heretical " categories gives us a glimpse into just how many other text were in circulation in the second and third one C C.E.
Have you ever see of the Apocalypse of Peter , the Epistle of Barnabas or the Gospel of Thomas ? comb pronounce that there were hundreds of texts similar to those found in the New Testament and Old Testament Hebrew Bible that did n’t make it into the canon .
Why did some Holy Writ make the cut and not others ? cockscomb cites three criterion that early church leaders used .
" That last cause is so interesting , of course , because ' current Christian educational activity ' changed over hundreds of years , " Combs says .
While it ’s not genuine to say that a exclusive church council ruled on which volume to include in the canyon , it ’s honest to say that over those first few hundred of theological debate , the winners got to determine which book would stay and which had to go .
The Hebrew Bible and Books Among Religions
The Jewish faith focalise on the Old Testament , with the Torah compiling Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy .
The Old Testament is the first part of the Bible , starting with the creation of humankind and cut into into the influence of God ’s judgement , major prophets , small prophets , the history of ancient Israel and the Babylonian Exile , the Promised Land and God ’s family relationship with people .
This include Genesis , Judges , Psalms and Wisdom books . These Book often follow a reluctant prophesier who speaks to God directly . King David , Moses and Abraham are a few of the key figures .
The New Testament is the 2nd part of the Bible , which follow the life of Jesus Christ and God ’s love for humanity , and feature the Holy Spirit , Mary , Joseph and Matthew . It includes Matthew , Mark , deed and testament prophecy in Revelation .
It ’s of import to observe that not all Christian denominations consider the same books to be canon . Most Protestant Good Book have 66 books , 39 in the Protestant Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament . The Roman Catholic Bible has 73 books , including the seven known as the Apocrypha . And the Ethiopian Orthodox Church includes81 full books in its Bible , including pseudepigrapha like 1 Enoch and Jubilees .
What Are the Apocrypha?
The password " apocrypha " comes from the Greek for " obscure " or " secret . " It ’s a petty confusing because the word " apocrypha " is used in a duet of different ways when talking about Scripture outside of the stock scriptural canyon .
First , there ’s the category of " New Testament Apocrypha , " which include along leaning of noncanonical textswritten mostly in the 2d century C.E. and beyond , touch to Jesus Christ and his Apostle . As Combs say , there are 100 of these texts , and we do n’t have written specimens for all of them .
Then there ’s a subset of Old Testament books that are included in the Roman Catholic Bible . These seven Scripture , include Tobit , Judith and 1 & 2 Maccabees , are issue between the Old and New Testaments in the Catholic Bible and called " the Apocrypha " or sometimes the " Deuterocanon , " which means " second canon . "
What Are the Pseudepigrapha?
There ’s a third category called " pseudepigrapha " from the Greek for " false generator . " This list includesmore than 50 textswritten between 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E. by both Jewish and Christian writers expanding on stories and characters from the Old Testament .
Notable Old Testament pseudepigrapha let in 1 Enoch , Jubilees and the Treatise of Shem .
Stories You Didn’t Learn in Sunday School
Many of the New Testament texts intimate to Christians today were being used magisterially already in the 2nd century , but dissimilar congregations prefer some texts over others and included some texts that do n’t come out in the New Testament . Here are a few .
The Gospel of Peter
Only a fragment ofthis textwas recoup in 1886 in Egypt , but it includes the only narrative business relationship of the resurrected Jesus leaving his tomb .
According to Peter ’s adaptation , two gargantuan angel descended to the tomb and escorted the resurrected Jesus , who was also all of a sudden mammoth . But the oddest annotation was that the three figure were followed by a floating hybrid that could lecture .
The Gospel of Mary
Combs says that some apocryphal texts reflected theological and doctrinal debate going on within the other church , such as the function of char . In theGospel of Mary(discovered in the late 19th century),Mary Magdaleneis not only referred to as one of Jesus ’s disciples but perhaps his favorite one .
In this textbook , after Jesus ' resurrection , he relay esoteric precept to Mary , who then tells the other disciples . Peter ask why they should take heed to a woman , to which another adherent Levi [ Matthew ] react :
1 Enoch
supposedly written by the ancient seer Enoch before the clip of Noah , this text was well - get laid to early Christians like third - century theologian Tertullian and quoted as definitive scripture .
The textual matter is noted forits verbal description of the " Watchers,“fallenangelsmentioned briefly in the Old Testament book of Genesis . These angels lusted after human adult female and came down toEarthto be with them , creating giant issue .
In 1 Enoch , these angels also present evil into the world in the form of weapon , thaumaturgy and aphrodisiac war paint .
