Canon
Monday, October 17, 2022
3:26 PM
Canon--the list of writings which a religious group regards as authoritative.  For Protestant Christians, this refers to the 66 Books of the Old and New Testament.  (1) Old Testament—What Protestant Christians call the Old Testament, or First Testament, or Hebrew Bible (an inexact term) refers to the 39 books of the Jewish biblical text.  The Protestant Ordering differs from the Jewish Bible.  (a) The Jewish Ordering follows the acronym Tanakh which abbreviates: (i) the Torah consisting of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy; (ii) the Nevi'im (Prophets) consisting of Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; (iii) the Kethuvim (writings) consisting of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, The Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles; (b) The Roman Catholic (b) The Roman Catholic and Protestant Bibles contain the some books at the Tanakh with a different ordering.  (i) Pentateuch—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; (ii) History—Joshua, Jude, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 &2 Kings, 1 & 2Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther; (iii) Writings—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Song; (iv) Major Prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel; (v) Minor Prophets—Hosea, Joel, Amoz, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Hagai, Zechariah, Malachi. The Roman Catholic Bible also contains books referred to a Deutero-Canonical. ( c) The first two divisions of the Tanakh appear to be recognized as scripture by the writings of the New Testament (Matthew 5:17; 7:12; 22:40; Luke 16:16; John 13:15; 24:14; Romans 3:21).  (d) The Masoretic Text is the general consensus text of the Hebrew Bible.  (2) New Testament (a) contents: consists of twenty seven books ordered in five sections (i) Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; (ii) History—Acts; (iii)Pauline Epistles—Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon; (iv) General Epistles—Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2, and 3 John, Jude; and (v) Prophesy—Revelation.  (b) Development.  The History of the books before they became part of the "New Testament." (I) Collection Letters of Paul (Colossians 4:16, 1 Peter 3:15).  Papyrus 46--contains almost all of the Pauline epistles except the Pastorals.  Dates to about the mid first century (Comfort and Barrett) or beginning of the third (Schnelle).  The four Gospels were also collected in papyrii early. ( c) Criteria of Canonicity consisted of: Apostolicity, Catholicity, Orthodoxy, Traditional usage, Inspiration.