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As children, many of us Protestant Christians struggled in Sunday School class This page is
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or in Vacation Bible School to remember all the books of the Bible in order. We available to
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even sang songs to help us remember whether Proverbs came before or after view and
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Psalms or where Hebrews was located. It never occurred to us that there print in
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PhotoTour might be more than one way to arrange the books of the Bible, or even that Adobe
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As accustomed as many of us are to seeing the books of the Bible in a certain
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arrangement, it is easy to forget that such arrangement is the product of a
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certain religious tradition, and that other religious traditions might have other
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ways of seeing the biblical books. For some, their own particular arrangement
or selection of books to include is just the truth of the matter, and they will Load PDF
defend their own tradition’s perspective. Others see the authority of Scripture version
as partly a function of use within the community of Faith over the centuries,
and therefore place more emphasis on the message of Scripture rather than If you do not
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In any case, the issue here is the nature of the canon, the authoritative Reader, it is
collection of books that we generally call Scripture. The word canon comes available free
from a Greek word that means "standard" or "measurement." It simply refers at:
to the list of writings that are considered authoritative within a religious
group.

There was no "official" canon for either Judaism or Christianity until tensions
between the two traditions forced official lists to be made. The Jewish canon is
usually associated with the Council of Jamnia around AD 90, while the
Christian canon was not defined until the fourth century and could still be
debated in both Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism as late as the 16th
century.

Generally, for the Old Testament books the Christian tradition simply accepted
the Jewish collection of books that were considered authoritative by their use
in the community. However, since the Jewish canon was not officially set,
some books were in use within Judaism that had not yet reached the status of
being authoritative. That fact allowed different branches of the Christian
church to take slightly different views of some of these books, primarily those
that dated to the intertestamental period of the first three centuries BC. For
example, some writings were accepted in the Western Church that were not
as readily accepted in the Eastern churches (see further below).

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The Christian churches tended to follow the arrangement of Old Testament

books within the third century BC Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures,
the Septuagint. These were basically arranged topically, with the so-called
"law" books first, followed by historical books, and ending with the
prophetic collection. This arrangement fit well with the categorical thinking
influenced by Greek philosophy, and also fit theologically with the role of
prophets as understood in the early Church. Ending the Old Testament canon
with the prophets, understood as predictors of the future, set the backdrop for
the New Testament writings.

However, the Jewish tradition chose a more theological organization for the
Old Testament canon. There is debate as to whether this was the retention of
an older arrangement or was a deliberate attempt to distance itself from the
Christian canon. In any case, the arrangement reflected the relative status of
the three major divisions of the Hebrew canon. The Torah was the primary
foundation of the community. The Prophets both Former Prophets (Joshua,
Judges, Samuel, Kings) and Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the
Book of the Twelve), were the practical outworking of those foundational
tenets. The Writings were the reflective and liturgical dimensions of the
tradition. This difference in approaches to the canon explains the different
order of books between the Jewish and Christian versions of the Hebrew Bible.

In the Jewish canon, the books of The Torah have different names than in the
Christian canons, taken from the first Hebrew words of the book: Berishit ("in
beginning"), Shemot ("names"), Vayikra ("and he called"), Bemidbar ("in the
wilderness"), and Debarim ("words"). The Christian names of the books are
from the titles in the second century Greek translation, the Septuagint.

During the 200 years before the birth of Jesus and into the first centuries of
the Christian era, in both Judaism and Christianity there were a great number
of writings circulating within the various communities in addition to what we
think of as the biblical books. Generally in Judaism, in spite of some other
writings appearing in the third century BC Greek translation (Septuagint) only
the books that had gained authoritative status prior to the third century BC
were accepted as part of the Jewish canon. This left out most of the
apocalyptic works that flourished from 200 BC to the first century AD. An
exception to this may be the Book of Daniel, which some scholars date to
around 165 BC, a product of the Maccabean Wars.

However since there was as yet no official New Testament canon, the early
Christian churches were more open to these newer writings. Many were
widely circulated and read in churches throughout both western and eastern
areas of the Church. Over time, various Christian communities and traditions
came to acknowledge some of these as authoritative.

Many of these writings were included in the lists of authoritative books in

various places in both Eastern and Western churches as early as the fourth
and fifth centuries. Yet they were not officially recognized by Roman Catholics
until the 15th century (Council of Florence, 1431-1449) nor by Eastern
Orthodoxy until the 17th century (Council of Jerusalem, 1672). These
authoritative books that are not a part of the Hebrew Old Testament are
sometimes referred to as Deuterocanonical or a "second canon." This
distinguishes them from the books that are shared by both Catholic/Eastern
and Protestant traditions, sometimes referred to as Protocanonical Books
("first canon").

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There were also other mostly Christian writings, although considered helpful
in some way, that were not considered authoritative for doctrine. These
"helpful" but not authoritative books are often referred to as the Apocrypha.
However, since this term is used in various ways in different church traditions
it is somewhat ambiguous.

Other writings, many of which claimed authority by linking to some prominent

figure of the past, such as The Gospel of Thomas, are called
Pseudepigrapha by Protestants ("false writings," referring to the inauthentic
connection to some authority figure). However, these books are also called the
Apocrypha by Catholics ("hidden things"). The Pseudepigrapha were never
accepted as authoritative by the larger Church. However, the New Testament
Book of Jude references both The Assumption of Moses (Jude 9) and The Book
of Enoch (Jude 14-15). Some scholars argue that influences from these and
other pseudepigraphic writings can be discerned in both New Testament
Gospels and Epistles.

During the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, some of the Reformers
rejected these Deuterocanonical books, both on historical and theological
grounds. They accepted only those Old Testament books that were included in
the Hebrew Bible, so the Deuterocanonical books are not generally included in
the Protestant canon. However, in some Protestant traditions, such as
Anglicans, the Deuterocanonical books are still included and are used in the
cycle of lectionary readings for worship.

Some Protestants, following Martin Luther, have tended to refer to the

Deuterocanonical books as the Apocrypha. In some circles, this took on
strongly pejorative connotations implying "suspect" or "of questionable
origin." However, in many cases Apocrypha was simply a designation for the
Deuterocanonical books, and the terms were used interchangeably. These
"apocryphal" books were included with the 1611 Authorized Version (King
James Version) yet were gradually eliminated from most Protestant Bibles
beginning around the middle of the 17th century.

Several New Testament books were challenged by some of the Reformers,

such as Hebrews and the book of James, but they were eventually fully
accepted. The New Testament canon is virtually identical in all branches of
Christianity.

These differences in the Old Testament canon between Christian traditions

should not obscure the fact that the canon of the Old Testament is very
similar for both Christians and Jews, as well as for different groups within
Christianity. It is helpful to understand the differences and the reasons for
them. But there probably should be more attention paid to the
similarities, and the implications that has for understanding the Bible
as Scripture for the Church.

Deuterocanonical books are in italics

Jewish Catholic Orthodox* Protestant

Torah Pentateuch Pentateuch Pentateuch

Genesis Genesis Genesis Genesis

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Exodus Exodus Exodus Exodus

Leviticus Leviticus Leviticus Leviticus
Numbers Numbers Numbers Numbers
Deuteronomy Deuteronomy Deuteronomy Deuteronomy

Prophets Historical Historical

Historical Books
(Former) Books Books

Joshua Joshua Joshua Joshua

Judges Judges Judges Judges
Ruth Ruth Ruth
1-2 Samuel (1-2 1-2 Samuel (1-2 1-2 Samuel (1-2 1-2 Samuel (1-2
Kings) 1 Kings) 1 Kings) 1 Kings) 1
1-2 Kings (3-4 1-2 Kings (3-4 1-2 Kings (3-4 1-2 Kings (3-4
Kings) Kings) Kings) Kings)
1-2 Chronicles 1-2 Chronicles 1-2 Chronicles
1 Esdras (Greek
1 Esdras (Ezra, Ezra) 2 Ezra (1 Esdras,
2 Esdras) 3 2 Esdras (1 2 Esdras) 3
2 Esdras Esdras, Ezra) 3 Nehemiah (2
(Nehemiah) 2 Esdras Esdras)
Tobit (Nehemiah)
Judith Tobit
Esther (with Judith Esther
additions 4) Esther (with
1-2 Maccabees additions 4)
1-2 Maccabees
3-4 Maccabees

Prophets
(Latter)

Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Book of the
Twelve 5

The Writings Wisdom Books Wisdom Books Poetic Books

Psalms Job Job Job

Proverbs Psalms Psalms Psalms
[Odes 6]
Job Proverbs Proverbs Proverbs
Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs 7 Song of Songs 7 Song of Songs 7 Song of Songs 7
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
Daniel
Ezra

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Nehemiah
1-2 Chronicles
Wisdom of Wisdom of
Solomon Solomon
Ecclesiasticus Sirach
(Sirach) 8 (Ecclesiasticus) 8

Prophets Prophets Prophets

Isaiah Isaiah Isaiah

Jeremiah Jeremiah Jeremiah
Lamentations Lamentations Lamentations
Baruch 9 Baruch 9
The Letter of
Ezekiel Jeremiah 9 Ezekiel
Daniel (with Ezekiel Daniel
additions) 10 Daniel (with The Twelve 5
The Twelve 5 additions) 10
The Twelve 5

*There are several branches of the Eastern Orthodox tradition that have minor
differences in their canons of Scripture.

1 In the Greek tradition (the Septuagint and some modern traditions that
follow the Eastern church tradition), 1 and 2 Samuel are combined with the
books of Kings, known as 1-4 Kings or 1-4 Kingdoms. In most Protestant
canons of the Western Church, the books are known as 1-2 Samuel (1-2
Kings) and 1-2 Kings (3-4 Kings).

2 1 Esdras in the Eastern canon is a Greek version of the book of Ezra that
contains 99 additional verses not included in the Hebrew version. It is
accepted as canonical by the Eastern Orthodox tradition.

3. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah were originally combined into a single
book. The combined book, Ezra-Nehemiah, was sometimes referred to as
Esdras (Heb: Ezra, Gk: Esdras) but called 1 Esdras in the early Greek
translations to distinguish it from another book from the same period
(containing 2 Chron 35-36, Neh 7:38-8:12, plus other material not found in
the Old Testament) that was also known as Esdras. While this second book
was sometimes also called 1 Esdras it later came to be known as 2 Esdras.
Still a third pseudepigraphic book of apocalyptic visions entitled Esdras was
circulated a little later and was also know as 2 Esdras. After Ezra-Nehemiah
was split into two books, Ezra was known as 1 Esdras, Nehemiah as 2 Esdras,
the expanded OT version book as 3 Esdras, and the apocalyptic book as 4
Esdras. In the Eastern canon, Ezra and Nehemiah are still combined as one
book called 2 Esdras.

Protestant Catholic Eastern

1 Esdras
(Greek
Ezra)

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Ezra 1 Esdras
2 Esdras
Nehemiah 2 Esdras

4. The Book of Esther in the Catholic and Eastern canons adds 103 verses
that are not in the Hebrew version or the Protestant canon.

5. The Book of the Twelve contains the remaining 12 prophetic books: Hosea,
Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi. These are sometimes called the Minor Prophets in
Christian tradition due to their shorter length, while the longer prophetic
books are called the Major Prophets.

6. The Book of Odes is a collection of fifteen songs or prayers from both the
Old Testament (for example, First Ode of Moses, Ex 15:1-19; Prayer of
Habakkuk, Hab 3:2-19), and the New Testament (Magnificat, Lk 1:46-55;
Nunc Dimittis, Lk 2:29-32). It also contains material from various
Deuterocanonical writings (Prayer of Azariah, Deuterocanonical Daniel
3:26-45; Song of the Three Hebrew Youths, Deuterocanonical Daniel
3:52-88), as well as Canticle of the Early Morning, composed from various
passages in both Testaments. While it appears in some manuscripts it is not
considered canonical by Orthodox traditions. It is usually published as an
appendix to the Psalter.

7. Song of Songs is also known as Song of Solomon.

8. Also known as the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sira.

9. In the Roman Catholic canon, Baruch includes The Letter of Jeremiah; in

the Eastern Orthodox canon The Letter of Jeremiah is a separate book.
Neither are present in the Jewish or Protestant canons.

10. Catholic and Eastern canons include Deuterocanonical material in Daniel

that is not present in the Jewish or Protestant canons: The Prayer of Azariah,
Song of the Three Hebrew Youths, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon.

-Dennis Bratcher, Copyright © 2018, Dennis Bratcher, All Rights Reserved

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