Books of the Bible
Most major religions have an official or canonical list of books which make up their holy book. In Judaism the list of books of the Bible was settled approximately 2000 years ago. Since then, there has been no debate between the various Jewish groups over the canon of the Tanach (the Hebrew Bible, which has much text in common with the Christian Old Testament). In contrast, the small sect of Samaritans holds only the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) and the Book of Joshua to be sacred.The various denominations of Christianity are not in complete agreement on the canon of the Christian Bible. While the books of the Old and New Testaments are agreed upon by almost all Christians, there is a set of books that are not universally accepted. In Protestant Christianity, these books are called the Apocrypha, and are rejected as non-canonical. In Roman Catholicism, the books are known as the deuterocanonical books, and are a part of scripture. Protestant scholars often refer to these books as "Inter-testamental", as they were written after the books of the Old Testament, but before the books of the New Testament. Catholics use the word "Apocrypha" to refer to what Protestants call the Pseudepigrapha.
Eastern Orthodox Christians accept the deuterocanonical books, with the exception of Baruch. The Ethiopian church adds several other books, not accepted by the rest of Christianity, such as the Book of Jubilees and Book of Enoch, to the Old Testament.
The religion of Islam has no such issue, as their holy book consists of one book by one author, the Qur'an.
| Table of contents |
|
2 The Tanach (Hebrew Bible) 3 The Old Testament for the majority of Christians 4 The New Testament of the Christians |
Bible and Tanach
Compares books of Tanach to Christian Old Testament
Books that are found in the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Slavic Bibles:
The Tanach (Hebrew Bible)
The Old Testament for the majority of Christians
Apocryphal/deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament
Books that are found in the Greek and Slavic Bibles, but are not in the Roman Catholic canon:
Books that are in the Slavic Bible and the appendix to the Latin Vulgate:
Books that are in the appendix to the Greek Bible:The New Testament of the Christians
See also:
