CH10 Origins of the Canon-Part 1

Summary The ‘canon’, what we consider our Bible, is ultimately the collection of writings that the church uses as its measuring stick…the defining reference for Christian faith. Christianity has two general canons, the Catholic canon and the Protestant canon. The Catholic canon includes writings commonly called the ‘Apocrypha’. Our Old Testament is essentially the same as the Hebrew scripture. Some of the books were separated when they were translated into Greek (and this work was called the Septuagint) and that is why there are 39 books in our Old Testament and only 24 in the Hebrew Bible. The order comes from the order in the Septuagint. Key Words Canon, Apocrypha, Septuagint, Westminster Confession of Faith, Torah, Megilloth, Jerome, codex