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The Biblical Canon

In: Religion Topics

Submitted By TBGainey
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The Biblical Canon:
The Movement, Methodologies, and People Who Influenced It

Thomas Gainey
CHHI 301: History of the Christian Church I
February 7, 2016

Introduction
In Christianity one of the key factors of its faith is the belief that the Bible is inerrant. Many great Christian leaders have expressed the importance of the Bible. Norman Geisler once stated “The inerrancy of Scripture is the foundational doctrine in which all other doctrines rest, and the Psalmist rightly said, ‘If the foundation be destroyed, then what can the righteous do?’” In his statement he expresses the truth behind the fact that the Christian faith resides on the fact that the Bible is inerrant. Interesting enough the Bible of today with its 66 books, 39 Old Testament, and 27 New Testament are very similar to the bible of the early church. In the words of Herman Ridderbos, "the history of the Canon is the process of the growing consciousness of the Church concerning its ecumenical foundation.” People have often wonder why certain books made into the Bible, but others did not. In this paper will look how we got the Bible we have today and what movements, people, and doctrines effected.
Old Testament Canon The Old Testament known to Christians in the Bible is what is known to Jews as the Tanakh. This is made of the writings of the Laws, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Jesus Christ stated in Luke 24:44 “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Initially the Jewish Canon was closed by Judas Maccabaeus in 164 BC. That was some 250 years prior to the Synod of Jamnia. The Old Testament Canon was officially finalized at the Synod of Jamnia in AD 90 by a council of Jewish rabbi’s. Much of the dispute laid with the Apocryphal and Pseudepigrapha Books (unknown authored apocalyptic letters). While this council was decided upon by

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