Christianity

The Christian Bible

The Christian sacred text is the Bible, made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant churches accept the same 27 New Testament books, while the Ethiopian Orthodox Church keeps a larger canon. Old Testaments differ more: Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include books that Protestant churches do not count as scripture.

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What are the Christian sacred texts?

The Christian sacred texts are the books of the Bible, divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. "Testament" here means covenant, or agreement.1 The Old Testament holds the scriptures Christianity shares with Judaism, including the Law, the history of Israel, wisdom books such as Psalms and Proverbs, and the prophets.12 The New Testament centers on four Gospels, accounts of the life and teaching of Jesus that carry the names Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It also holds the Acts of the Apostles, letters ascribed to Paul and other early leaders, and the Book of Revelation.1

A canon is the full list of books a church accepts as scripture.3 The disputed Old Testament books are known as the Apocrypha or the deuterocanonical books; some were translated from Hebrew, and others were first written in Greek.4 Protestant churches do not all treat them alike. The Church of England reads them for moral example and instruction, but not to establish doctrine.5

Church Old Testament New Testament
Catholic 46 books, including Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch3 27 books3
Eastern Orthodox The same books plus others, such as 1 Esdras, 3 Maccabees, and the Prayer of Manasseh6 27 books1
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo 46 books, counted in its own way, including Enoch and Jubilees7 35 books: the 27 plus eight more, such as the Book of Clement and the Didascalia7
Protestant 39 books, as listed in the Westminster Confession, which holds that the Apocrypha are not part of the canon89 27 books8

How were the books written and handed down?

Christians hold that God inspired the Bible's human writers, who were true authors in their own right.1018 Historians study those human origins: who wrote each book, and when.2

The tradition's account

Catholic teaching holds that God is the author of the books, and that the human writers were also true authors.10 The Westminster Confession, a Protestant statement, says the books are given by inspiration of God.8 The evangelical Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy holds that scripture is without error in all its teaching.11 The early church writer Irenaeus names the Gospel writers as Matthew; Mark, the interpreter of Peter; Luke, a companion of Paul; and John, the disciple of Jesus.12 Orthodox teaching treats each human author's identity as secondary, since God is the one original author.13

The historians' view

Christine Hayes, a Yale scholar of the Hebrew Bible, describes the Hebrew Bible, the core of the Old Testament, as an anthology written and edited over a long period.2 The oldest New Testament writings are Paul's letters; the earliest, 1 Thessalonians, was probably written around 50 CE. Stories and sayings of Jesus first circulated orally. Mark, the earliest Gospel, was probably written around 70 CE, and Matthew and Luke drew on it.14

Many modern scholars, Dale Martin of Yale explains, regard the Gospels as anonymous, because the texts do not name their authors.14 Hayes adds that she sees no basic conflict between faith in inspiration and study of the Bible's human authors.2

The Writings section describes the manuscripts that preserve these books, and How ancient texts are dated explains the methods.

How are the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel read?

Christian teachers read many Old Testament prophecies as pointing to Jesus, while historians read them first in the setting of their own times.1516

The tradition's account

Among evangelical Protestants, the Chicago Statement rejects source study that sets aside a book's stated authorship.11 In 1908 to 1910, the Catholic Encyclopedia gave the view then held chiefly among Catholics: Daniel himself wrote his book in the Babylonian exile, in the sixth century BCE, and Isaiah could be the author of the whole book of Isaiah.1718 Catholic scholarship has since moved: a 2001 Vatican document speaks of a Second Isaiah writing during the exile.19

Matthew's Gospel reads Isaiah 7:14, a virgin bearing a son named Immanuel, as fulfilled in Jesus's birth, and Athanasius read Daniel's seventy weeks as foretelling the time of Jesus's coming.2015 A 2001 document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission holds that Christians read these texts in the light of Christ, and that the Jewish reading of the Bible is a possible one19.

The historians' view

Hayes reads Isaiah 7:14 as a sign Isaiah gave to Ahaz, king of Judah, about a child soon to be born. The Hebrew word means a young woman; the Greek translation used a word that can mean virgin, and Matthew drew on the Greek.16 She dates the earlier chapters of Isaiah to the eighth and early seventh centuries BCE, and treats chapters 40 to 55 as a later work written after Jerusalem's destruction, with parts of chapters 56 to 66 also written after the exile.21

She dates Daniel 7 to 12 to 167 to 164 BCE, when Jews faced persecution under the Seleucid king Antiochus IV, and reads its visions as coded references to those events.22

Jewish readings appear on the Judaism Sacred Texts page.

How did these books gain authority?

Each church grounds the Bible's authority in God, though they differ on the role of church tradition, while historians trace how the lists took shape over several centuries. Catholic teaching holds that the Church discerned the list through the tradition handed down from the apostles.3 The Westminster Confession holds that the Bible's authority depends wholly on God, not on any church.8 Orthodox teaching describes the Bible as produced in the Church, by and for the Church.23

Historians describe a gradual process. Christian writings were read in churches early on, but they were not generally called scripture until the end of the second century CE. Some books, such as Hebrews, James, and Revelation, took much longer to be accepted, and works such as the Shepherd of Hermas were read in some churches into the fourth and fifth centuries.24 The earliest surviving list that matches the 27-book New Testament comes from Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, in a letter of 367 CE.2514

For the Old Testament, the early church read the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures begun by Jews in Egypt in the mid-third century BCE. Some copies include books not in the Hebrew canon.42 Jerome preferred the Hebrew text, while Augustine objected that the church had long read the Old Testament in Greek or Latin, with a broader canon than the Hebrew.26

At the Reformation, Protestant churches excluded these books from the canon, though Hayes notes they valued them for instruction; the Westminster Confession holds that they are not inspired.28 The Catholic Church held that they were canonical, and the Council of Trent listed them by name on April 8, 1546.27 The Orthodox churches also accept them as part of the canon.6

How do the churches interpret the Bible?

All the branches hold that the Bible is the word of God, but they differ on how it relates to tradition and church teaching. Catholic teaching holds that scripture and sacred tradition flow from the same source and form one deposit of faith.10 As a result, it is not from Sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed.10

Interpreting both belongs to the Magisterium, the teaching office of the bishops in communion with the bishop of Rome, which serves the word of God and is not above it.28 A 1993 Vatican document calls the historical-critical method, the study of texts in their historical setting, indispensable for the scientific study of scripture.29

Orthodox teaching places the Bible within Holy Tradition, the whole life of the Church handed down from the apostles. Within it, the Bible holds first place.30 Scholars can shed much light on the text, Orthodox teaching holds, but the Bible is rightly understood only within the living community of the Church.23

Lutheran and Reformed confessions hold that scripture is the final authority over every other teacher; the Formula of Concord calls the Old and New Testaments the only rule and standard for judging doctrine.318 Protestants differ on critical scholarship. A 1982 report of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) holds that biblical texts should be read like any written document, in light of the history of their composition.32 The evangelical Chicago Statement calls for reading the text in its grammar and history, but rejects source study that discounts its teaching.11

How has the Bible been translated?

The Septuagint is still the Old Testament of the Greek Orthodox Church, and the Ethiopian church's Bible was also translated from it.47 In 382 CE, at the request of Damasus, bishop of Rome, the scholar Jerome (347 to 420 CE) began revising the Latin Bible. His translation became the core of the Vulgate, though other translators supplied most of the New Testament outside the Gospels.26 The Council of Trent declared the Vulgate authentic.27

Churches in the East translated the Bible into Syriac, Coptic, and Armenian, and in the ninth century Cyril, a missionary to the Slavs, translated it into Old Church Slavonic.33 At the Reformation, Martin Luther's German New Testament appeared in 1522.33 In English, 54 translators commissioned by James I produced the King James Version in 1611.34

Sources

  1. Thomas Hopko. The Orthodox Faith, Volume I: Doctrine and Scripture, Sources of Christian Doctrine: Bible. Orthodox Church in America. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  2. Christine Hayes. Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) (RLST 145), Lecture 1: The Parts of the Whole. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  3. Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 120 to 130: The Canon of Scripture. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, paragraph 120. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  4. Jannes Smith. What Is the Septuagint?. Bible Odyssey (Society of Biblical Literature). Accessed 2026-10-28.
  5. Church of England. Articles of Religion (the Thirty-Nine Articles). The Church of England, Article VI. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  6. A Monk of St. Tikhon's Monastery (compiler). Greek Additions to the Old Testament (Apocrypha), excerpt from These Truths We Hold: The Holy Orthodox Church, Her Life and Teachings. St. Tikhon's Seminary Press; posted by Saint Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church (OCA parish), 1986. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  7. Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The Bible (canonical books). The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (ethiopianorthodox.org). Accessed 2026-10-28.
  8. Westminster Assembly. The Westminster Confession of Faith. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, chapter 1. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  9. Church of England. The Book of Common Prayer: Articles of Religion. Church of England, 1662, Articles I and VIII; calendar of collects (Christmas Day, Easter Day). Accessed 2026-10-28.
  10. Second Vatican Council. Dei Verbum, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. Holy See, 1965, sections 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, and 22. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  11. International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, summary statement, Articles XII and XVIII. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  12. Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter 1. New Advent (from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, trans. Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut, 1885), section 1. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  13. Thomas Hopko. The Orthodox Faith, Volume I: Doctrine and Scripture, The Bible: Authorship. Orthodox Church in America. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  14. Dale B. Martin. Introduction to New Testament History and Literature (RLST 152), Lecture 2: From Stories to Canon. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  15. Athanasius of Alexandria. On the Incarnation of the Word. New Advent (trans. Archibald Robertson, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 4), sections 33 and 39. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  16. Christine Hayes. Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) (RLST 145), Lecture 17: Literary Prophecy: Hosea and Isaiah. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  17. Francis Gigot. Book of Daniel. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 4 (Robert Appleton Company), via New Advent, 1908, section on authorship and date. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  18. Charles Souvay. Isaias. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 8 (Robert Appleton Company), via New Advent, 1910, section on authenticity. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  19. Pontifical Biblical Commission. The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible. Holy See, 2001, preface and sections 21 and 22. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  20. World English Bible Updated. eBible.org, 2026. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  21. Christine Hayes. Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) (RLST 145), Lecture 19: Literary Prophecy: Perspectives on the Exile. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  22. Christine Hayes. Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) (RLST 145), Lecture 23: Visions of the End: Daniel and Apocalyptic Literature. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  23. Thomas Hopko. The Orthodox Faith, Volume I: Doctrine and Scripture, The Bible: Interpretation. Orthodox Church in America. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  24. Lee Martin McDonald. The New Testament Canon. Bible Odyssey (Society of Biblical Literature), 2022. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  25. Athanasius of Alexandria. Letter 39 (Festal Letter for 367). New Advent (from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 4), 367, sections 4 to 7. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  26. Dionisio Candido and Kristin De Troyer. Vulgate. Bible Odyssey (Society of Biblical Literature). Accessed 2026-10-28.
  27. Council of Trent. Fourth Session: Decree Concerning the Canonical Scriptures. Papal Encyclicals Online (J. Waterworth translation, 1848), 1546. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  28. Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 84 to 95: The Interpretation of the Heritage of Faith. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, paragraphs 85 and 86. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  29. Pontifical Biblical Commission. The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church. Pontifical Biblical Commission (text hosted by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, Boston College), 1993, part I.A. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  30. Thomas Hopko. The Orthodox Faith, Volume I: Doctrine and Scripture, Sources of Christian Doctrine: Tradition. Orthodox Church in America. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  31. Lutheran confessors. Formula of Concord, Epitome: Rule and Norm. Book of Concord (bookofconcord.org), paragraphs 1 to 3. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  32. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Presbyterian Understanding and Use of Holy Scripture. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 194th General Assembly, 1982, section III. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  33. Anthony Maas. Versions of the Bible. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 15 (Robert Appleton Company), via New Advent, 1912, sections on the Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, and Slavic versions, and on German versions. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  34. Library of Congress. Library of Congress Bible Collection: Other Bibles. Library of Congress. Accessed 2026-10-28.