Biblical canon

The collection of books recognized as authoritative scripture within a religious tradition. Its contents differ among Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant communities.

Hebrew Bible: The Jewish collection of sacred writings, organized into Torah, Prophets, and Writings. Its books form the shared scriptural core of Judaism and much of the Christian Old Testament.
Protestant biblical canon: The 66-book Christian Bible used by most Protestant traditions, comprising 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books. Its Old Testament excludes books included in Catholic and Orthodox canons.
Dead Sea Scrolls: A collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts discovered near Qumran, dating from the third century BCE to the first century CE. They preserve biblical manuscripts and other writings from a period when scriptural boundaries were developing.
Lectionary: A schedule of scriptural readings appointed for worship on particular days. A community's canon determines which books can enter its cycle of public readings.
Septuagint: An ancient Greek translation of Jewish scriptures, produced over several centuries before and around the beginning of the Common Era. Its wider collection of books shaped the Old Testament used by many early Christians.
Catholic biblical canon: The 73-book Bible recognized by the Catholic Church, including seven Old Testament books absent from the Protestant canon. Its defined collection provides a clear contrast with the shorter Protestant Old Testament.
Council of Jamnia: A proposed late-first-century gathering at Yavneh once thought to have fixed the Jewish biblical canon; the theory is disputed. Its debated role illustrates the uncertainty surrounding accounts of canon formation.
Biblical hermeneutics: The methods and principles used to interpret the Bible. Interpretation often treats canonical books as a connected body of authoritative texts.
Deuterocanonical books: Books included in Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments but absent from the Jewish canon and most Protestant Old Testaments. They mark a major difference among Christian biblical collections.
Eastern Orthodox biblical canon: The biblical collection received by Eastern Orthodox churches, whose Old Testament includes books beyond the Protestant canon. Orthodox collections vary and can include books beyond both Protestant and Catholic lists.

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