A hand tracing the Hebrew text of an open scroll

How We Got the Bible

How the books of the Bible were recognized, why some were not, and whether the text can be trusted. Six short pages with their sources showing, then a deck and a quiz so the answers become yours.

The six pages

Read them in order. Each page names its sources at the foot, so nothing here asks to be taken on trust.

1 What 'canon' meansA measuring word, before it is a list: what the church did when it recognized the books, and what it did not do.4 min read2 The Old Testament canonRecognized over centuries in three parts, and counted more than one way. The Jamnia story, told as the debate it is.5 min read3 The New Testament canonApostolic writings, recognized in the churches from the start, tested when rivals appeared, and listed in full by AD 367.6 min read4 Why some books are not inThe same tests, applied to the books that did not pass them: later dates, borrowed names, a different message.5 min read5 One Bible, different canonsThe one real difference between Christian Bibles, stated fairly from each side, and where Contend stands.5 min read6 Can we trust the text?No originals, many copies, and a thousand-year test: how the text was carried, and what the differences between copies actually are.6 min read

Most people meet the canon as an accusation: a council picked the books, copyists rewrote the text, the real gospels were buried. The documents tell a slower and more interesting story, of books recognized across centuries because of where they came from. These pages follow the documents in order and cite them as they go. Read the six pages, then take the deck, Answer the question, and the quiz, Can you answer?, until the answers are yours to give.

Then practise answering

The questions people actually ask, answered the way these pages teach: plainly, with the evidence, and with the source named.

Answer the question20 flashcards: the questions as they are asked, each with a short answer, its evidence and its source. Spaced repetition, saved on your device.Can you answer?15 questions drawn from these six pages, untimed, with the reason for every answer and its source.

Sources

  • Berean Standard Bible (BSB)
  • Athanasius, Festal Letter 39 (AD 367)
  • Josephus, Against Apion 1.8
  • Councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397), Canon 24
  • The Canons of the Council of Nicaea (AD 325)
  • Eusebius, Life of Constantine 4.36
  • Council of Trent, Fourth Session (1546)
  • Israel Museum, The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls
  • Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament (1997)
  • Metzger and Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament (2005)
  • Roger T. Beckwith, The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church (1985)
  • Jack P. Lewis, What Do We Mean by Jabneh? (1964)
  • James M. Robinson (ed.), The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988)

Review status: in-theological-review. Every Contend page passes a human theological review against the Statement of Faith before it is published as approved teaching. This section is in that queue.