The process of putting together the books that form the Bible was a long and complex one that took place over centuries. The Bible is a collection of 66 books written by various authors over a period of approximately 1,500 years, from around 1400 BC to AD 100.
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic, and the New Testament was written in Greek. The books were originally separate documents that were circulated within their respective communities. It wasn't until several centuries later that they were compiled into the canon of scripture that we know today.
The canonization of the Old Testament took place over a long period of time, with different Jewish communities having different collections of books that they considered to be sacred scripture. The canonization process was not formalized until the Council of Jamnia in AD 90, where a group of Jewish rabbis gathered to discuss which books should be included in the Hebrew Bible.
The New Testament canonization process was also a gradual one. The earliest Christian communities had their own collections of writings that they considered to be authoritative, such as the letters of Paul and the four gospels. These collections were eventually compiled into what we now know as the New Testament.
There were other books that were initially included but later omitted from the Bible. These are known as the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books. These books were written during the intertestamental period between the Old and New Testaments and were included in the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible that was widely used in the early Christian church. However, they were not universally accepted as part of the canon, and were eventually removed by Protestants during the Reformation.
The Catholic Church was heavily involved in the process of canonization, particularly during the Councils of Hippo and Carthage in the late 4th and early 5th centuries. These councils affirmed the canonicity of the Old and New Testaments as we know them today, including the Deuterocanonical books.
Later denominations, such as the Seventh Day Adventists, did not add their own books to the Bible but have their own interpretations and teachings based on the existing canon.
Overall, the process of canonization was a long and complex one that involved many different communities and individuals over centuries. The final canon of scripture that we have today was the result of a gradual process of consensus building and discernment within the Christian and Jewish communities.
References:
Ehrman, B. D. (2003). Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. Oxford University Press.
Metzger, B. M. (1997). The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance. Oxford University Press.
Pelikan, J. (1985). The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600). University of Chicago Press.
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