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How was the Bible put together?
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The Bible was not written or assembled all at once. It’s a collection of different books written over many centuries in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, preserved, edited and selected by Jewish and Christian communities. Over time those communities judged which writings were authoritative, copied them, translated them, and — in different traditions — fixed a canon (a defined list of books).
How that happened — the main points
1) Composition and transmission
- The individual books originated in different contexts: law codes, prophetic oracles, wisdom sayings, historical records, gospels, letters, apocalyptic visions. Many began as oral traditions, which were later written down and sometimes edited or compiled by scribes/redactors.
- Languages and dates: Old Testament/Hebrew Bible books were mostly written in Hebrew (some portions in Aramaic), roughly from the 12th–2nd centuries BCE (many scholars place most writings 8th–2nd centuries BCE). New Testament books were written in Greek in the mid-1st century CE.
- Once written they were copied by hand by scribes; copying introduced variants, so textual criticism is used today to reconstruct the earliest text from thousands of manuscripts.
2) The Hebrew Bible / Old Testament
- Jewish scripture gradually coalesced into three parts often called Torah (Law), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). The Torah (the five books of Moses) was authoritative earliest; the rest were recognized more gradually.
- By the late Second Temple period (3rd–1st centuries BCE) many Jewish communities used the Greek translation known as the Septuagint (LXX), which included additional books (the “deuterocanonical”/apocryphal books).
- The timing of the final settling of the Hebrew canon is debated; rabbinic tradition and many scholars place a crystallization of the Hebrew canon by the end of the 1st century CE, though some parts may have been considered authoritative earlier or later.
3) The New Testament
- Early Christians used the Hebrew scriptures plus a variety of Christian writings: letters (Paul’s letters circulated first), Gospels, acts, other letters and apocalyptic works. Communities read and shared these texts.
- Criteria developing among early Christians: apostolic origin (linked to the apostles), orthodoxy (agreement with the church’s rule of faith), catholicity (wide usage across churches), and antiquity.
- Some early lists and discussions: Marcion (2nd century) proposed an abbreviated canon; the Muratorian fragment (late 2nd century) lists many but not all books like our present New Testament; Church fathers such as Irenaeus and Tertullian argued for particular books.
- A widely influential milestone is Athanasius’ Easter letter of 367 CE, which lists the 27 books of the New Testament as we have them. Church councils in North Africa (Hippo 393, Carthage 397) recognized the same list. These councils largely ratified the usage that had already become common rather than inventing it.
4) Differences between traditions
- Protestant canon: 39 Old Testament books (Hebrew canon order), 27 New Testament books = 66.
- Catholic canon: adds the deuterocanonical books (e.g., Tobit, Judith, 1–2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, parts of Daniel and Esther); Council of Trent (1546) definitively affirmed them for Catholics.
- Orthodox churches keep additional material (e.g., 3 Maccabees, Psalm 151) and differ in ordering.
- Jews do not include the Christian New Testament and have their own ordering and division of the Hebrew Bible.
5) Texts, versions and translations
- Important early versions: Septuagint (Greek OT), Latin Vulgate (Jerome, late 4th–5th century), Syriac, Coptic, etc.
- Modern translations rely on critical editions that compare many ancient manuscripts (e.g., Biblia Hebraica for the Hebrew text; Nestle-Aland/UBS for the Greek New Testament).
- Because copies and translations vary, modern scholars reconstruct the earliest attainable text and explain variant readings in footnotes.
Why the process matters
- The Bible’s present shape reflects both historical development (writing, collecting, copying) and communal judgments about which texts were authoritative. Different communities made somewhat different judgments, which is why canons differ among Jews, Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox.
If you want to go deeper
- For the Old Testament: introductions to the Hebrew Bible or books on the Septuagint.
- For the New Testament canon: Bruce Metzger’s The Canon of the New Testament is a classic; for broader treatment, see Bart Ehrman’s books on early Christianity and textual criticism.
The Bible was not written or assembled all at once. It’s a collection of different books written over many centuries in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, preserved, edited and selected by Jewish and Christian communities. Over time those communities judged which writings were authoritative, copied them, translated them, and — in different traditions — fixed a canon (a defined list of books).
How that happened — the main points
1) Composition and transmission
- The individual books originated in different contexts: law codes, prophetic oracles, wisdom sayings, historical records, gospels, letters, apocalyptic visions. Many began as oral traditions, which were later written down and sometimes edited or compiled by scribes/redactors.
- Languages and dates: Old Testament/Hebrew Bible books were mostly written in Hebrew (some portions in Aramaic), roughly from the 12th–2nd centuries BCE (many scholars place most writings 8th–2nd centuries BCE). New Testament books were written in Greek in the mid-1st century CE.
- Once written they were copied by hand by scribes; copying introduced variants, so textual criticism is used today to reconstruct the earliest text from thousands of manuscripts.
2) The Hebrew Bible / Old Testament
- Jewish scripture gradually coalesced into three parts often called Torah (Law), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). The Torah (the five books of Moses) was authoritative earliest; the rest were recognized more gradually.
- By the late Second Temple period (3rd–1st centuries BCE) many Jewish communities used the Greek translation known as the Septuagint (LXX), which included additional books (the “deuterocanonical”/apocryphal books).
- The timing of the final settling of the Hebrew canon is debated; rabbinic tradition and many scholars place a crystallization of the Hebrew canon by the end of the 1st century CE, though some parts may have been considered authoritative earlier or later.
3) The New Testament
- Early Christians used the Hebrew scriptures plus a variety of Christian writings: letters (Paul’s letters circulated first), Gospels, acts, other letters and apocalyptic works. Communities read and shared these texts.
- Criteria developing among early Christians: apostolic origin (linked to the apostles), orthodoxy (agreement with the church’s rule of faith), catholicity (wide usage across churches), and antiquity.
- Some early lists and discussions: Marcion (2nd century) proposed an abbreviated canon; the Muratorian fragment (late 2nd century) lists many but not all books like our present New Testament; Church fathers such as Irenaeus and Tertullian argued for particular books.
- A widely influential milestone is Athanasius’ Easter letter of 367 CE, which lists the 27 books of the New Testament as we have them. Church councils in North Africa (Hippo 393, Carthage 397) recognized the same list. These councils largely ratified the usage that had already become common rather than inventing it.
4) Differences between traditions
- Protestant canon: 39 Old Testament books (Hebrew canon order), 27 New Testament books = 66.
- Catholic canon: adds the deuterocanonical books (e.g., Tobit, Judith, 1–2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, parts of Daniel and Esther); Council of Trent (1546) definitively affirmed them for Catholics.
- Orthodox churches keep additional material (e.g., 3 Maccabees, Psalm 151) and differ in ordering.
- Jews do not include the Christian New Testament and have their own ordering and division of the Hebrew Bible.
5) Texts, versions and translations
- Important early versions: Septuagint (Greek OT), Latin Vulgate (Jerome, late 4th–5th century), Syriac, Coptic, etc.
- Modern translations rely on critical editions that compare many ancient manuscripts (e.g., Biblia Hebraica for the Hebrew text; Nestle-Aland/UBS for the Greek New Testament).
- Because copies and translations vary, modern scholars reconstruct the earliest attainable text and explain variant readings in footnotes.
Why the process matters
- The Bible’s present shape reflects both historical development (writing, collecting, copying) and communal judgments about which texts were authoritative. Different communities made somewhat different judgments, which is why canons differ among Jews, Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox.
If you want to go deeper
- For the Old Testament: introductions to the Hebrew Bible or books on the Septuagint.
- For the New Testament canon: Bruce Metzger’s The Canon of the New Testament is a classic; for broader treatment, see Bart Ehrman’s books on early Christianity and textual criticism.
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