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6.4
BecaUse they’re
worth it too
Orthodox Christians have different canon traditions to Protestants
and Catholics. This stems from the fact that there were sometimes
even more books in the Septuagint collections (used by Christians
in the East) than the extra seven accepted by the Catholic Church.
Greek Orthodox Christians use the term anagignoskomena
(‘worth reading’) to describe the extra books that they believe to be
part of the Bible.
As well as the extra seven books included in the Old Testament
by Catholics, Greek Orthodox Christians add 1 Esdras, the Prayer
of Manasseh and 3 Maccabees to the list. They also have an extra
chapter (151) within the book of Psalms. Orthodox Christians within
the Russian, Armenian and Syriac traditions also include a few other
books in their own collections (such as the Apocalypse of Ezra or
2 Baruch). Ethiopian Orthodox Christians have the most, with 54
books in their Old Testament.
6.5 designer
laBels
The Old Testament we are most familiar with today sometimes
follows the Septuagint and sometimes the Hebrew Bible in terms
of the names and order of books. Most Bible translations nowadays
don’t follow the original Hebrew format of grouping books into the
collections of Law, Prophets and Writings. Instead, they follow the
order in which these books are found in the Septuagint (organised
into the Pentateuch, histories, wisdom books and the Prophets).
On the other hand, the names of books found in today’s Bibles
sometimes come from the Septuagint and sometimes from the
Hebrew Bible. For example, the books of the Torah are usually called
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These are
the Septuagint names for these books. In the Hebrew Bible, they are
called Bereshith, Shemoth, Wayiqra, Bemidbar and Debarim. Most
Bibles today, however, contain 4 books which go by the Hebrew
names of 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings. Within Orthodox
traditions, however, these books are known by the Septuagint
names of 1, 2, 3 and 4 Kingdoms.
49
greek
orthodox
54
ethiopian
orthodox
stages in finalising
the old testament
Fifth century bce
The Law collection is finalised
second century bce
The Prophets collection is finalised
First century ce
Two Writings collections exist – one short, one long
second/third century ce
Jewish people finalise the shorter Writings collection
Fifth century ce
Catholic Church defines the longer Writings collection
Fifth - ninth century ce
Orthodox Churches develop their own lists of books
sixteenth century ce
Protestant Reformers revert to the shorter Writings collection
sixteenth century ce
Catholics insist on the longer Writings category
in sUmmary:
6.0 deSiGner
collecTionS
This section explains
how the Old and
New Testaments
came together – and
why Christians have
different views on the
number of books in
the Bible.
• There are different schools of thought among Christians about how
many books belong in the Old Testament.
• A smaller collection of 39 books in the Old Testament is accepted
by many Christians.
• A medium-sized collection of 46 books in the Old Testament (with
extra material included on top of that in the books of Daniel and
Esther) are accepted by most Catholic Christians.
• Larger collections of 49 books or more (also with the extra material
featured in Daniel and Esther) are accepted by Orthodox Christians.
The BiBle STyle Guide 47
bible society 2008