xxxiv | The Formation of the Old Testament
THE JEWISH TANAKH AND THE CHRIS TIAN OLD TESTAMENT
The Chris tian Old Testament is divided into four categories : Law ( or Pentateuch ), History , Poetry ( includes Wisdom literature ), and Prophets . The Jewish Scriptures are divided into the three categories of Law , Prophets , and Writings .
After the second century AD , it appears that the story of the Chris tian Old Testament diverges from that of the Jewish Tanakh . This is likely because early Jewish Chris tians separated from synagogue and temple-based Judaism on two major occasions : when James the brother of Jesus was executed in AD 62 , and during the last Jewish revolt against Rome in AD 132 – 35 . In addition , many Jewish Chris tians welcomed Gentiles into the early church apart from the requirement of their keeping the Law , especially circumcision . Thus , early Chris tians , when departing from broader Judaism , accepted those Jewish Scriptures that were circulating in Israel in the first centuries BC and AD as authoritative .
THE SCOPE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
There were no Jewish councils to determine the scope of the Jewish Canon ; rather , this process took several centuries . It also took several centuries for Chris tians to determine the scope of their Old Testament . Several Chris tian councils in the late fourth century AD affirmed the scope of the Old Testament in use within wider Chris tian ity . The decisions of these councils , and the lists of early church fathers , affirm what is currently the Protestant Old Testament and some of the Deuterocanonical ( or Apocryphal ) works ; they also often list a variety of Deuterocanonical works as valuable for instruction but not canonical . Among the writings of the early church fathers , usage and affirmation ( or lack thereof ) of the Deuterocanonical books varies . However , the books of the Protestant Old Testament seem to have been affirmed by most Chris tian churches , though like the Jewish rabbis , some early church fathers questioned the inclusion of Esther , Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes .
Only the Apocryphal or Deuterocanonical works are disputed today . The precise collection and status of these books varies slightly depending on faith tradition . Prior to the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century AD , it seems that most Chris tians accepted most of the books embraced by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions because they were included in the Greek and Latin Bibles that were most commonly used in the early church . The ancient Chris tian Bibles Codex Vaticanus , Codex Sinaiticus , and Codex Alexandrinus ( dating from the fourth – fifth centuries AD ), all include some of these books . The earliest edition of the King James Bible also included the Apocrypha , as did several other Protestant Bibles well into the seventeenth century . Most Protestant Bibles had eliminated the Apocrypha by 1831 ; those that did include the Apocryphal ( or Deuterocanonical ) books placed them in an appendix to the Old Testament rather than inside the collection of the other Old Testament books . While all churches have not agreed on the full scope of their Old Testament books , all agree that the books in the Protestant Old Testament should be included .
Lee Martin McDonald