How was the Canon Formed?

Abstract

The Hebrew Bible or Old Testament did not drop down from heaven, as is sometimes believed. It is widely agreed that the canon is the construct of faith communities. But what was the process that led to the formation of the canon? This article discusses what we know about the formation of the canon, addressing assumptions that different readers might have about what constitutes ‘the Bible’. It will show that the Jewish Tanak and Protestant Old Testament have the same collection of books and it is the canon of Pharisaic-Rabbinic Judaism. It was not, and is not, the canon of other faith communities that considered different lists of books as authoritative.