Abstract
There is no evidence for a closed OT canon before A.D. 70. Our various sources indicate a high degree of fluidity and gradual accretion, closely related to politico-historical developments and the exigencies of new religious communities. The text collection of one such community, near Qumran, can be investigated for the comparative rating of biblical books, including those in the Tanakh as we know it, others which may have had ambiguous status, and a number of different types of Scripture-based works. This picture may serve to relativize modern Christian conceptions of canon where they have been based on accidents of history such as the language in which texts have been available or the media in which they have been transmitted. As a result, the Bible Societies may need to engage with a wider range of concepts of canon.
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