The canonical list of the Books of the Bible differs between Jews, Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox, even though there is a great deal of overlap. Below a table is presented to compare the canons of the various denominations for both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. A discussion of the differences is found in the article on Biblical canon.
It should be noted that the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic churches may have minor differences in the list of accepted books. The list given here for these churches is the most broad list of canonical books __ that is, if at least one eastern church accepts the book, it is included in the list here. The books included by the Catholic Church are universally included in the eastern canons.
1 This book is not in the Protestant Old Testament. 2 The Catholic and Orthodox Book of Esther includes 103 verses not in the Protestant Book of Esther. 3 In Catholic Bibles, Baruch includes a sixth chapter called the Letter of Jeremiah. Baruch is not in the Protestant Old Testament. 4 In Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, Daniel includes three sections not included in Protestant Bibles. The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men are included between Daniel 3:23-24. Susanna is included as Daniel 13. Bel and the Dragon is included as Daniel 14. These are not in the Protestant Old Testament. 5 The Latin Vulgate and the Douay-Rheims place First and Second Maccabees after Malachi instead of Esther. 6 These books are not in the Protestant and Catholic Old Testaments. 7 The Book of Odes includes the Prayer of Manasseh. This book is not present in the Catholic or Protestant Old Testaments. 8 Eastern Orthodox Bibles have the books of Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah separate. 9The Eastern Orthodox church adds one extra Psalm to the Book of Psalms. 10These books are found among the historical and wisdom books of the Christian canons. 11Martin Luther wished to remove these books from the canon, but this did not occur. Nonetheless, in German editions of Luther's Bible, these are printed at the end of the New Testament, rather than the order given above.
Judaism'sBible is often referred to as the Tanakh, or HebrewBible, which includes the sacred texts common to both the Christian and Jewish canons.
Tanakh is an acronym for the three parts of the HebrewBible: the Torah ("Teaching/Law" also known as the Pentateuch), Nevi'im ("Prophets"), and Ketuvim ("Writings", or Hagiographa).
The Bible as used by the majority of Christians includes the Hebrew Scripture and the New Testament, which relates the life and teachings of Jesus, the letters of the Apostle Paul and other disciples to the early church and the Book of Revelation.
The essay on "The Canonization of the Bible" is adapted from the essay "The Canons of the Bible" (Marc Z. Brettler and Pheme Perkins).
The essay on "The Modern Study of the Bible" is adapted from "The Interpretation of the Bible: From the Nineteenth to the Mid-twentieth Centuries" (Michael D. Coogan) and "Contemporary Methods in Biblical Study" (Carol A. Newsom).
The essay on "The Historical and Geographical Background to the Bible" is partly based on "The Ancient Near East" (Michael D. Coogan), "The Persian and Hellenistic Periods" (Carol A. Newsom), and "The Geography of the Bible" (Michael D. Coogan).
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