Do Christians and Jews Have The Same Canon?

Do Christians and Jews Have The Same Canon?

Some have made the rather strange claim of stating that the Bible's Old Testament and the Tanakh have a different canon; that is, in the Tanakh, there are 24 books while in the Bible there are 39(Protestant) or 46(Catholic).

It is important to note why Christians and Jews have this different number. It is not because of a different amount of books(except when comparing the Protestant and Catholic canon). In the Christian Bible, we divide certain books. One example is 1 Kings and 2 Kings while in the Tanakh they are merely one book. This division, and others(Such as Samuel), were first done in the Septuagint likely to make the texts more manageable. Another reason for the distinction is the minor prophets(such as Obadiah and Malachi). In the Bible, all the minor prophets are separated into separate books while in most Tanakhs they are combined into one book.  It is to be noted that some Tanakhs actually do use the Christian divisions while others keep the original way of doing it.

The Difference Between The Catholic & Protestant Canon:

The portion in dispute is known as the deuterocanonical(or [belonging to] the second canon) texts or the apocryphal texts. The Apocrypha contains 7 books: 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Sirach(or Ecclesiasticus or Ben Sira), Wisdom(or Wisdom of Solomon), Baruch, Tobit, and Judith. Catholics accept these books as authoritative scripture while many Protestants only see them as good for historical context or reject them all together. It is important to note that some Protestant denominations do accept these 7 books such as Lutherans and Anglicans; however, they are a great minority. 

Why The Difference Between The Catholic & Protestant Canon:

There is a lot of he said she said when speaking on this situation. Many Catholics will claim Martin Luther removed the books while many Protestants claim Catholics added these books(Note: not created, but added). 

Many Catholics will claim the apostles quoted the 7 books; however, this argument seems fallacious for the apostles quoted many texts that are not a part of the canon. One example is when Paul quotes Pagan poets in the book of Acts: "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring," (Acts 17:28 KJV). This actually comes from teachings from Epimenides and Aratus, both Greek Pagans where instead of using the teachings to teach Paganism, he incorporates it into his preaching to help his Greek audience further understand his message. Based on the logic of it being quoted thus it is canon, we too must accept these texts as canonical which seems quite absurd. 

Protestants tend to argue there are issues with the canon that contradict history and/or the rest of scripture. Many also say that as the majority of Jews never accepted these books as a part of the Old Testament so one should be skeptical of their authenticity. 

Work Cited:

Fredericksen, Linwood , Stendahl, Krister , Rylaarsdam, J. Coert , Sander, Emilie T. , Bruce, Frederick Fyvie , Sarna, Nahum M. , Grant, Robert M. , Faherty, Robert L. , Flusser, David , Davis, H. Grady and Cain, Seymour. "biblical literature". Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Apr. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/biblical-literature. Accessed 10 June 2023.