Osnova sekce

    • 4.1 Overview

      • What is the canon?
      • Apocrypha, Deuterocanonical Books, Pseudepigrapha
      • Origins of the Hebrew Jewish Bible
      • Development of the Old Testament Canon
      • The Canon in the Perspective of Dead Sea Scrolls

    • 4.2 Comment

      The expression “canon” refers to the closed and authoritative collection of writings as defined by the specific community. The development of the biblical canon is closely tight to its function within respective communities. The current Jewish Bible reflects the development, during which the Torah became the first authoritative collection, later accompanied by the collection of Prophets, and even later by the Writings. Somewhat parallel development in the Greek-speaking Jewish diaspora led to the formation of the order reflected in the Septuagint: The Law and the Historical Books, Poetic and Wisdom Books, Prophets, including some books, which were not part of the Hebrew collection. This order has been appropriated by predominantly Greek speaking early Christain Church, while the extent of the Christian Old Testaemnt canon remained and open issue until the time of reformation and the Council of Trent.

    • 4.3 Literature for individual study

      Rendtorff, The Old Testament, 288–291.

      Bandstra, Reading the Old Testament, 473–489.

      Boadt, Reading the Old Testament,.16–20.

      4.4 For further reading

      Sanders, James  A. “Canon: Hebrew Bible.” In Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, 1:837-852.


    • 4.5 Verifying comprehension

      1. Explain the concept of “canon”.
      2. Explain the terminology regarding deuterocanonical books, apocrypha, pseudepigrapha.
      3. What were the stages in the formation of the Hebrew Jewish Bible? What are some ancient sources, which refer to this process?
      4. How was the Christian Old Testament formed as a canon?