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How many books of the bible (includes the new testament) considered to be agreed on all denominations / movements? What are the basic books that considered holy for all?

curiousdannii
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Foreign affairs
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  • The Wikipedia page on the Canon summarises it pretty well, with the exception of the Swedenborgians who have a cut down NT canon. – curiousdannii Apr 19 '20 at 01:55
  • Exactly what I was looking for. Even-though it'll take time to count them...:) Thank you. (If you can put it as an answer, I'll choose it). – Foreign affairs Apr 19 '20 at 02:00
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    The Protestant canon of 66 is accepted by everyone except the Swedenborgians, and then Catholics, Orthodox, LDS etc include extra books. – curiousdannii Apr 19 '20 at 02:06
  • @curiousdannii: Protestants and Catholics base their Old Testament mainly on the Hebrew Masoretic text; the Orthodox, on the other hand, follow primarily the Greek Septuagint. Though the latter does indeed possess books and passages not present within the former, it is nevertheless simplistic, so as not to say untrue, to think that, by eliminating these, the common titles share the same text. They notoriously do not. –  Apr 19 '20 at 23:22
  • @Lucian Right, the biggest difference is with Jeremiah. But on the whole they're the same books, which is what is being asked about here. – curiousdannii Apr 19 '20 at 23:36
  • @curiousdannii: Except for liberal Christians and/or biblical scholars, which deny the apostolic authorship of various New Testament books or passages. –  Apr 22 '20 at 06:50

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For historical background information on the Bible canon, please refer to this article: https://www.gotquestions.org/canon-Bible.html It explains how by A.D. 250 there was nearly universal agreement on the canon of Hebrew Scripture (Old Testament). Jewish rabbis and scholars had agreed upon the authenticity and acceptance of the writings of the prophets before Jesus was born. Jesus himself read from accepted Scripture such as from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and constantly referred to the writings of Moses (the Law.) With regard to the Greek Scriptures the article says this:

The first “canon” was the Muratorian Canon, which was compiled in AD 170. The Muratorian Canon included all of the New Testament books except Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, and 3 John. In AD 363, the Council of Laodicea stated that only the Old Testament (along with one book of the Apocrypha) and 26 books of the New Testament (everything but Revelation) were canonical and to be read in the churches. The Council of Hippo (AD 393) and the Council of Carthage (AD 397) also affirmed the same 27 books as authoritative. https://www.gotquestions.org/Muratorian-Canon.html

This article https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-authors.html gives the names of all the authors of the books of the Bible (Old and New Testaments) and the approximate dates when they were written as agreed upon by Protestants.

As others have pointed out, the Catholic Bible canon has more books than the Protestant Bible canon. These books (collectively referred to as the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonicals) were officially added to their Bible at the Council of Trent in the mid-1500s A.D., primarily in response to the Protestant Reformation. Here are the relevant books:

Roman Catholic Bibles have several more books in the Old Testament than Protestant Bibles. These books are referred to as the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books. The word apocrypha means “hidden,” while the word deuterocanonical means “second canon.” The Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals were written primarily in the time between the Old and New Testaments. The books of the Apocrypha include 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees, as well as additions to the books of Esther and Daniel. Not all of these books are included in Catholic Bibles. https://www.gotquestions.org/apocrypha-deuterocanonical.html

I hope this information helps to answer your question as to which books of the Bible (Old and New Testaments) are accepted by Protestants, and which books are accepted by Catholics.

Lesley
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