Melito's canon

Last updated

Melito's canon is the biblical canon attributed to Melito of Sardis, one of the early Church Fathers of the 2nd century.

Contents

Earliest Christian canon of the Old Testament

Melito provides what is possibly the earliest known Christian canon of what he termed the "Old Testament", having traveled to Palestine (probably to the library at Caesarea Maritima) seeking to acquire accurate information about which books should be accepted as canonical. Other candidates for earliest Christian canon include the Bryennios List and the Muratorian fragment.

Eusebius' record of Melito

Melito's canon is found in Eusebius EH4.26.13–14: [1]

Accordingly when I went East and came to the place where these things were preached and done, I learned accurately the books of the Old Testament, and send them to thee as written below. Their names are as follows: Of Moses, five books: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy; Jesus Nave, Judges, Ruth; of Kings, four books; [2] of Chronicles, two; the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, Wisdom also, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Job; of Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah; of the twelve prophets, one book ; Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras. From which also I have made the extracts, dividing them into six books.

Canon features

Melito's list almost fully corresponds to the Jewish Tanakh and Protestant canon. [3]

Melito's canon includes a book of "Wisdom". Scholars disagree whether this is an alternate name for the Book of Proverbs , or a reference to the Book of Wisdom . [4] [5] [6]

Some think the omission of the Book of Esther was accidental, but most scholars think it was intentional. [7] [6] [8]

Nehemiah and Lamentations are also not mentioned, but the former is thought to be part of Ezra (being referred to as Esdras), and Lamentations being part of Jeremiah. [9]

Most scholars think it probable that Melito intended to present a list of 22 books, which was common for Hebrew bible canon lists before and after Melito. [10] [11] [5] [12]

The list places the Book of Numbers before Leviticus, the opposite order of most canon lists. This is a feature also found in the Cheltenham List and de Sectis . This is a feature of Melito's canon, and not an error by Eusebius or his copyists. [13]

Notes

  1. Fathers, New Advent.
  2. according to the names used in the LXX these are the two Books of Kings and the two Books of Samuel
  3. Metzger 1997, p. 123.
  4. Gallagher & Meade 2017, pp. 78–82.
  5. 1 2 Sundberg 1958, p. 220.
  6. 1 2 Gallagher 2012, p. 22.
  7. Gallagher & Meade 2017, p. 82.
  8. Waegeman 1981, p. 814.
  9. Metzger 1997.
  10. Gallagher & Meade 2017, p. 82f..
  11. Kaestli 2007, p. 112.
  12. Katz 1956, p. 196.
  13. Waegeman 1981, p. 817f..

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apocrypha</span> Works of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin

Apocrypha are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of Scripture. While some might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity, in Christianity, the word apocryphal (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were to be read privately rather than in the public context of church services. Apocrypha were edifying Christian works that were not considered canonical Scripture. It was not until well after the Protestant Reformation that the word apocrypha was used by some ecclesiastics to mean "false," "spurious," "bad," or "heretical."

The deuterocanonical books are books and passages considered by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and/or the Assyrian Church of the East to be canonical books of the Old Testament, but which Jews and Protestants regard as apocrypha. They date from 300 BC to 100 AD, before the separation of the Christian church from Judaism. While the New Testament never directly quotes from or names these books, the apostles quoted the Septuagint, which includes them. Some say there is a correspondence of thought, and others see texts from these books being paraphrased, referred, or alluded to many times in the New Testament, depending in large measure on what is counted as a reference.

The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Israelites. The second division of Christian Bibles is the New Testament, written in the Koine Greek language.

The Ketuvim is the third and final section of the Tanakh, after Torah ("instruction") and Nevi'im ("prophets"). In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually titled "Writings" or "Hagiographa".

The name "Esdras" is found in the title of four texts attributed to, or associated with, the prophet Ezra. The naming convention of the four books of Esdras differs between church traditions; and has changed over time.

The Letter of Jeremiah, also known as the Epistle of Jeremiah, is a deuterocanonical book of the Old Testament; this letter is attributed to Jeremiah and addressed to the Jews who were about to be carried away as captives to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. It is included in Roman Catholic Bibles as the final chapter of the Book of Baruch. It is also included in Orthodox Bibles as a separate book, as well as in the Apocrypha of the Authorized Version.

The prophetic books are a division of the Christian Bible, grouping 18 books or 17 books in the Old Testament. In terms of the Tanakh, it includes the Latter Prophets from the Nevi'im, with the addition of Lamentions and Daniel, both of which are included among the books of the Hebrew Ketuvim.

These are the books of the Vulgate along with the names and numbers given them in the Douay–Rheims and King James versions of the Bible. They are all translations, and the Vulgate exists in many forms. There are 76 books in the Clementine edition of the Latin Vulgate, 46 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament, and 3 in the Apocrypha.

The Synod of Hippo refers to the synod of 393 which was hosted in Hippo Regius in northern Africa during the early Christian Church. Additional synods were held in 394, 397, 401 and 426. Some were attended by Augustine of Hippo.

The protocanonical books are those books of the Old Testament that are also included in the Hebrew Bible and that came to be considered canonical during the formational period of orthodox Christianity. The Old Testament is entirely rejected by some forms of Gnosticism, but the Hebrew Bible was adhered to even more tightly by Jewish Christians than Gentile Christians. The term protocanonical is often used to contrast these books to the deuterocanonical books or apocrypha, which "were sometimes doubted" by some in the early church, and are considered non-canonical by most Protestants.

The Old Testament is the first section of the two-part Christian biblical canon; the second section is the New Testament. The Old Testament includes the books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) or protocanon, and in various Christian denominations also includes deuterocanonical books. Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Protestants use different canons, which differ with respect to the texts that are included in the Old Testament.

There is no scholarly consensus as to when the Hebrew Bible canon was fixed. Some scholars argue that it was fixed by the Hasmonean dynasty, while others argue it was not fixed until the second century CE or even later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Bible</span> Catholic Church canon of Bible books

The term Catholic Bible can be understood in two ways. More generally, it can refer to a Christian Bible that includes the whole 73-book canon recognized by the Catholic Church, including some of the deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament which are in the Greek Septuagint collection, but which are not present in the Hebrew Masoretic Text collection. More specifically, the term can refer to a version or translation of the Bible which is published with the Catholic Church's approval, in accordance with Catholic canon law.

The Canon of Trent is the list of books officially considered canonical at the Roman Catholic Council of Trent. A decree, the De Canonicis Scripturis, from the Council's fourth session, issued an anathema on dissenters of the books affirmed in Trent. The Council confirmed an identical list already locally approved in 1442 by the Council of Florence, which had existed in the earliest canonical lists from the synods of Carthage and Rome in the fourth century.

Tremper Longman III is an Old Testament scholar, theologian, professor and author of several books, including 2009 ECPA Christian Book Award winner Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings.

A biblical canon is a set of texts which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of the Bible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon</span> Biblical canon used by Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches

The Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon is a version of the Christian Bible used in the two Oriental Orthodox Churches of the Ethiopian and Eritrean traditions: the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. At 81 books, it is the largest and most diverse biblical canon in traditional Christendom.

Haymanot is the branch of Judaism which is practiced by the Beta Israel, also known as Ethiopian Jews.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Bible:

The Prologus Galaetus or Galeatum principium is a preface by Jerome, dated 391–392, to his translation of the Liber Regum.

References