A biblical canon, or canon of scripture, is a list of books considered to be authoritative as scripture by a particular religious community. The term itself was first coined by Christians, but the idea is found in Jewish sources. The internal wording of the text can also be specified, for example the Masoretic Text is the canonical text for Judaism. The word "canon" comes from the Greek "κανών", meaning "rule".

The canons listed below are usually considered "closed" (i.e., books cannot be added or removed), reflecting a belief that public revelation has ended and thus the inspired texts may be gathered into a complete and authoritative canon. By contrast, an "open canon" permits the addition of books through the process of continuous revelation.

These canonical books have been developed through debate and agreement by the religious authorities of their respective faiths. Believers consider these canonical books to be inspired by God or to express the authoritative history of the relationship between God and His people. Books, such as the Jewish-Christian Gospels, excluded from the canon are considered ''non-canonical'', but many disputed books considered non-canonical or even apocryphal by some are considered Biblical apocrypha or Deuterocanonical or fully canonical by others. There are differences between the Jewish and Christian Biblical canons, and between the canons of different Christian denominations. The differing criteria and processes of canonization dictate what the communities regard as the inspired books.

Canonical texts

The word "canon" is derived from the Greek noun κανών "kanon" meaning "reed" or "cane," or also "rule" or "measure". Thus, a "canonical text" is a single authoritative edition for a given work. The establishing of a canonical text may involve an editorial selection from biblical manuscript traditions with varying interdependence. Early manuscript versions of the Hebrew Bible are represented in different languages such as the Greek Septuagint, the Aramaic Targums and Syriac Peshitta, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Hebrew Masoretic Text.

New Testament Greek and Latin are sometimes found in the same manuscript called a ''diglot'' text, with Greek and Latin on facing pages. New Testament manuscript traditions include the Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Bezae, Codex Alexandrinus, Textus Receptus, Vetus Latina, Vulgate and others.

Jewish canon

Rabbinic Judaism recognizes the twenty-four books of the Masoretic Text, commonly called the Tanakh or "Hebrew Bible". Evidence suggests that the process of canonization occurred between 200 BC and AD 200, indeed a popular position is that the Torah was canonized c. 400 BC, the Prophets c. 200 BC, and the Writings c. AD 100 perhaps at a hypothetical Council of Jamnia—however this position is increasingly criticised by modern scholars. The book of Deuteronomy includes a prohibition against adding or subtracting (, ) which might apply to the book itself (i.e. a "closed book", a prohibition against future scribal editing) or to the instruction received by Moses on Mt. Sinai. The book of 2 Maccabees, itself not a part of the Jewish canon, describes Nehemiah (around 400 BC) as having "founded a library and collected books about the kings and prophets, and the writings of David, and letters of kings about votive offerings" (). The Book of Nehemiah suggests that the priest-scribe Ezra brought the Torah back from Babylon to Jerusalem and the Second Temple () around the same time period. Both I and II Maccabees suggest that Judas Maccabeus (around 167 BC) likewise collected sacred books (, , ), indeed some scholars argue that the Jewish canon was fixed by the Hasmonean dynasty. However, these primary sources do not suggest that the canon was at that time ''closed''; moreover, it is not clear that these sacred books were identical to those that later became part of the canon. "The Men of the Great Assembly", also known as the Great Synagogue, was, according to Jewish tradition, an assembly of 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, in the period from the end of the Biblical prophets to the time of the development of Rabbinic Judaism, marking a transition from an era of prophets to an era of Rabbis. They lived in a period of about two centuries ending c. 70 CE.[1]

Among the developments in Judaism that are attributed to them are the fixing of the Jewish Biblical canon, including the books of Ezekiel, Daniel, Esther, and the Twelve Minor Prophets; the introduction of the triple classification of the oral law, dividing the study of the Mishnah (in the larger sense) into the three branches of midrash, halakot, and aggadot; the introduction of the Feast of Purim; and the institution of the prayer known as the ''Shemoneh 'Esreh'' as well as the synagogal prayers, rituals, and benedictions.

Samaritan canon

The Samaritan Torah, another version of the Torah in the Samaritan alphabet, also exists. This text is associated with the Samaritans, a people of whom the Jewish Encyclopedia states: "Their history as a distinct community begins with the taking of Samaria by the Assyrians in 722 B.C."

Its relationship to the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint is still disputed. Scrolls among the Dead Sea scrolls have been identified as proto-Samaritan Pentateuch text-type.

The Samaritans accept the Torah but do not accept any other parts of the Bible, probably a position also held by the Sadducees. They did not expand their canon by adding any Samaritan compositions. There is a Samaritan Book of Joshua, however this is a popular chronicle written in Arabic and is not considered scripture.

Both texts from the Church Fathers and old Samaritan texts provide us with reasons for the limited extent of the Samaritan Canon. According to some of the information the Samaritans parted with the Jews (Judeans) at such an early date that only the books of Moses were considered holy; according to other sources the group intentionally rejected the Prophets and (possibly) the other Scriptures and entrenched themselves in the Law of Moses.

The small community of the remnants of the Samaritans in Palestine includes their version of the Torah in their canon. The Samaritan community possesses a copy of the Torah that they believe to have been penned by Abisha, a grandson of Aaron.

Christian canons

The Biblical canon is the set of books Christians regard as divinely inspired and thus constituting the Christian Bible.

Marcion's Canon

Marcion of Sinope was the first Christian leader in recorded history (though later considered heretical), to propose and delineate a uniquely Christian canon (about 140 AD) which included 10 epistles from St. Paul as well as a version of the Gospel of Luke which today is known as the Gospel of Marcion. In so doing, he established a particular way of looking at religious texts that persists in Christian thought today. After Marcion, Christians began to divide texts into those that aligned well with the "measuring stick" ("canon" is the Greek translation of this phrase) of accepted theological thought and those that promoted heresy. This played a major role in finalizing the structure of the collection of works called the Bible. It has been proposed that the initial impetus for the proto-orthodox Christian project of canonization flowed from opposition to the canonization of Marcion.

Earliest Christian communities

Though the Early Church used the Old Testament according to the canon of the Septuagint (LXX), perhaps as found in the Bryennios List or Melito's canon, the apostles did not otherwise leave a defined set of new scriptures; instead the New Testament developed over time.

The writings attributed to the apostles circulated amongst the earliest Christian communities. The Pauline epistles were circulating in collected forms by the end of the 1st century AD. Justin Martyr, in the early 2nd century, mentions the "memoirs of the apostles," which Christians called "gospels" and which were regarded as on par with the Old Testament.

An early figure in the codification of the Biblical canon was Origen of Alexandria. He was a scholar well educated in the realm of both theology and pagan philosophy but was posthumously condemned at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553. Origen decided to make his canon include all of the books in the current Catholic canon except for four books: James, 2nd Peter, and 2nd and 3rd epistles of John. He also included the Shepherd of Hermas which was later rejected. The religious scholar Bruce Metzger described Origen's efforts, saying “The process of canonization represented by Origen proceeded by way of selection, moving from many candidates for inclusion to fewer.” This was one of the first major attempts at the compilation of certain books and letters as authoritative and inspired teaching for the Early Church at the time although it is unclear whether Origen intended for his list to be authoritative itself.

Needless to say there were various theologians of the 2nd and 3rd centuries that wrote a great deal of works and used the letters of the apostles as foundation and justification for their own personal beliefs. However, there was still the problem of the Roman Empire, and while the persecutions of the Roman Empire were many and extreme, the persecution still occurred and influenced the initial canonization of the New Testament. This period in church history writings is known as the "Edificatory Period" and was followed by the "Apologetic", "Polemical" and "Scientific" Periods. Some of the Christian writers of this edificatory Period are: Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Polycarp, Tertullian, Cyprian, Justin Martyr, Clement of Rome, Clement of Alexandria. This stagnation of official writings led to a sudden explosion of discussions after Constantine I legalized Christianity in the early 4th century, perhaps associated with the Fifty Bibles of Constantine.

Apostolic Fathers

A four gospel canon (the ''Tetramorph'') was asserted by Irenaeus, "It is not possible that the gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For, since there are four quarters of the earth in which we live, and four universal winds, while the church is scattered throughout all the world, and the 'pillar and ground' of the church is the gospel and the spirit of life, it is fitting that she should have four pillars breathing out immortality on every side, and vivifying men afresh….Therefore the gospels are in accord with these things…For the living creatures are quadriform and the gospel is quadriform…These things being so, all who destroy the form of the gospel are vain, unlearned, and also audacious; those (I mean) who represent the aspects of the gospel as being either more in number than as aforesaid, or, on the other hand, fewer'" By the early 200s, Origen of Alexandria may have been using the same 27 books found in modern New Testament editions, though there were still disputes over the canonicity of Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, and Revelation (see also Antilegomena). Likewise by 200 the Muratorian fragment shows that there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to what is now the New Testament, which included four gospels and argued against objections to them. Thus, while there was a good measure of debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the major writings were accepted by almost all Christians by the middle of the 3rd century.

Alexandrian Fathers

In his Easter letter of 367, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, gave a list of exactly the same books that would become the New Testament canon, and he used the phrase "being canonized" (''kanonizomena'') in regards to them. Athanasius also included the Book of Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah in the canon. He also omitted the book of Esther from the canon.

Latin Fathers

The first council that accepted the present Catholic canon (the Canon of Trent) may have been the Synod of Hippo Regius in North Africa (AD 393); the acts of this council, however, are lost. A brief summary of the acts was read at and accepted by the Councils of Carthage in 397 and 419. These councils were under the authority of St. Augustine, who regarded the canon as already closed. Pope Damasus I's Council of Rome in 382, if the ''Decretum Gelasianum'' is correctly associated with it, issued a biblical canon identical to that mentioned above, or if not the list is at least a 6th century compilation. Likewise, Damasus' commissioning of the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible, ''c''. 383, was instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West. In 405, Pope Innocent I sent a list of the sacred books to a Gallic bishop, Exsuperius of Toulouse. When these bishops and councils spoke on the matter, however, they were not defining something new, but instead "were ratifying what had already become the mind of the Church." Thus, from the 4th century, there existed unanimity in the West concerning the New Testament canon (as it is today), and by the 5th century the East, with a few exceptions, had come to accept the Book of Revelation and thus had come into harmony on the matter of the New Testament canon.

Ethiopian and Syriac Churches

Some Christian groups do not accept the theory that the Christian Bible was not known until various local and Ecumenical Councils, which they deem to be "Roman-dominated", made their official declarations. For example, the Ethiopian and Syriac Christian churches which did not participate in these councils developed their own Biblical traditions. These groups believe that, in spite of the disagreements about certain books in early Christianity and, indeed, still today, the New Testament supports the view that Paul (2 Timothy 4:11–13), Peter (2 Peter 3:15–16, although it seems that not all the Syriac Church Fathers accepted this book itself as canonical, and indeed it appears the Syriac Bible initially lacked all of the Catholic epistles as well as John's Revelation), and ultimately John (Revelation 22:18–19, but see the previous note) finalized the canon of the New Testament.

Luther's canon

Martin Luther made an attempt to remove the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the canon (echoing the consensus of several Catholics, also labeled Christian Humanists — such as Cardinal Ximenez, Cardinal Cajetan, and Erasmus — and partially because they were perceived to go against certain Protestant doctrines such as sola scriptura and sola fide), but this was not generally accepted among his followers. However, these books are ordered last in the German-language Luther Bible to this day. In addition, Luther moved the books that later became the Deuterocanonicals into a section he called the Apocrypha.

Evangelical Protestant view

Evangelicals tend not to accept the Septuagint as the inspired Hebrew Bible, though many recognize its wide use by Greek-speaking Jews in the 1st century. They note that early Christians evidenced a knowledge of a canon of Scripture, based upon internal evidence, as well as by the existence of a list of Old Testament books by Melito of Sardis, compiled around 170 AD (see Melito's canon).

Many modern Protestants point to the following four "Criteria for Canonicity" to justify the selection of the books that have been included in the New Testament: #Apostolic Origin — attributed to and based upon the preaching/teaching of the first-generation apostles (or their close companions). #Universal Acceptance — acknowledged by all major Christian communities in the ancient world (by the end of the 4th century) as well as accepted canon by Jewish authorities (for the Old Testament). #Liturgical Use — read publicly when early Christian communities gathered for the Lord's Supper (their weekly worship services). #Consistent Message — containing a theological outlook similar to or complementary to other accepted Christian writings.

The basic factor for recognizing a book's canonicity for the New Testament was divine inspiration, and the chief test for this was apostolicity. The term "apostolic" as used for the test of canonicity does not necessarily mean apostolic authorship or derivation, but rather "apostolic authority". According to these Protestants, "apostolic authority" is never detached from the authority of the Lord. See Apostolic succession.

Closing of the canons

Full dogmatic articulations of the canons were not made until the Council of Trent of 1546 for Roman Catholicism, the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563 for the Church of England, the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647 for British Calvinism, and the Synod of Jerusalem of 1672 for the Greek Orthodox.

Canons of various Christian traditions

Old Testament

As 1 and 2 Samuel As 1 and 2 Kings(Apocrypha)(Apocrypha)(Apocrypha)(Apocrypha)(Apocrypha)(Apocrypha)(Apocrypha)(Apocrypha)(Apocrypha)(Apocrypha)(Apocrypha)(Apocrypha)(Apocrypha)

style="width:90px;"		colspan=2	Western Tradition	Eastern Orthodox Tradition			Oriental Orthodox Tradition				Assyrian Eastern Tradition
Books	Protestant	Catholic	Greek Orthodox	Slavonic Orthodox	Georgian Orthodox	Armenian Apostolic	Syriac Orthodox	Coptic Orthodox	Ethiopian Orthodox	Assyrian Church of the East
		|
Book of Exodus	Exodus	|
Leviticus	|
Book of Numbers	Numbers	|
Deuteronomy	|
Book of Joshua	Joshua	|
Book of Judges	Judges	|
Book of Ruth	Ruth	|
Books of Samuel	Samuel	|
Books of Kings	Kings	|
Books of Chronicles	Chronicles	|
Prayer of Manasseh	|	No (appendix)						historic	part of 2 Chronicles
Book of Ezra	Ezra	|	(1 Esdras)	(Esdras B)	(1 Esdras)	(1 Ezra)
Book of Nehemiah	Nehemiah	|	(2 Esdras)	(Esdras B)
I Esdras	1 Esdras (Greek Ezra)	|	No (3 Esdras)	(Esdras A)	(2 Esdras)	(2 Ezra)				(2nd Ezra)
II Esdras	2 Esdras (Latin Ezra)	|	(4 Esdras)		3 Esdras(Appendix)	3 Esdras	3Ezra	4 Ezra		Ezra Sutuel
Book of Esther	Esther	|
Additions to Esther	Additions to Esther/ Esther Greek	|							historic
Book of Tobit	Tobit	|							historic
Book of Judith	Judith	|							historic
Job (Biblical figure)	Job	|
Psalms	Psalms 1–150	|
Psalm 151	|	No (appendix)						historic
Psalm 152–155	Psalm 152–5	|						No – inc. in some mss.			No – inc. in some mss.
Book of Lamentations	Lamentations	|
Book of Proverbs	Proverbs	|								in 2 books
Ecclesiastes	|
Song of Solomon	Song of Songs (Song of Solomon)	|
Book of Wisdom	|							historic
Wisdom of Sirach	Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)	|							historic
Book of Isaiah	Isaiah	|
Jeremiah	|
Book of Baruch	Baruch	|							historic
Letter of Jeremiah	|	Chapter 6 of Baruch						historic	Rest of Jeremiah
2 Baruch	|						No – inc. in some mss.			No – inc. in some mss.
Letter of Baruch	|						No – inc. in some mss.			No – inc. in some mss.
4 Baruch	|								Rest of Baruch
Ezekiel	|
Daniel	|
Additions to Daniel	|							historic
Minor prophet	Twelve Prophets	|
1 Maccabees	|							(historic)
2 Maccabees	|							historic
3 Maccabees	|	No (appendix)					No – inc. in some mss.			No – inc. in some mss.
4 Maccabees	|	No (appendix)	No (appendix)	No (appendix)			No – inc. in some mss.			No – inc. in some mss.
Book of Enoch	Enoch	|
Jubilees	|
Meqabyan	1-3 Meqabyan	|

In Protestant Bibles, especially the English King James Bible and the Lutheran Bible, many books are part of the tradition in a section called "the Apocrypha". The Egyptian Coptic Church historically had a larger canon but now only holds to the 66 books of the proto-canon. The Syriac Orthodox and Assyrian Church of the East both hold to the Peshitta tradition. Note that in some Bibles (Armenian, Syriac and Ethiopian) the Apocalypse of Ezra is not the same as the longer Latin Esdras (2 Esdras in KJV, or 4 Esdras in the Vulgate), which includes a Latin prologue (5 Ezra) and a Latin epilogue (6 Ezra).

New Testament

style="width:150px;"	Books	Protestant Tradition	! style="width:150px;"	! style="width:150px;"	! style="width:150px;"	Syriac and Assyrian Church of the East Tradition	Original Language (Koine Greek)
colspan="7" style="text-align:center;"	''Canonical Gospels''
		|				Greek (?)
Gospel of Mark	Mark	|					Greek
Gospel of Luke	Luke	|					Greek
Gospel of John	John	|					Greek
colspan="7" style="text-align:center;"	''Apostolic History''
	|					Greek
colspan="7" style="text-align:center;"	''Pauline Epistles''
	|					Greek
First Epistle to the Corinthians	1 Corinthians	|					Greek
Second Epistle to the Corinthians	2 Corinthians	|					Greek
Epistle to the Galatians	Galatians	|					Greek
Epistle to the Ephesians	Ephesians	|					Greek
Epistle to the Philippians	Philippians	|					Greek
Epistle to the Colossians	Colossians	|					Greek
First Epistle to the Thessalonians	1 Thessalonians	|					Greek
Second Epistle to the Thessalonians	2 Thessalonians	|					Greek
First Epistle to Timothy	1 Timothy	|					Greek
Second Epistle to Timothy	2 Timothy	|					Greek
Epistle to Titus	Titus	|					Greek
Epistle to Philemon	Philemon	|					Greek
colspan="7" style="text-align:center;"	''General Epistles''
	|					Greek (?)
Epistle of James	James	|					Greek
First Epistle of Peter	1 Peter	|					Greek
Second Epistle of Peter	2 Peter	|					Greek
First Epistle of John	1 John	|					Greek
Second Epistle of John	2 John	|					Greek
Third Epistle of John	3 John	|					Greek
Epistle of Jude	Jude	|					Greek
colspan="7" style="text-align:center;"	''Apocalypse''
	|					Greek

In general, among Christian denominations, the ''New Testament Canon'' is an agreed-upon list of 27 books, although book order can vary. The New Testament has different orders in the Lutheran, Slavonic, Ethiopian, Syriac and Armenian traditions. Protestant Bibles in Russia and Ethiopia usually follow the local Orthodox order for the New Testament.

The Didache, Shepherd of Hermas as well as other letters allegedly written by the Apostolic Fathers were once considered scriptural by some of the early Church fathers. They are still being honored in the Catholic tradition, as is the Proto-Evangelion, although these books are not considered canonical in any tradition.

The Third Epistle to the Corinthians and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs were once considered part of the Armenian Orthodox Bible, but are no longer printed with modern editions. The Epistle to the Laodiceans was once part of the Latin Vulgate and was included in John Wycliffe's English translation.

Chart notes

Open canons

The Standard Works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) consists of several books that constitute its open scriptural canon, and include the following: The King James Version of the Bible

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ

The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Pearl of Great Price

The manuscripts of the unfinished Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible (JST) state that "the Song of Solomon is not inspired scripture," and therefore it is not included in LDS canon and rarely studied by members of the LDS church. However, it is still printed in every version of the King James Bible published by the church.

The Standard Works are printed and distributed by the LDS church in a single binding called a "Quadruple Combination" or a set of two books, with the Bible in one binding, and the other three books in a second binding called a "Triple Combination". Current editions of the Standard Works include a bible dictionary, photographs, maps and gazetteer, topical guide, index, footnotes, cross references, excerpts from the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible and other study aids.

See also

Books of the Bible for a side-by-side comparison of Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant canons.

Canon (fiction) – a concept inspired by Biblical canon

Chinese Buddhist canon

Daozang (Taoist canon)

Quran

New Testament apocrypha

Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible

Pāli Canon

Tanakh - the canon of the Hebrew Bible

Tibetan Buddhist canon

Tripiṭaka

Footnotes

References

Anchor Bible Dictionary

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Eerdmans Press

Apostolic Fathers, Lightfoot-Harmer-Holmes, ISBN 978-0-8010-5676-5

Encyclopedia of the Early Church, Oxford

Beckwith, R.T. ''OT Canon of the NT Church'' ISBN 978-0-8028-3617-5

Brakke, David. "Canon formation and social conflict in fourth century Egypt," in ''Harvard Theological Review'' 87:4 (1994) pp. 395–419. Athanasius' role in the formation of the N.T. canon.

Bruce, F.F., ''Canon of Scripture'' ISBN 978-0-8308-1258-5

Davis, L.D. ''First Seven Ecumenical Councils'' ISBN 978-0-8146-5616-7

Ferguson ''Encyclopedia of Early Christianity''

Fox, Robin Lane. ''The Unauthorized Version.'' 1992.

Gamble. ''NT Canon'' ISBN 1-57910-909-8

Hennecke-Schneemelcher. ''NT Apocrypha''

Jurgens, W.A. ''Faith of the Early Fathers'' ISBN 978-0-8146-5616-7

Metzger, Bruce. ''Canon of the NT'' ISBN 978-0-19-826180-3

Noll, Mark A. ''Turning Points''. Baker Academic, 1997. ISBN 978-0-8010-6211-7

John Salza, Scripture Catholic, Septuagint references

Sundberg. ''OT of the Early Church'' Harvard Press 1964

Further reading

Barnstone, Willis (ed.) The Other Bible: Ancient Alternative Scriptures. HarperCollins, 1984, ISBN 978-0-7394-8434-0.

Childs, Brevard S., The New Testament as canon: an introduction ISBN 0-334-02212-6

Gamble, Harry Y., The New Testament canon: its making and meaning ISBN 0-8006-0470-9

McDonald, Lee Martin, Forgotten Scriptures. the Selection and Rejection of Early Religious Writings, 2009, ISBN 978-0-664-23357-0

McDonald, Lee Martin, The formation of the Christian biblical canon ISBN 0-687-13293-2

McDonald, Lee Martin, Early Christianity and its sacred literature ISBN 1-56563-266-4

McDonald, Lee Martin, The Biblical canon: its origin, transmission, and authority ISBN 978-1-56563-925-6

McDonald, Lee Martin, and James A. Sanders (eds.) The canon debate ISBN 1-56563-517-5

Metzger, Bruce Manning, The Canon of the New Testament: its origin, development, and significance ISBN 0-19-826180-2

Souter, Alexander, The text and canon of the New Testament, 2nd. ed., Studies in theology; no. 25. London: Duckworth (1954)

Ned Bernhard Stonehouse, The Apocalypse in the Ancient Church: A Study in the History of the New Testament Canon, 1929

Wall, Robert W., The New Testament as canon: a reader in canonical criticism ISBN 1-85075-374-1

Westcott, Brooke Foss, A general survey of the history of the canon of the New Testament, 4th. ed, London: Macmillan (1875)

External links

Old Testament Reading Room & New Testament Reading Room: Extensive links to online resources for OT and NT theology & history (Tyndale Seminary)

The Development of the Canon of the New Testament – includes very detailed charts and direct links to ancient witnesses

Catholic Encyclopedia: Canon of the New Testament

Scholarly articles on the Protestant Biblical Canon from the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library

Jewish Encyclopedia: Bible Canon

What's in Your Bible? – a chart comparing Jewish, Orthodox, Catholic, Syriac, Ethiopian, and Protestant canons (Bible Study Magazine Nov–Dec 08.)

Early Christian Writings

Category:Judeo-Christian topics Category:Hebrew Bible topics Category:Bible Category:Christian biblical canon Category:Christian terms

ca:Cànon (Bíblia) cs:Biblický kánon da:Den bibelske kanon de:Bibelkanon el:Βιβλικός κανόνας es:Canon bíblico eo:Biblia kanono fr:Canon (Bible) fur:Canul ko:정경 id:Kanon Alkitab it:Canone della Bibbia he:קאנוניזציה (של כתבים) la:Canon (Biblia) lt:Kanonas hu:Bibliai kánon nl:Canon van de Bijbel ja:聖書正典 no:Bibelens kanon pl:Kanon Biblii pt:Cânon bíblico ro:Canon biblic ru:Библейский канон simple:Biblical canon sr:Канон Светог писма sh:Biblijski kanon fi:Raamatun kaanon sv:Bibelkanon uk:Біблійний канон zh:正典

Name	Matt Dillahunty
Birth date	March 31, 1969
Death date
Known for	Atheist activism
Nationality	USA }}

Matt Dillahunty is the president of the Atheist Community of Austin, and is also a host of the live internet radio show "Non-Prophets Radio" and of the Austin Public-access television cable TV show "The Atheist Experience.

The show of which he is one of the hosts, "The Atheist Experience", has become popular on YouTube and is consistently on the top discussed and top rated pages. He is also the founder and contributor of a counter-apologetics encyclopedia at Iron Chariots and its subsidiary sites.

Personal Life

Matt was raised as a fundamentalist Baptist Christian, and sought to become a Baptist minister. His religious studies, instead of bolstering his faith as he intended, led to a complete rejection of Christianity. He now continues to study philosophy, religion, science, and history, while educating people about atheism and religion, and "to prevent others from wasting another day on irrational beliefs".

Dillahunty served on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier during the Gulf War and in Haiti during the early 1990s.

Dillahunty will be marrying Beth Presswood, a Microbiologist in October, 2011.

References

External links

The Non-Prophets homepage

The Atheist Experience homepage

Saving believers: Former Christian finds calling to preach the good news of atheism

PBS: Public-Access TV Fights for Relevance in the YouTube Age

The Atheist Experience live stream

Category:Living people Category:American atheists Category:Atheism activists Category:1969 births Category:United States Navy sailors Category:Former Baptists

pt:Matt Dillahunty

Name	The Books
Background	group_or_band
Origin	New York City, New York, United States
Genre	Folktronica, experimental, sound collage
Formed	2000
Years active	2000–present
Label	Tomlab, Temporary Residence Limited
Website	www.thebooksmusic.com
Current members	Nick ZammutoPaul de Jong
Past members	}}

The Books are an American duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their releases typically incorporate samples of obscure sounds and speech. They have released three critically acclaimed albums on the German label Tomlab, and recently released their fourth studio album, ''The Way Out'', on Temporary Residence Limited.

History

1999–2002: ''Thought for Food''

Zammuto and de Jong first met in New York City in 1999 as they shared the same apartment building. De Jong invited Zammuto to dinner at his apartment, where he played him some of his collection of audio and video samples, including a Shooby Taylor record. Zammuto said of their meeting that "we both kind of knew at that moment that we listened (to music) in interesting ways and had similar approaches to music." Soon after, they began playing what they considered to be pop music, in comparison to their own works, under the name ''The Books''.

In 2000, The Books started work on what would become their début album ''Thought for Food''. Zammuto and de Jong moved locations constantly during this time, recording in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and finally in the basement of a hostel in North Carolina where Zammuto worked for a while after hiking the Appalachian Trail.

''Thought for Food'' was released on October 22^nd, 2002. Praised by critics for its distinctive sound, it featured extensive sampling from obscure sources coupled with mostly acoustic instrumentation.

2002–2003: ''The Lemon of Pink''

Shortly after the release of ''Thought for Food'', the band relocated to North Adams, Massachusetts, near where Zammuto had graduated from Williams College in 1999, studying chemistry and visual arts. Zammuto and de Jong began the recording of ''The Lemon of Pink'' around this time. Anne Doerner, a guest vocalist on the album, said the process was much more arduous than the recording of ''Thought for Food'', with Zammuto working on the album for five straight months.

''The Lemon of Pink'' was released to critical acclaim on October 7^th, 2003. It is similar in style to ''Thought for Food'', but oriented more around vocals performed mostly by Anne Doerner.

2003–2006: ''Lost and Safe'', ''Music for a French Elevator'', ''Prefuse 73 Reads The Books''

In 2004, the French Ministry of Culture asked The Books to compose music for a new elevator in their building. The Books released a Mini CD of this work in 2006, under the name ''Music for a French Elevator and Other Short Format Oddities by the Books''.

On April 5, 2005, The Books released their third studio album, ''Lost and Safe''. Zammuto has a greater vocal presence in this album, and the album was criticized for this change of sound. Aside from this, ''Lost and Safe'' was well received by critics. Throughout early 2005, The Books collobarated with the electronica artist Prefuse 73. The Books appear on his album Surrounded by Silence ("Pagina Dos"), and the E.P. ''Prefuse 73 Reads the Books E.P.'' collects remixes of material sourced from The Books' albums.

Before starting a three-month tour of North America in April 2006, The Books had played only one concert, in October 2003 at a festival in Chicago, Illinois. Zammuto has expressed apprehensiveness towards touring, but says it is necessary to make a living, given the financial strain he's put under due to people downloading The Books' music via file-sharing.

2006–present: Break, ''The Way Out''

Following the release of ''Music for a French Elevator'', the band took a break from recording to tend to their new families, tour in support of their albums, and pursue some of their own projects, which included Zammuto scoring a feature documentary about the Biosphere 2.

In 2007, The Books released ''Play All'', a DVD of thirteen music videos and three previously unreleased tracks. The ''Play All'' videos are composed of found footage transformed into a collage that matches their music. The Books often screen these videos during their live performances.

The Books toured heavily between 2005 and 2007, including two tours in Europe and two Canadian shows. In early 2009 The Books covered the Nick Drake song "Cello Song" in collaboration with José González for the Red Hot Organization's ''Dark Was the Night'' fund-raising album.

The Books began working on ''The Way Out'' in late 2008. Zammuto spoke of the album's New Age themes in an interview in April 2009, saying they took samples from self-help and hypnotherapy cassettes. When asked to describe the album, Zammuto said "You're getting verrry sleepy." On April 5, 2010, the duo announced that ''The Way Out'' would be released through Temporary Residence Limited in July. On April 27 Pitchfork Media began streaming the track "Beautiful People", which Zammuto described as "a three part christian harmony mixed with a sort of euro-disco-trash beat, an orchestra’s worth of sampled brass and lyrics about the twelfth root of two (my favorite irrational number), trigonometry and tangrams". The album was released on July 20.

The Books played the ATP New York 2010 music festival in Monticello, New York, in September 2010 and are currently touring North American tour with the Black Heart Procession. The band have been chosen by Portishead & ATP to perform at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festival that they will curate in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace.

Musical style

The Books are commonly cited by critics to be of a genre of their own,. Zammuto has described it as as collage music. Although they have said that their influences include Nirvana, David Bowie, Roxy Music as well as new wave and classical music, these do not show prominently in their music, though Zammuto was directly influenced by electronic musicians Squarepusher, Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada. The Books' music usually consists of acoustic instrumentation of folk melodies usually played on guitar, cello, banjo and more, combined with a diverse range of samples obtained from cassettes found in thrift stores, which are digitally processed and edited. They also rarely use a drum kit in recordings and performances, instead favouring inanimate objects like children's toys and filing cabinets, which are sampled and looped. Some observers contend that their music is aleatoric, but Zammuto has disagreed, saying the music is very tightly controlled.

Discography

Studio albums

''Thought for Food'' (2002)

''The Lemon of Pink'' (2003)

''Lost and Safe'' (2005)

''Music for a French Elevator and Other Short Format Oddities by the Books'' (EP, 2006)

''The Way Out'' (2010)

DVDs

''Play All'' (2007)

References

External links

Interview with The Books

Category:Musical groups from Massachusetts Category:Folktronica Category:American people of Dutch descent

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Gregory Koukl (born June 10, 1950) is a Christian, radio talk show host, author and speaker/teacher. He is the founder of Stand To Reason, a Christian organization dedicated to the articulation and defense of the Christian worldview.

Education

M.A. in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at Talbot School of Theology M.A. in Christian apologetics, at Simon Greenleaf School of Law

Books

''Making Abortion Unthinkable: The Art of Pro-life Persuasion'' training manual and video training series; with Scott Klusendorf, Stand to Reason Press (2001)

''Precious Unborn Human Persons'', Stand to Reason Press (1999)

''Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air'', co-authored with Dr. Francis Beckwith, Baker Book House (1998)

''Tactics: A Game Plan for Thoughtful Dialog with Non-Christians, Zondervan (2009)

Contributions to Other Books

“''Capital Punishment: Is Man a Machine or a Moral Agent?'',” At Issue: Capital Punishment, published by the Gale Group, 2004.

“''Tactics: Applying Apologetics to Everyday Life'',” To Everyone An Answer—A Case for the Christian Worldview, eds. Francis Beckwith, William Lane Craig, J.P. Moreland (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004)

References

External links

Str.org - Stand To Reason Home Page

www.veritas.org - Online video lecture: Moral Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Midair

Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:American radio personalities Category:Christian apologists Category:Christian writers Category:Talbot School of Theology alumni