When was the Bible put together?

Answer 1

AnswerScholars believe that the earliest traditions that form part of the Pentateuch were first written down early in the first millennium BCE, and that these were first compiled into recognisable books of the Pentateuch by the 'Deuteronomist' source during the reign of King Josiah ( about 640-609 BCE). These books were added to and redacted up to around the fifth century BCE.

The last Book of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, was the Book of Daniel. This was written in the second century BCE. The Catholic Bible has deuterocanonical Books in the Old Testament, including I Maccabees and II Macabees, that were probably written a little later.

The earliest New Testament books are believed to have been written around 50 CE. According to biblical scholars, Acts of the Apostles and John's Gospel were written at the end of the first century or, more probably, early in the second century. The Pastorals: 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, are also regarded as books of the second century. Thus, the books that came to form part of Christian Bible were completed in the second century CE.

The Council of Jamnia (or Council of Yavne), which appeared to have taken place around 90 CE, is believed to have finally defined the canon of the Hebrew Bible, except for the Ethiopian Jews who do not accept its legitimacy. If canonicity was decided at this Council, the decisions were not communicated to the Christians, who remained somewhat uncertain as to which books really belonged in the Old Testament. By the fourth century, the Christian church began to concern itself about exactly what books should be included, and Bishop Melito of Sardis went to Palestine to discover which Hebrew books belonged in the canon. Nevertheless, it was not until the sixteenth century that Catholic and Protestant Churches identified exactly what books were regarded as forming the Old Testament.

By the Council of Nicaea in 325, the orthodox New Testament was more or less agreed upon, but the Eastern Churches (the future Eastern Orthodox Churches) gradually developed a different canon from that adopted by the Western Church (later the Roman Catholic Church).

The Protestant Reformation brought the need for a defined canon to a head. Luther began to define the Protestant canon, rejecting some of the books of the Roman Catholic Canon. In defence the Catholic Church finally defined its biblical canon. At this stage, we can define the Bible as having been 'put together' in the sixteenth century.