On this site, we keep our sights trained on the topic of how to study the English Bible. We’ve chosen not to get too involved in related but ancillary topics, such as translation (how we got our English versions), transmission (how the text was passed from generation to generation), or canonicity (how we ended up with our current set of books in the Bible). These topics are not unimportant; we just prefer to keep things on this site focused on one thing.
But once in a while we like to refer you to another resource that does a good job addressing these fundamental questions.
That’s why I highly encourage you to check out this article by Eric Davis called “Who Decided What Would be in the Bible & When—Canonicity.” Davis writes very clearly for a non-academic audience, and he covers the topic very well.
Davis addresses questions such as:
- How can we trust the 66 books of the Protestant Bible are the right ones?
- Wasn’t it just a 4th century council of powerful leaders who decided, according to their private agenda, which books to include and exclude?
- What should we make of the Apocrypha?
- What are the presuppositions and ramifications of our conclusions on these matters?
