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Theprotocanonical books are those books of theOld Testament that are also included in theHebrew Bible (the Tanakh) and that came to be consideredcanonical during theformational period of orthodoxChristianity. The Old Testament is entirely rejected by some forms ofGnosticism, but the Hebrew Bible was adhered to even more tightly byJewish Christians thanGentile Christians. The termprotocanonical is often used to contrast these books to thedeuterocanonical books orapocrypha, which "were sometimes doubted"[1] by some in theearly church, and are considered non-canonical by mostProtestants.
There are typically 39 protocanonical books in most Christian bibles, which correspond to the 24 books in the Jewish Tanakh.
The list of protocanonical books isGenesis,Exodus,Leviticus,Numbers,Deuteronomy,Joshua,Judges,Ruth,1–2 Samuel,1–2 Kings,1–2 Chronicles,Ezra,Nehemiah,Esther,Job,Psalms,Proverbs,Ecclesiastes,Song of Solomon,Isaiah,Jeremiah,Lamentations,Ezekiel,Daniel,Hosea,Joel,Amos,Obadiah,Jonah,Micah,Nahum,Habakkuk,Zephaniah,Haggai,Zechariah, andMalachi.
These books are typically 39 in number in most English-language bibles. Based on the Jewish tradition of theTanakh, these same books may be counted as 24 books, counting the twelveminor prophets together as one book, one book each for 1 and 2Samuel, 1 and 2Kings, and 1 and 2Chronicles, as well as asingle book forEzra andNehemiah. In his prologues,Jerome[2] counted the same content as 22 books, combiningJeremiah withLamentations andJudges withRuth. The list given inCodex Hierosolymitanus numbers the same books at 27.[3][4][5]
These enumerations were sometimes given a numerological significance.[2][6] The 22-book enumeration was said to represent the number of letters in theHebrew alphabet; the 5 double books (Judges/Ruth,1/2 Samuel,1/2 Kings,1/2 Chronicles,Ezra/Nehemiah, andJeremiah/Lamentations) representing the five Hebrew letters that have double forms,chaph,mem,nun,phe, andsade. The 24-book enumeration was said to be represented by the 24 elders who cast down their crowns before theLamb in theBook of Revelation. The 27-book enumeration balances one-for-one the27 canonical books of theNew Testament.
Most of the protocanonical books were broadly accepted among early Christians. However, some were omitted by a few of the earliestcanons, TheMarcionites, an early Christian sect that was dominant in some parts of the Roman Empire,[7] recognised areduced canon excluding the entire Hebrew Bible in favor of a modified version ofLuke and ten of thePauline epistles.[8]
Apart from the extreme example of the Marcionites, isolated disagreements over certain books' canonicity continued for centuries.Athanasius, a fourth-century bishop of Alexandria, omittedEsther from his list,[9] potentially having been influenced by an early 22-bookJewish canon, possibly the one mentioned but not specified byJosephus.Theodore of Mopsuestia omittedSong of Songs,Ecclesiastes,Job, andEzra–Nehemiah to obtain a listing of 22 books.[10]
By analogy with the early and broad acceptance of many of the Hebrew andGreek scriptural texts, the termprotocanonical is also sometimes used to describe those works of the 27 bookNew Testament which were the most widely accepted by theearly Church (the Homologoumena, a Greek term meaning "confessed and undisputed"[11]), as distinguished from the remaining books (theAntilegomena, "spoken against"). Some of the Antilegomena, such as the Book of Revelation, later joined the protocanonical books in the canon. It may also be used to refer to all 27 books in their entirety, since they all have been recognized for 1500 years by almost allChristians, especially when making a distinction between them and uncanonical writings of the early Church.[citation needed]