Search the encyclopedia
131 articles found for “canon”
Biblical Canon
[Doctrine & Theology]The canon is the list of books that the church has recognized as the Word of God and the standard for faith and life. Protestants regard sixty-six books as canonical and refer to certain books excluded from the canon as the Apocrypha.
Formation of the Canon
[Bible]The formation of the canon (canonization) is the historical process by which it became settled which of the many writings in circulation were received as Scripture, the norm for faith and life.
Canons of Dort
[Doctrine & Theology]The Canons of Dort are a Reformed confessional document adopted by the Synod of Dort in the Netherlands in 1618–1619 in response to the teachings of the Arminians (Remonstrants). They address five doctrines concerning salvation by grace and predestination.
Deuterocanonical Books
[Bible]The deuterocanonical books are books such as Tobit, Judith, and Maccabees that the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church include in the Old Testament but that are absent from the Hebrew Bible and the Protestant Old Testament. Protestants commonly call them the Apocrypha.
Council of Laodicea
[History]The Council of Laodicea was a regional church synod held in the late fourth century at Laodicea in Asia Minor. It produced fifty-nine or sixty canons concerning worship, the clergy, the treatment of heretics, and related matters, and it is frequently cited for its canons on Sunday observance and the list of canonical books.
Rule of Faith
[Doctrine & Theology]The rule of faith (regula fidei) is a summary of the content of the faith that the early church regarded as received from the apostles; it served as a standard for judging whether teaching was sound.
Calvinism
[Doctrine & Theology]Calvinism is a theological tradition rooted in the teachings of the Reformer John Calvin. It emphasizes the sovereignty of God in salvation and is commonly summarized by five points drawn from the Canons of Dort, known by the acronym TULIP.
Gospels
[Bible]The Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), which record the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Together they are called the four Gospels.
Liturgy of the Hours
[Worship & Rites]The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, is the public prayer of the church in which psalms, canticles, Scripture readings, and prayers are offered at fixed times of the day. The term is used chiefly in the Catholic Church, and similar traditions exist in the Anglican and Lutheran churches.
Old Testament Apocrypha
[Bible]The Old Testament Apocrypha is the Protestant term for Jewish writings that appear in Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament but are absent from the Hebrew Bible. The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church accept some of these books as canonical.
Joachim
[People]Joachim is the figure whom church tradition, including the second-century apocryphal Protoevangelium of James, identifies as the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the husband of Anne. He is not named in the canonical Scriptures.
Protevangelium of James
[Bible]The Protevangelium of James is a Greek apocryphal work from around the second century that recounts the birth and upbringing of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the birth of Jesus. It is not included in the canonical Bible.
Marcionism
[Heresies & Cults]Marcionism is the teaching of the second-century teacher Marcion and his followers. It held that the Creator God of the Old Testament and the God who sent Jesus Christ were distinct beings, rejected the Old Testament, and established its own canon of Scripture. The early Church Fathers repudiated it as a heresy.
Gospel of Thomas
[History]The Gospel of Thomas is an ancient document containing a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus. Its complete text in Coptic was discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt. It is not included in the biblical canon.
Book of Baruch
[Bible]The Book of Baruch is a work attributed to Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah. The Catholic and Orthodox Churches include it in the canon (in Catholic terminology, as a deuterocanonical book), while Protestants classify it among the Apocrypha and do not include it in the Bible.
New Testament Apocrypha
[Bible]The New Testament Apocrypha is a collective term for early Christian writings that tell stories about Jesus and the apostles or bear an apostle's name but were not included in the twenty-seven books of the New Testament canon.
Protoevangelium of James
[History]The Protoevangelium of James is a New Testament apocryphal work that appears to have been written in Greek around the second century. It recounts the birth and upbringing of Mary and the birth of Jesus. Although it was not included in the canon, it had a major influence on Marian tradition and on depictions of the Nativity.
Epistle of Barnabas
[History]The Epistle of Barnabas is an early Christian writing composed in Greek between the late first and early second centuries. It interprets the laws and institutions of the Old Testament as symbols pointing to Christ and was not included in the New Testament canon.
Gospel of Peter
[Bible]The Gospel of Peter is an ancient Greek gospel bearing the name of the apostle Peter. It is not part of the biblical canon, and only a fragment dealing with the passion and resurrection of Jesus survives.
Gospel of Nicodemus
[Bible]The Gospel of Nicodemus is an ancient Christian text that recounts the trial, death, and resurrection of Jesus and his descent into Hades. It is a New Testament apocryphal work not included in the canon and is also known as the Acts of Pilate.