Earliest Extant 66 Book Canon
Need help. Can anybody point me to the earliest extant 66 book codex? Thanks.
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Have done a bit of searching since my original post. Seems like the earliest extant bible with only 66 books may well be in the 1800s. Many apocryphal books have traditionally been included either within the canon, or separated from the canon in their own section.
I still would be interested to know the first edition that did not include apocryphal books.
By extant, you mean oldest surviving copy of the English Bible w/o the apocrypha … or you seem to be asking when English Bibles were first published without it.
Much of my library is still in boxes pending space for more shelving, but you might find the answer in David Beal’s Pictorial History http://amzn.to/1OPONf2.
I’ve also found the somewhat obscure History of the Bible in English by FF Bruce helpful in the past. http://amzn.to/1GQDBbF
But either way, “published Bible w/o apoc.” is not the same question as “66 book canon,” because I believe the early Anglican Bibles that included apocrypha did not, at that time, view the apocryphal books as canonical.
So the question of inclusion and the question of canonicity are two different questions I think.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Thanks for the references Aaron. It does sound like the canonicity of the apocryphal books has been a discussion for centuries, even as far back as the earliest compilations.
i don’t know of any modern groups that hold them on par with canonical books today.
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