Biblical canon

===Early Church===
====Earliest Christian communities====
The [[Early Church]] used the [[Old Testament]], namely the [[Septuagint]] (LXX)<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=McDonald |editor-first1=L. M. |editor-last2=Sanders |editor-first2=J. A. |year=2002 |author-last=Sanders |author-first=J. A. |title=The Canon Debate |chapter=The Issue of Closure in the Canonical Process |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |page=259 |quote= ... the so-called Septuagint was not in itself formally closed.}} Attributed to Albert Sundberg's 1964 Harvard dissertation.</ref> among Greek speakers, with a canon perhaps as found in the [[Development of the old testament canon#Bryennios List|Bryennios List]] or [[Melito's canon]]. The [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]] did not otherwise leave a defined set of new [[scriptures]]; instead, the [[New Testament]] developed over time.

Writings attributed to the apostles circulated among the earliest [[Christians|Christian]] communities. The [[Pauline epistles]] were circulating in collected forms by the end of the 1st century AD. [[Justin Martyr]], in the early 2nd century, mentions the "memoirs of the Apostles", which Christians (Greek: Χριστιανός) called "[[gospel]]s", and which were considered to be authoritatively equal to the Old Testament.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=McDonald |editor-first1=L. M. |editor-last2=Sanders |editor-first2=J. A. |year=2002 |author-last=Ferguson |author-first=Everett |title=The Canon Debate |chapter=Factors leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |pages=302–303 |postscript=none }}; cf. Justin Martyr. ''[[First Apology]]''. 67.3.</ref>

====Marcion's list====
[[Marcion of Sinope]] was the first Christian leader in recorded history (though later considered [[heresy|heretical]]) to propose and delineate a uniquely Christian canon{{sfnp|Metzger|1997|p=98|ps=. "The question whether the Church's canon preceded or followed Marcion's canon continues to be debated."}} (c. 140). This included 10 epistles from [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]], as well as an edited version of the [[Gospel of Luke]], which today is known as the [[Gospel of Marcion]]. By doing this, he established a particular way of looking at [[religious text]]s that persists in Christian thought today.<ref name="Harnack">{{cite book |author-last=von Harnack |author-first=Adolf |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/origin_nt.v.vi.html |chapter=Appendix VI |title=Origin of the New Testament |year=1914}}</ref>

After Marcion, Christians began to divide texts into those that aligned well with the "[[canon (basic principle)|canon]]" (meaning a measuring line, rule, or principle) of accepted theological thought and those that promoted heresy. This played a major role in finalizing the structure of the collection of works called the Bible. It has been proposed that the initial impetus for the [[Proto-orthodox Christianity|proto-orthodox Christian]] project of canonization flowed from opposition to the list produced by Marcion.<ref name="Harnack"/>

====Apostolic Fathers====
A four-gospel canon (the ''Tetramorph'') was asserted by [[Irenaeus]] (c. 130 – c. 202 AD) in the following quote:<ref>{{harvp|Ferguson|2002|p=301}}; cf. Irenaeus. ''[[On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis|Adversus Haereses]]''. 3.11.8.</ref>{{Blockquote|It is not possible that the gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For, since there are four-quarters of the earth in which we live, and four universal winds, while the church is scattered throughout all the world, and the 'pillar and ground' of the church is the gospel and the spirit of life, it is fitting that she should have four pillars breathing out immortality on every side, and vivifying men afresh&nbsp;[...] Therefore the gospels are in accord with these things&nbsp;... For the living creatures are quadriform and the gospel is quadriform&nbsp;[...] These things being so, all who destroy the form of the gospel are vain, unlearned, and also audacious; those [I mean] who represent the aspects of the gospel as being either more in number than as aforesaid, or, on the other hand, fewer.}}

Irenaeus additionally quotes from passages of all the books that would later be put in the New Testament canon except the [[Letter to Philemon]], [[II Peter]], [[III John]], and the [[Epistle of Jude]] in ''Against Heresies'', refers to the [[Shepherd of Hermas]] as "scripture"{{sfnp|Metzger|1997|p=155}} and appears to regard [[I Clement]] as authoritative.

[[File:P46.jpg|thumb|left|250px|alt=Folio from Papyrus 46, containing 2 Corinthians 11:33–12:9 in Greek|A manuscript page from [[Papyrus 46|P46]], an early 3rd-century collection of [[Pauline epistles]]]]
By the early 3rd century, Christian theologians like [[Origen of Alexandria]] may have been using—or at least were familiar with—the same 27 books found in modern New Testament editions, though there were still disputes over the canonicity of some of the writings (see also [[Antilegomena]]).<ref>Both points taken from {{cite book |author-last=Noll |author-first=Mark A. |year=1997 |title=Turning Points |publisher=Baker Academic |pages=36–37}}</ref> Likewise by 200, the [[Muratorian fragment]] shows that there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to what is now the New Testament, which included four gospels and argued against objections to them.<ref>{{cite book |author-last=de Jonge |author-first=H. J. |chapter=The New Testament Canon |editor-last1=de Jonge |editor-first1=H. J. |editor-last2=Auwers |editor-first2=J. M. |title=The Biblical Canons |publisher=Leuven University Press |year=2003 |page=315}}</ref> Thus, while there was a good measure of debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the major writings were accepted by almost all Christians by the middle of the 3rd century.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Ackroyd |editor-first1=P. R. |editor-last2=Evans |editor-first2=C. F. |year=1970 |title=The Cambridge History of the Bible, Vol. 1 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=308 }}</ref>