Who was responsible for compiling what we know as the Old Testament?

Answer 1

The responsibility for compiling what Christians call the Old Testament (known in Judaism as the Tanakh) was not the work of a single person or committee at one time, but rather a long, organic, and complex historical process spanning over a millennium.

Key Groups and Periods in Compilation

The compilation of the Tanakh/Old Testament can be broken down into three main phases, reflecting the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible:

1. The Torah (The Law)

The first five books of the Bible (Genesis through Deuteronomy) are foundational.

1. Traditional View: Religious tradition attributes the authorship of the Torah primarily to Moses in the second millennium BCE.
2. Scholarly View (JEDP Theory): Most modern biblical scholars believe the final form of the Torah was compiled from several earlier source traditions (J, E, D, and P) and was finally compiled and edited by scribes and priestsduring the Babylonian exile and the subsequent Persian period (6th–5th centuries BCE). This compilation process was likely complete by the time of Ezra the Scribe (c. 450 BCE), who is traditionally credited with establishing the authority of the Law after the return from exile.

2. The Nevi'im (The Prophets)

This section includes the Historical Books (like Joshua and Kings) and the Prophetic Books (like Isaiah and Jeremiah).

1. Compilation: This material was collected over several centuries. The histories were likely edited and finalized by Deuteronomistic historians during and after the Babylonian Exile. The books of the later prophets were collected and preserved by their disciples.
2. Finalization: The prophetic writings were likely collected and accepted as authoritative sometime around 200 BCE.

3. The Ketuvim (The Writings)

This section includes Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the five scrolls (Megillot), Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles.

1. Compilation: These books were composed, collected, and edited later than the Torah and the Prophets. The inclusion of some books, like Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs, was debated for a time.
2. The Canonization Process: The final collection and authoritative recognition of all the books in the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible canon) is traditionally associated with a gathering of rabbis and scribes—sometimes called the Council of Jamnia (c. 90 CE)—though scholars now view this as a more gradual process culminating in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. The primary goal was to define which sacred texts would be considered authoritative by the Jewish community following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.

In summary, the Old Testament was compiled by successive generations of priests, scribes, prophets, and editors over a 1,000-year period, with the final shape of the Hebrew canon solidifying centuries after the life of Jesus.

Answer 2

The Old Testament books were written well before Jesus’ Incarnation, and all of the New Testament books were written by roughly the end of the first century A.D. But the Bible as a whole was not officially compiled until the late fourth century, illustrating that it was the Church who determined the canon—or list of books—of the Bible under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Bible is not a not a self-canonizing collection of books, as there is no table of contents included in any of the books.

Although the New Testament canon was not determined until the late 300s, books the Church deemed sacred were early on proclaimed in church, and read and preached about otherwise. Early Christian writings outnumbered the 27 books that would become the canon of the New Testament. The shepherds of the Church, by a process of spiritual discernment and investigation into the liturgical traditions of the Church spread throughout the world, had to draw clear lines of distinction between books that are truly inspired by God and originated in the apostolic period, and those which only claimed to have these qualities.

The process culminated in 382 as the Council of Rome, which was convened under the leadership of Pope Damasus, promulgated the 73-book scriptural canon. The biblical canon was reaffirmed by the regional councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397), and then definitively reaffirmed by the ecumenical Council of Florence in 1442).

Finally, the ecumenical Council of Trent solemnly defined this same canon in 1546, after it came under attack by the first Protestant leaders, including Martin Luther, who got rid of 1 and 2 Maccabees, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Sirach, and Wisdom, and additions to the books of Esther and Daniel, all from the Old Testament. Luther also tried to get rid of James, Jude, Hebrews and Revelation but received opposition to that.