Intro
We have a 66 book Bible canon in the LDS. We have inherited that from the Protestants. This is a trimmed down list of what the Roman Catholics who decided on at the Council of Trent in the mid-16th century. The short version is that the Protestants took books out (Apocrypha), and the Roman Catholics decided what should go in. The RCs, to be fair to them, went by a fairly well established list of books that had been accepted for around a thousand years. On a different note, 66 is also an "evil" number, and it surprises me that more Christians haven't commented on that.
Some of the books which only just made it into our canon are very well known to us.
What's in and what's out?
I've posted a lot on books in the Apocrypha recently, i.e. the ones which are in someone else's Bible but not our own. These are also known as the Deuterocanonical books (i.e. secondary canon) or intertestamental books. Some of these books can be found in Roman Catholic Bibles (Tobit etc) so it would be pretty insular/sectarian to say that most Christians aren't aware of them – that's not true on a purely numbers basis. Others like 3 Corinthians are only known to a handful of Armenians.... at the other extreme, there are quasi-Jewish groups such as the Samaritans and Karaites who only accept the Torah or Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) as inspired scripture and nothing else. (I think it is fair enough to say that a lot of Christians barely read the drier bits of the Torah!) Can you imagine a five book Bible? Well they have one!
There are also numerous books that never got into the Bible in the first place.
What about another group.... the books which barely made it into the Bible? There are more of these than you might think. There are books that Martin Luther wanted to remove from the Bible, but didn't. Now I don't agree with all these choices personally, since they include some of my favourite Bible books. Luther put some of these in the Apocrypha (and I discuss them in the footnote) Long before Martin Luther, Eusebius, Origen and others argued against certain New Testament books, and the Peshitta (Syriac Bible) excluded some. The Jews anciently included some books and excluded others depending on their denominations and that has caused problems too.
There are those who have also spoken out against Paul's dominance of the New Testament. Pazooka has a thread about this:
viewtopic.php?t=69036
Antilegomena
There is a fancy name for these books which only just got in, it's "Antilegomena" which means "spoken against" in Greek. The opposite of antilegomena is "homologo(u)mena" which would include the four gospels, Torah etc, i.e. those books with solid support.
Eusebius in the 300s is one of the first to mention the antilegomena, he says:
""It is not indeed right to overlook the fact that some have rejected the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying that it is disputed [αντιλέγεσθαι - antilegesthai] by the church of Rome, on the ground that it was not written by Paul... Among the disputed writings, [των αντιλεγομένων], which are nevertheless recognized by many, are extant the so-called epistle of James and that of Jude, also the second epistle of Peter, and those that are called the second and third of John, whether they belong to the evangelist or to another person of the same name. Among the rejected writings must be reckoned also the Acts of Paul, and the so-called Shepherd [of Hermas], and the Apocalypse of Peter, and in addition to these the extant epistle of Barnabas, and the so-called [Didache or] Teachings of the Apostles; and besides, as I said, the Apocalypse of John [Revelation], if it seem proper, which some, as I said, reject, but which others class with the accepted books. And among these some have placed also the Gospel according to the Hebrews, with which those of the Hebrews that have accepted Christ are especially delighted. And all these may be reckoned among the disputed books. [των αντιλεγομένων]"
Even in more recent times, we have seen Bible scholars voting on which sayings of Jesus they consider to be authentic.
Here are some Antilegomena which do appear in LDS Bibles. (I've underlined books which I would include in my personal choices for the the Bible.):
New Testament: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude and Revelation
Old Testament: Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs/Song of Solomon, Proverbs, Ezekiel
* Hebrews, because the author does not name himself in it. There are also some doctrinal questions about it.
* James is the partial basis for Mormonism as many of you know. Critics of James say that it promotes salvation by works. Luther called it "an epistle of straw" (epistola straminea)
* 2 Peter seems to be stylistically different from 1 Peter.
* Jude is very short and also has a major and obvious quote of the Book of Enoch, which I have mentioned elsewhere, as well as pissibly the Assumption of Moses.
* Revelation(s) or the Apocalypse of John is one of the most important books in Christian history and yet it is one of the most controversial with multiple differing interpretations... I personally do consider it scripture and find it edifying. It is a Christian response to the book of Daniel and contains terrifying predictions for our future and I believe some of it is unfolding before our eyes. From the earliest times Revelation has attracted dubious groups, and it continues to today, which is why some people hate it.
* Esther falls under condemnation for teo reasons, firstly its lack of veneration of God (which is what all the additions to Esther (see links) are all about); and secondly its main characters Esther and Mordecai have names suspiciously similar to Ishtar and Marduk, the Babylonian deities.
* The Song of Songs/Song of Solomon has had many detractors including Martin Luther. Joseph Smith comments that it is not scripture and yet it still appears in our Bibles. Some Christians say it is the love between Christ and his church/Israel, while detractors say it is just the writer getting it on with a woman and half way to porn. There is a thread on its canonicity at viewtopic.php?p=1310477
* I'm also very partial to Ecclesiastes, as I find it one of the most moving books in the Old Testament.
* Ezekiel - an amazing book with some very trippy imagery and some outrageous scenes in it.
Here is what a few sources have to say about these books.
http://cyclopedia.lcms.org/display.asp? ... TILEGOMENA
It was due chiefly to this special vigilance that the following books were not accepted by the ch. everywhere before the latter part of the 4th c.: Ja, Jude, 2 and 3 Jn, 2 Ptr, Heb and Rv. The author of Heb is not definitely known; the identity of the James who is the author of the letter was not altogether certain, and the content of the letter was misunderstood; 2 and 3 Jn are addressed to private persons and were not made accessible to larger circles; 2 Ptr was most likely written shortly before the death of the author and had no definite addressees; Jude is very short and has a very circumscribed message; and the Rv was under suspicion because of its nature. Over against these objections it is to be noted that all these books are mentioned at a very early date, some of them referred to as early as the beginning of the 2d c. as apostolic writings, and all of them finally accepted by the ch. in the course of the 4th c.
https://www.gotquestions.org/antilegomena.html
The problems arise when these anteligomena contradict the homologomena or doctrines arise on the basis of these scriptures.However, seven of those twenty-seven books were subject to more debate than the others. Those seven were Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, and Revelation. Unlike the works that were rejected outright, these books contained no obvious disqualifiers. They did not present heresy, they were not clearly linked to a non-orthodox church, and so forth. Rather, each fell short in the minds of some early Christians, according to the criteria given above.
F. C. Baur used the term in his classification of the Pauline Epistles, classing Romans, 1-2 Corinthians and Galatians as "homologoumena"; Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians and Philemon as "antilegomena"; and the Pastoral Epistles as "notha" (spurious writings). This increases the list even more.
Other categories
So apart from the homologoumena (almost universally accepted), and the canonical antilegomena, there are the other categories:
* Some other non-canonical antilegomena exist: the Epistle of Barnaby/Barnabas, Didache, Acts of Paul and Shepherd of Hermas, Apocalypse of Peter, 1 Clement and 2 Clement and the Didache are among these. (Laodiceans and 3 Corinthians were accepted by some churches into late mediaeval times but are not included in this list.) I may write on some of these.
* The true western Apocrypha (see below) as used by the Roman Catholics, Amish, Anglicans & Lutherans; to which we can add Orthodox and Ethiopian works. I've covered most of these already.
* Pseudepigrapha – the remainder. These range from the respectable to the ridiculous and are vast in number. A lot of people refer to the Pseudepigrapha as Apocrypha and confuse the two.
Footnote: The "official" KJV Apocrypha
Our KJV retains the preface for some reason, but we know for a fact that Joseph Smith's own copy contained the Apocrypha in its own section:
"The Bible used for Joseph Smith's Revision was purchased in E. B. Grandin's Bookstore in Palmyra, New York; on October 8, 1828; it was a large family Bible... It was an edition of the Authorized Version 'together with the Apocrypha,' which was located between the two testaments, and was an 1828 edition, printed in Cooperstown, New York, by H. and E. Phinney Company." – "A History of Joseph Smith's Revision of the Bible," by Reed C. Durham, Jr., Ph.D. dissertation, Brigham Young University, 1965, page 25)
The KJV Apocrypha is as follows:
1 Esdras (3 Ezra), 2 Esdras (4 Ezra), Tobit, Judith, the rest of Esther, Wisdom (of Solomon), Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), Baruch with the Epistle of Jeremiah, the Song of the 3 Children, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Manasses, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees
I've written articles on all these. These books just mentioned would be the Apocrypha referred to in the Doctrine and Covenants and not any others. The Jews do not accept any of these as canon, but appear to in the past. The Orthodox churches have many more of their own, which do not appear in the KJV.
--
This is part of my ongoing series on Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical works:
1 Esdras inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1343974
2 Esdras (the most relevant book in the Apocrypha?) inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1344302
1 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69454
2 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69468
3 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69496
4 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69515
Book of Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy/Jeremiah
viewtopic.php?t=69433
Book of Tobit inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1341501
Apocryphal additions to Esther inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1343414
Bel and the Dragon (quoted in full, KJV; inc audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?t=69261
Prayer of Azarias and Hymn of the Three Children (quoted in full KJV, inc. audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?p=1341611
Book of Judith and the Book of Mormon, inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?t=69402
Book of Susanna inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?t=69386
Wisdom of Solomon
viewtopic.php?t=69469
Book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus
viewtopic.php?t=69412
Prayer of Mannases (aka Mannaseh; quoted in full KJV, inc. audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?t=69263
Psalm 151 (quoted in full, NRSV)
viewtopic.php?t=63875
Epistle to the Laodiceans (NT, quoted in full Wycliffe's translation, )
viewtopic.php?t=64025
The Book of Odes - this is an Eastern Orthodox work of limited interest, but included for the sake of completeness.
viewtopic.php?t=69470
Outside the Western and Eastern Orthodox Canon...
The Ethiopian canon. This includes brief info on the books of Sinodos, Ethiopian Clement, Ethiopian Covenant, and Didascalia as well as a list of other works in the canon.
viewtopic.php?t=69540
The Book of Enoch
viewtopic.php?t=69577
Book of Jubilees (Apocrypha) aka the Little Genesis or Leptogenesis - Cain, Moses, Enoch, Nephilim
viewtopic.php?t=69548
3 Corinthians (Armenian canon)
viewtopic.php?t=69567
The Shepherd of Hermas
viewtopic.php?p=1352230
The Epistle of Barnabas/Barnaby
viewtopic.php?p=1352826
The Didache
viewtopic.php?p=1353149
Is Q canonical? How about the Gospel of Thomas?
viewtopic.php?t=69715