The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church and Its Background in Early Judaism

by Roger T. Beckwith

The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church and Its Background in Early Judaism Hardcover – March, 1986 by Roger Beckwith (Author)

Genres: Theology, Christian, Christianity, Biblical Studies

528 pages, Hardcover

First published December 12, 1986

Reviews

[Ben James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by no means an affordable or exciting book, and at times it moves quite slowly, and is very dense. But it is unrivaled in its helpfulness for defending the Old Testament Canon.

There exists a number of recent, solid works on the text and canonicity of the New Testament (e.g. Michael Kruger). There are also a handful of books that address the subject of Canon overall (e.g. FF Bruce, Wenham). But often those books (such as Bruce’s The Canon of Scripture) are pretty brief when it comes to the Old Testament.

But for anyone looking for a detailed, and exhaustive, well-researched, 500 page, Protestant defense of the 39 books of the Old Testament, this is it. Beckwith addressed misconceptions, and laid the groundwork that the Scriptures of the Jews were settled and established before the time of Christ, and correspond to the same 39 books of the Protestant Old Testament and Hebrew Tanak today that exist today.
It was written in 1985, but hasn’t been topped to date. Hopefully some OT scholar will pick up the mantle and build upon Beckwith’s monumental work.

[Mark Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really foundational work and the starting place for OT canonical studies. However, he places too much emphasis on Maccabaeus “storing up” the documents in the temple as a turning point in OT canonization.

[GIBIN MATHEW]

good one

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding study on the Old Testament canon.

[James Dickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for Christians trying to understand the canonization process of the Old Testament.

[Carlos Montijo]

https://youtu.be/LVVRfu1eLSU?si=PZQm-...

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tour de force.

[James Stroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars, because Beckwith occasionally reads post-2nd temple Judaism back into the time of Christ and his apostles, which is a precarious procedure. Otherwise, excellent and comprehensive.