Septuagint and Biblical Canon

I am trying to study the Septuagint and its work on or within the biblical Canon. I understand that the first Bible was the Septuagint. I believe that under Christian supervision, the Septuagint divided the minor prophets from other books and added additional works that Protestants, Jews, and Catholics refer to as apocrypha and deuterocanonical, respectively. The Jews who finalized the Hebrew OT text rejected many of the Deuterocanonical books because they appeared to have been written in Greek at first. However, it's possible that those Jews originated in first-century Jerusalem. However, the Hebrew texts discovered in Alexandra prior to 285 BC may have contained the Deuterocanonical books discovered in the LXX. With the exception of the Maccabees, which had to be written after the events,

I have read the following:

Beckwith, Roger. The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church. London: SPCK, 1985

McDonald, Lee Martin. The Biblical Canon: Its Origin, Transmission, and Authority. Grand Rapids: Hendrickson Publishers, 2011.

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DMB

What is your question? Remember: resources, or use of the software.

And none of your statements are necessarily true (meaning, they're speculative). The best resources are those that deal with actual evidence.

MJ. Smith

An essential book for your studies is:

The First Bible of the Church: A Plea for the Septuagint | Logos Bible Software

Another book that is important for understanding "canonization" is:

The Many Faces of Christ: The Thousand-Year Story of the Survival and Influence of the Lost Gospels by Philip Jenkins | Logos

There is a major problem with most books on canonization in the sense of issues set to the side as not easily studied:

There is little discussion of what was actually being used in the small parishes that dotted the countryside.
There is little discussion of how widely distributed a particular canonical list or canon was which was especially relevant when the growth area of the church was the Syriac Church which was more far-flung than either the Greek or Latin Churches.
There is no discussion of how the "average illiterate believer's" canon was set by homilies, set prayer practices, church art, passion plays, storytellers, folklore . . . my favorite example is Barlaam and Ioasaph | Logos Bible Software

Christian Alexander

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1265790#Comment_1265790

The best resources are those that deal with actual evidence.

What is this set of sources?

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1265818#Comment_1265818

Speaking for myself, actual data points I found most useful was the list of the contents of Bible manuscripts in Georgian and Armenian - the two countries that were the first to be officially Christian countries. I found these primarily in old journal articles ... by old I mean within a decade or so of the West having "discovered" the manuscripts. Then the Slavic Orthodox manuscripts added to that base knowledge. Art books on illuminated manuscripts are another major source of data points.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1265820#Comment_1265820

Adding to MJ:

- Regarding common use, that's the elephant in the center of the room, for sure. One can only guess at 'all-Israel' vs a temple or monarchic presentation (Old Testament).

- I'm continuing my Ancient Judaism and Christian Origens book. The author is so impressed with the fluidity of theology, along with participating scribes (textual varients). It's like a play.

-Regarding Christianity, I'd assume the catechism was operant (not the 'Bible'). When I read your points, my brain immediately remembered, churches planted in the 1600s didn't list Bibles for shipping (New Spain).

- Regarding a good evidence-based resource, Christian, it'd be Tov on the LXX.

Gregory Lawhorn

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1265825#Comment_1265825

This is a fantastic book on the canon: https://www.logos.com/product/156724/canon-revisited-establishing-the-origins-and-authority-of-the-new-testament-books

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1265839#Comment_1265839

Ah yes, I'm surprised I didn't remember the book to recommend it.