Third Synod of Carthage

The Synod of Carthage that addressed the formation of the Bible is sometimes called the Third Council of Carthage. It took place in August of 397 AD in what would be today a suburb of Tunis, Tunisia. The The Codex Canonum Ecclesiæ Africanæ records what was decided this way:

It was also determined that besides the Canonical Scriptures nothing be read in the Church under the title of divine Scriptures. The Canonical Scriptures are these: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua the son of Nun, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, two books of Paraleipomena, Job, the Psalter, five books of Solomon, the books of the twelve prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezechiel, Daniel, Tobit, Judith, Esther, two books of Esdras, two books of the Maccabees. Of the New Testament: four books of the Gospels, one book of the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul, one epistle of the same [writer] to the Hebrews, two Epistles of the Apostle Peter, three of John, one of James, one of Jude, one book of the Apocalypse of John.

As you read this list you will probably notice reference to books not found in the King James Bible. We will address that in our next post.