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Canon Canon, from the Greek word kanon, meaning “rule” and “list”, came to be used by The Church to designate Scriptural books regarded as inspired and therefore authoritative. Since Jesus did not write a book, it was left to His many followers to write about Him and preserve his treasured teachings. The formation of these writings into the New Testament(NT) Canon we know today, was not an orderly, documented process whereby the authorship, authority and inspiration of each book was assured. It was, rather, a long and gradual process whereby writings regarded as authoritative were separated from the larger body of Christian literature. Though this was a very important development in the life of The Church, there is virtually no documentation as to how it came about, only milestones for us to follow the progress. It took nearly 300 years from the time the Gospels and Paul’s letters were written, until the first known listing of the 27 books of the NT that we know today. Though these writings were all circulating by the end of the first century, there was no concerted effort to adopt a Canon prior to the middle of the second century. Oral Tradition In the first century AD the Bible was simply the Old Testame