<P> The Christian biblical canons are the books Christians regard as divinely inspired and which constitute a Christian Bible . Which books constituted the Christian biblical canons of both the Old and New Testament was generally established by the 5th century, despite some scholarly disagreements, for the ancient undivided Church (the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions, before the East--West Schism). </P> <P> In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic canon was reaffirmed by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent (1546), which provided "the first infallible and effectually promulgated pronouncement on the Canon" by the Roman Catholic Church . The canons of the Church of England and English Calvinists were decided definitively by the Thirty - Nine Articles (1563) and the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), respectively . The Synod of Jerusalem (1672) established additional canons that are widely accepted throughout the Orthodox Church . </P> <P> The Old and New Testament canons did not develop independently of each other and most primary sources for the canon specify both Old and New Testament books . A comprehensive table of biblical scripture for both Testaments, with regard to canonical acceptance in Christendom's various major traditions, can be found here . </P> <P> The Old Testament (sometimes abbreviated OT) is the first section of the two - part Christian Biblical canon and is based on the Hebrew Bible but can include several Deuterocanonical books or Anagignoskomena depending on the particular Christian denomination . For a full discussion of these differences, see Books of the Bible . </P>

Who determined what books went into the bible