You’d think it would be easy. You pick up a book, you count the chapters or the sections, and you have an answer. But when people ask how many books of the bible exist, the answer usually depends entirely on who they are asking and what tradition that person grew up in.
If you grew up Protestant, you probably have a very firm number in your head: 66. It’s the number taught in Sunday schools from Nashville to Nairobi. But walk into a Catholic mass or an Ethiopian Orthodox service, and that number starts to shift. Suddenly, you're looking at 73 books, or maybe even 81. It’s not that people are "adding" things randomly; it’s that history is messy.
The Standard Answer (and Why It’s Usually 66)
For the vast majority of English speakers, the Bible is a 66-book library. This collection is split into two main sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old Testament contains 39 books. These are the Hebrew Scriptures, starting with Genesis and ending with Malachi. They cover everything from the creation of the world to the history of Israel and the words of the prophets. Then you have the New Testament, which is a much more consistent 27 books across almost all Christian denominations. These 27 books—Matthew through Revelation—were largely standardized by the end of the 4th century.
Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, sent out a "Festal Letter" in 367 AD. In it, he listed the 27 books of the New Testament exactly as we know them today. It was one of the first times someone just laid it out clearly. Before that? It was a bit of a free-for-all with different regions favoring different letters or gospels.
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The Catholic and Orthodox Difference
Now, this is where it gets interesting. If you’re Catholic, your Bible has 73 books. Why the extra seven?
They aren't "extra" to Catholics. They’re called the Deuterocanonical books. This includes titles like Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch. For centuries, the early Church used a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures called the Septuagint. This version included these books.
When the Protestant Reformation hit in the 1500s, Martin Luther and other reformers wanted to go back to the original Hebrew canon for the Old Testament. Since the Jewish community at the time didn’t include those seven books in their official scripture, Luther moved them to a separate section called the Apocrypha. Eventually, Protestant printers just stopped including them altogether to save on paper and costs.
Honestly, it’s kinda wild to think that a business decision by 19th-century Bible societies—trying to make Bibles cheaper to ship—is a big reason why most Protestants today have never even heard of the book of Judith.
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The Ethiopian Canon: The Biggest Library
If you want the "maximum" answer to how many books of the bible are recognized, you have to look at the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. They recognize 81 books.
Their "Broader Canon" includes things most Westerners have never laid eyes on, like the Book of Enoch or Jubilees. These texts were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, proving they are incredibly old, but most Western churches decided they weren't "divinely inspired" enough to make the final cut. The Ethiopian tradition didn't see it that way. They kept them. They value them.
- Protestant: 66 books (39 OT, 27 NT)
- Catholic: 73 books (46 OT, 27 NT)
- Eastern Orthodox: ~76-78 books (Varies slightly by tradition)
- Ethiopian Orthodox: 81 books
Why the New Testament is Always 27
While the Old Testament is a battleground of numbers, the New Testament is surprisingly stable. Almost every Christian group on the planet agrees on those 27 books.
Why? Because the criteria for "making the cut" were pretty strict. To be included, a book generally had to be connected to an Apostle (like Peter, Paul, or John), it had to be used widely by early churches in worship, and it had to match the "rule of faith"—basically, it couldn't say anything that contradicted the core teachings about Jesus.
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There were some close calls. The Book of Revelation almost didn't make it because it’s so strange and was easily misunderstood. On the flip side, a book called The Shepherd of Hermas was very popular and nearly became scripture, but it was ultimately left out because it was written a bit too late.
What This Means for You
When you’re trying to figure out how many books of the bible you should be reading, it’s less about a "correct" number and more about understanding the history of the text you’re holding.
If you're studying history or literature, ignoring the Apocrypha (those "extra" books) is a mistake. They bridge the 400-year gap between the Old and New Testaments. They explain where things like the Pharisees or the festival of Hanukkah came from. Without them, the New Testament kind of drops you into the middle of a movie without explaining the previous scene.
Practical Steps for Your Reading
If you want to get a full handle on this, don't just stick to a standard 66-book version.
- Grab an "Ecumenical" Edition: Look for a Bible that includes the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books. Even if you don't view them as "scripture," they are vital historical context.
- Check the Table of Contents: Compare a King James Version (KJV) with a Catholic New American Bible (NABRE). Seeing the physical difference in the list of books helps the history click.
- Read Enoch: If you’re feeling adventurous, look up the Book of Enoch online. It’s referenced in the New Testament (in the book of Jude), and seeing what the New Testament writers were reading helps you understand their world.
- Identify the "Silent Years": Understand that for Protestants, there is a 400-year gap between Malachi and Matthew. For Catholics and Orthodox, that gap is filled with the stories of the Maccabean revolt and the wisdom of Ben Sira.
The Bible isn't a single book; it's a library. And like any library, different people have different collections on their shelves. Knowing the count helps you understand which "room" of the library you're standing in.