397 · Carthage (near modern Tunis), Tunisia
Council of Carthage and the Biblical Canon
In 397, a regional council at Carthage in North Africa formally listed the books of the Bible, producing a canon that matched the one Catholics use today and settling centuries of local variation.
Christians had been reading Scripture since the beginning, but for the first few centuries there was no single, universally agreed-upon list of which books belonged in the Bible. Most churches agreed on the four Gospels and the major letters of Paul. But other texts — Hebrews, James, Revelation, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Didache — were accepted in some places and questioned in others. The Old Testament was even messier, since Greek-speaking Christians used the Septuagint, which included books like Sirach, Wisdom, and Maccabees that were not in the Hebrew canon. The Council of Carthage in 397 addressed this directly. Meeting under the influence of Augustine, who was bishop of nearby Hippo and the dominant theological mind in North Africa, the council issued a list of the books of the Old and New Testaments. That list matches the Catholic Bible used today, all seventy-three books. The council also sent its decisions to Rome for confirmation. This was not the first time someone had tried to settle the question. Pope Damasus had issued a similar list in 382, and the Council of Hippo in 393 had done the same. But Carthage in 397 is the one that stuck in historical memory because it was reaffirmed and widely circulated. The Protestant Reformation would later reopen the question, with Luther and others removing several Old Testament books. But for Catholics, the canon was effectively settled here, in a North African port city, by bishops who believed the Church had the authority to say which writings carried the stamp of divine inspiration.
Why it matters
Formally listed the seventy-three books of the Catholic Bible, settling centuries of local variation and establishing the scriptural canon that the Church still uses today.
What Happened
In 397, bishops gathered at Carthage in Roman North Africa and issued a definitive list of the books that belonged in the Bible. The list included forty-six Old Testament books (including the deuterocanonical texts later removed by Protestants) and twenty-seven New Testament books. The council built on earlier efforts by Pope Damasus I and the Council of Hippo. Augustine of Hippo, the most influential theologian in the region, shaped the discussions. The decisions were sent to Rome for papal confirmation.
Why It Still Matters
This council is the clearest early example of the Church exercising authority over Scripture rather than the other way around. Catholics point to it when explaining why they accept seventy-three books while most Protestant Bibles have sixty-six. It also illustrates a core Catholic principle: the Bible did not fall from the sky as a finished product. It was discerned by the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, through a process that took centuries. Understanding this helps make sense of the Catholic emphasis on both Scripture and Tradition.