How did we get the Bible?

The Bible is best understood as a library or collection rather than a book. What is called the Old Testament is a collection of 46 books written between 1400 BCE and 63 BCE. The 27 books of the New Testament were written between 48 CE and 100 CE. The official list of books in the Bible is called the canon.

It was the Council of Rome in 382 CE that created the first canon of sacred scripture. (1) The canon was confirmed at the Council of Hippo in 393 CE and again at the Council of Carthage in 397 CE. (2) The Church then reaffirmed the official canon in 1442 at the Council of Florence, in part to bring the eastern and western Church closer. (3) In the early 16th century, some new Christian groups began questioning the over 1,100-year-old canon and in response the Church called the Council of Trent in 1546. There the Church again defined the official biblical canon of 73 books. (4)

The earliest churches, prior to the 4th century, did not have an official list of books they called the Bible. Each church had sacred writings they preached from, but few had the same official list of writings. It was the Church that gave Christians the official list of what books belong in the Bible.

Citations: (1) Decretum Gelasianum, (2) De doctrina christiana, (3) Papal Bull “Cantata Domino”, (4) Council of Trent, Session the Fourth