There is no special formal name that Protestants use instead of “the Bible.” Protestant Christians normally call their scriptures the Bible, Holy Bible, or Holy Scriptures. What distinguishes a typical Protestant Bible is not its name but the form of its biblical canon and the way different Protestant traditions use the Apocrypha.
How many books are in a Protestant Bible?
Most modern Protestant editions contain 66 books: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. The New Testament collection is the same 27-book collection used by the Roman Catholic Church and the major Eastern Orthodox churches. The main difference concerns the Old Testament and books commonly called the Deuterocanonical books in Catholic usage or the Apocrypha in many Protestant settings.
What happened to the Apocrypha?
The history is more complicated than saying Protestants simply “removed” every additional book from the beginning. Early Protestant Bibles could print books such as Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, and 1–2 Maccabees in a separate Apocrypha section. Martin Luther’s German Bible and early English Protestant Bibles are important examples. Over time, many Protestant publishers produced editions containing only the 66-book canon.
Do all Protestants use the Bible in the same way?
No. Protestantism includes Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, evangelical, and many independent traditions. They share a high regard for scripture but differ in translation preferences, liturgical use, interpretation, and attitudes toward the Apocrypha. Anglican and Lutheran traditions, for example, have historically made more liturgical use of some Apocryphal texts than many evangelical churches.
Common Protestant Bible translations
English-speaking Protestants use many translations, including the King James Version, New International Version, English Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, and others. A translation is not the same thing as a canon: some translations are published in Protestant, Catholic, or ecumenical editions with different collections of books.
Why the distinction matters
When comparing Christian traditions, it is more precise to ask which books a church receives as canonical and how it uses other ancient religious texts. Saying that a “Protestant Bible” is a completely different scripture can be misleading because most of its contents are shared across Christian traditions.
How readers should compare editions
When a Bible’s table of contents differs from another edition, the difference does not automatically mean one community has a different New Testament or a different Jesus. In most Protestant–Catholic comparisons, the major canonical difference lies in the Old Testament collection and the status of the Deuterocanonical or Apocryphal books. Edition notes, denominational approval, and the publisher’s table of contents are therefore more reliable than judging a Bible only by its cover title.
