How We Research and Verify Information

Not all sources carry equal weight. We rank them in this order and label each citation with its type:

1. Church publications. What the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church itself publishes about its canon and scriptures. These are the primary authority on what the church holds.
2. Peer-reviewed scholarship and critical editions. Journal articles, scholarly monographs, and critical translations by named specialists, such as the work of Cowley, Mikre-Sellassie, Knibb, Nickelsburg, and VanderKam.
3. Established reference works and museums. Encyclopaedias with editorial oversight and major museum publications, used for well-settled background facts.
4. Tertiary overviews. Wikipedia and similar works are used only to locate primary and scholarly sources, or for minor facts we could not confirm elsewhere. When we cite one, we label it as tertiary.

We do not treat marketing copy, product descriptions, unsourced web pages, forum posts, or the output of AI tools as sources of fact.

The Ethiopian canon is a subject where honest sources differ, most of all on how books are grouped and counted. When that happens we present the main positions, name who holds them, and avoid choosing one unless the evidence clearly favours it. The church’s own description of its canon is always given, and is never presented as just one opinion among others.

When we could not verify something, we say so in plain terms. For example, we state that we have not been able to verify a complete English translation of all 81 books authorized by the church, rather than claiming that none exists.

Ge’ez and Amharic names are written in English in several ways: Meqabyan, Meqabian, and Makabian all refer to the same books. We use the most common modern spelling and give the church’s own English form where it differs. Book counts follow the church’s published list unless we say otherwise.

When we assess an English edition of the Ethiopian Bible, we check its contents against the church’s 81-book list, identify the translation source of each book, read its front matter and notes, and examine its physical format. We will state whether we examined a physical copy or worked from the publisher’s listing and previews. We do not accept payment, free products, or other benefits in exchange for coverage, and any free review copy we receive will be disclosed on the page that discusses it.

Each page shows the date it was first published and the date it was last updated. We change the updated date only when the content changes in a way that matters to readers, not for minor wording or design changes. Significant corrections are noted on the page itself, as described in our editorial standards.