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the body of believers, the church does predate the writing of the books of the New Testament

But not the Bible, as I've had to make clear to more than one catholic.

There are the uneducated in all denominations, catholic included.

Some of these don't understand that God was alive and active and even inspiring scripture far before the Pope came on the scene.

But not the Bible -- I would guess that both were talking at cross-purposes. You are correct that the OT was written before the Christian era, and of course the community/body of believers, the church does predate the writing of the books of the New Testament

You are also correct that the OT canon was already decided by the 3rd century BC in the form of the Septuagint

"Some of these don't understand that God was alive and active and even inspiring scripture far before the Pope came on the scene."

Perhaps it is you who are confused. In the beginning was the Word, but the Bible is not God and God is not the Bible. It is an inspired and inerrant book. It is not to be worshiped ads so many Protestants imply.

To your point, there were inspired works before Jesus commissioned Peter the first pope. These included the Deuterocanonicals which are quoted frequently in the New Testament, but were rejected by Protestantism. These also include the Old Testament of which there were at least four different Jewish Canons before Peter; the Sadducee Canon, the Pharisee Canon, the Essene Canon, and the Septuagint which was the canon used by the Jews outside of Palestine at a time when there were more Jews outside of Palestine than in it.

There were certainly many more inspired writings contemporaneous to the the New Testament that did not meet the standard of Canon because they were not deemed to be completely inerrant.