Biblical canon: Difference between revisions

A biblical canon is a list of Biblical books which establishes the set of books which are considered to be authoritative as scripture by a particular Jewish or Christian community.

These lists, or canons, have been developed through debate and agreement by the religious authorities of those faiths. Believers consider these canonical books to be inspired by God or to express the authoritative history of the relationship between God and his people. Although the canons are in agreement regarding most of the books of the Bible, there is variation regarding some books. Texts excluded from a particular canon are considered apocryphal; however, many disputed works considered "apocryphal" by some Churches are considered 'deuterocanonical', or fully canonical, by others. There are differences between the Jewish and Christian canons, and between the canons of different Christian denominations. The differing criteria and processes of canonization dictate what the communities regard as the inspired books.

The canons listed below are usually considered closed (i.e. additional books cannot be added). By contrast, an open canon would allow additional books, should they meet the criteria. The closure of the canon reflects a belief that public revelation has ended and thus the inspired texts may be gathered into a complete and authoritative canon.

Canonic texts

A canonic text is a single authoritative edition for a given work. The establishing of a canon text may involve an editorial selection from biblical manuscript traditions with varying interdependence. Significant separate manuscript traditions in the canonic Hebrew Bible are represented in the Septuagint, the Masoretic text, and the Dead Sea scrolls.

New Testament Greek and Latin texts presented enough significant differences that a manuscript tradition arose of presenting diglot texts, with Greek and Latin on facing pages. New Testament manuscript traditions include the Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Bezae, Textus Receptus, Vulgate, and others.

Jewish canon

Main article: Jewish canon

Rabbinic Judaism recognizes the twenty-four books of the Hebrew Bible (the Masoretic Text) as the Tanakh. Evidence suggests that the process of canonization of the Tanakh occurred between 200 BCE and 200 CE. The first suggestion of a Jewish canon comes in the 2nd century BCE. The book of 2 Maccabees, itself not a part of the Jewish canon, describes Nehemiah (around 400 BCE) as having "founded a library and collected books about the kings and prophets, and the writings of David, and letters of kings about votive offerings" (2Macc 2:13–15). The Book of Nehemiah suggests that Ezra brought the Torah back from Babylon to Jerusalem and the Second Temple (8). Both I and II Maccabees suggest that Judas Maccabeus likewise collected sacred books (such as 1Macc 3:42–50, 2Macc 15:6–9). They do not, however, suggest that the canon was at that time closed; moreover, it is not clear that these sacred books were identical to those that later became part of the canon. Today, there is no scholarly consensus as to when the Jewish canon was set.

Samaritan canon

Main article: Samaritan Pentateuch

A Samaritan Pentateuch exists which is another version of the Torah, in this case in the Samaritan alphabet. The relationship to the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint is still disputed. This text is associated with the Samaritans, a people of whom the Jewish Encyclopedia states: "Their history as a distinct community begins with the taking of Samaria by the Assyrians in 722 B.C."

The Samaritans accepted the Pentateuch from the Jews. They do not accept any other parts of the Bible. Moreover, they did not expand their Pentateuchal canon even by adding any Samaritan compositions.

Both texts from the Church Fathers and old Samaritan texts provide us with reasons for the limited extent of the Samaritan "Canon". According to some of the information the Samaritans parted with the Jews at such an early date that only the books of Moses were considered holy; according to other sources the group intentionally rejected the Prophets and (possibly) the other Scriptures and entrenched themselves in the Law of Moses.

The small community of the remnants of the Samaritans in Palestine includes their version of the Torah in their canon. The Samaritan community possesses a copy of the Torah that they believe to have been penned by Abisha, a grandson of Aaron.

Christian canons

Main article: Development of the Christian Biblical canon

A folio from P46, early 3rd c. New Testament manuscript

The Biblical canon is the set of books Christians regard as divinely inspired and thus constituting the Christian Bible. Though the Early Church used the Old Testament according to the canon of the Septuagint (LXX), the apostles did not otherwise leave a defined set of new scriptures; instead the New Testament developed over time.

The writings attributed to the apostles circulated amongst the earliest Christian communities. The Pauline epistles were circulating in collected form by the end of the first century AD. Justin Martyr, in the early second century, mentions the "memoirs of the apostles," which Christians called "gospels" and which were regarded as on par with the Old Testament. A four gospel canon (the Tetramorph) was in place by the time of Irenaeus, c. 160, who refers to it directly. By the early 200's, Origen may have been using the same 27 books as in the modern New Testament, though there were still disputes over the canonicity of Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, and Revelation (see also Antilegomena). Likewise by 200 the Muratorian fragment shows that there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to what is now the New Testament, which included the four gospels and argued against objections to them. Thus, while there was a good measure of debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the major writings were accepted by almost all Christians by the middle of the second century.

In his Easter letter of 367, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, gave a list of exactly the same books as what would become the New Testament canon, and he used the word "canonized" (kanonizomena) in regards to them. The African Synod of Hippo, in 393, approved the New Testament, as it stands today, together with the Septuagint books, a decision that was repeated by Councils of Carthage in 397 and 419. These councils were under the authority of St. Augustine, who regarded the canon as already closed. Pope Damasus I's Council of Rome in 382, if the Decretum Gelasianum is correctly associated with it, issued a biblical canon identical to that mentioned above, or if not the list is at least a sixth century compilation. Likewise, Damasus's commissioning of the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible, c. 383, was instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West. In 405, Pope Innocent I sent a list of the sacred books to a Gallic bishop, Exsuperius of Toulouse. When these bishops and councils spoke on the matter, however, they were not defining something new, but instead "were ratifying what had already become the mind of the Church." Thus, from the fourth century, there existed unanimity in the West concerning the New Testament canon (as it is today), and by the fifth century the East, with a few exceptions, had come to accept the Book of Revelation and thus had come into harmony on the matter of the canon. Nonetheless, a full dogmatic articulation of the canon was not made until the Council of Trent of 1546 for Roman Catholicism, the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563 for the Church of England, the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647 for Calvinism, and the Synod of Jerusalem of 1672 for the Greek Orthodox.

The canonical or biblical exclusion 5 The term “canon of scripture” refers to the collection of books accepted by any group as the authoritative word of God. For most Christians the canon of scripture is limited to the Bible. But Latter-day Saints have a larger canon of scripture that includes the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. The canonical exclusion, in its simplest form, says that since Latter-day Saints have books of scripture in addition to the “traditional” Christian Bible, they cannot be Christians.

Modern interpretation

Many Evangelical Christian groups do not accept the theory that the Christian Bible was not known until various local and Ecumenical Councils, which they deem to be "Roman-dominated", made their official declarations.

These groups believe that the New Testament supports that Paul (2 Timothy 4:11–13), Peter (2 Peter 3:15–16), and ultimately John (Revelation 22:18–19) finalized the canon of the New Testament. Some note that Peter, John, and Paul wrote 20 (or 21) of the 27 books of the NT and personally knew all the other NT writers. (Books not attributed to these three are: Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, James, and Jude. The authorship of Hebrews has long been disputed.)

Evangelicals tend not to accept the Septuagint as the inspired Hebrew Bible, though many of them recognize its wide use by Greek-speaking Jews in the first century. They note that early Christians knew the Hebrew Bible since around 170 Melito of Sardis listed all the books of the Old Testament that those in the Evangelical faiths now use (except, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Book of Esther, and with the addition of the Book of Wisdom). Melito's canon is found in Eusebius EH4.26.13–14:

Accordingly when I went East and came to the place where these things were preached and done, I learned accurately the books of the Old Testament, and send them to thee as written below. Their names are as follows: Of Moses, five books: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy; Jesus Nave, Judges, Ruth; of Kings, four books; of Chronicles, two; the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, Wisdom also, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Job; of Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah; of the twelve prophets, one book ; Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras. From which also I have made the extracts, dividing them into six books.

However, Melito's account still does not determine that the specific documentary tradition used by the Jews necessarily was that which was eventually assembled into the Masoretic text, several centuries later.

Many modern Protestants point to four "Criteria for Canonicity" to justify the books that have been included in the Old and New Testament, which are judged to have satisfied the following:

1. Apostolic Origin — attributed to and based on the preaching/teaching of the first-generation apostles (or their close companions).
2. Universal Acceptance — acknowledged by all major Christian communities in the ancient world (by the end of the fourth century).
3. Liturgical Use — read publicly when early Christian communities gathered for the Lord's Supper (their weekly worship services).
4. Consistent Message — containing a theological outlook similar or complementary to other accepted Christian writings.

The basic factor for recognizing a book's canonicity for the New Testament was divine inspiration, and the chief test for this was apostolicity. The term apostolic as used for the test of canonicity does not necessarily mean apostolic authorship or derivation, but rather apostolic authority. Apostolic authority is never detached from the authority of the Lord. See Apostolic succession.

It is sometimes difficult to apply these criteria to all books in the accepted canon, however, and some point to books that Protestants hold as apocryphal which would fulfill these requirements. In practice, Protestants hold to the Jewish canon for the Old Testament and the Catholic canon for the New Testament.

See also

• Books of the Bible for a side-by-side comparison of Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant canons.
• Table of books of Judeo-Christian Scripture
• Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible
• Standard Works - several books (including the Bible) that constitute the open scriptural canon of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)

References

• Anchor Bible Dictionary
• Ante-Nicene Fathers, Eerdmans Press
• Apostolic Fathers, Lightfoot-Harmer-Holmes, ISBN 978-0-8010-5676-5
• Encyclopedia of the Early Church, Oxford
• Beckwith, R.T. OT Canon of the NT Church ISBN 978-0-8028-3617-5
• Brakke, David. "Canon formation and social conflict in fourth century Egypt," in Harvard Theological Review 87:4 (1994) pp. 395–419. Athanasius' role in the formation of the N.T. canon.
• Bruce, F.F., Canon of Scripture ISBN 978-0-8308-1258-5
• Davis, L.D. First Seven Ecumenical Councils ISBN 978-0-8146-5616-7
• Ferguson Encyclopedia of Early Christianity
• Fox, Robin Lane. The Unauthorized Version. 1992.
• Gamble. NT Canon ISBN 1579109098
• Hennecke-Schneemelcher. NT Apcrypha
• Jurgens, W.A. Faith of the Early Fathers ISBN 978-0-8146-5616-7
• Metzger, Bruce. Canon of the NT ISBN 978-0-19-826180-3
• Noll, Mark A. Turning Points. Baker Academic, 1997. ISBN 978-0-8010-6211-7
• John Salza, Scripture Catholic, Septuagint references
• Sundberg. OT of the Early Church Harvard Press 1964

Further reading

• Childs, Brevard S., The New Testament as canon: an introduction ISBN 0334022126
• Gamble, Harry Y., The New Testament canon: its making and meaning ISBN 0800604709
• McDonald, Lee Martin, The formation of the Christian biblical canon ISBN 0687132932
• McDonald, Lee Martin, Early Christianity and its sacred literature ISBN 1565632664
• McDonald, Lee Martin, The Biblical canon: its origin, transmission, and authority ISBN 9781565639256
• McDonald, Lee Martin, and James A. Sanders (eds.) The canon debate ISBN 1565635175
• Metzger, Bruce Manning, The Canon of the New Testament: its origin, development, and significance ISBN 0198261802
• Souter, Alexander, The text and canon of the New Testament, 2nd. ed., Studies in theology; no. 25. London: Duckworth (1954)
• Wall, Robert W., The New Testament as canon: a reader in canonical criticism ISBN 1850753741
• Westcott, Brooke Foss, A general survey of the history of the canon of the New Testament, 4th. ed, London: Macmillan (1875)

External links

• The Development of the Canon of the New Testament - includes very detailed charts and direct links to ancient witnesses
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Canon of the Old Testament
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Canon of the New Testament
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Bible Canon
• United Bible Societies, Translation Information Clearinghouse: Canon Update (PDF) Annotated bibliography of recently published research
• "The Old Testament of the Early Church" Revisited, Albert C. Sundberg, Jr., 1997.
• Scholarly articles on the Biblical Canon from the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library