canonFormation of the Word of God

Questioning the canon

Bart Ehrman, University of North Carolina

Late, arbitrary, and artificial imposition by the ecclesial establishment

Factors - Positive

Read liturgically in Church gatherings — the Septuagint and letters

Sent letters to one another (Col 4:16)

Citing letters as inspired (2 Peter 3:15–16; Church Fathers)

Instigating factors

Marcion’s Canon

Tatian’s Diatesseron (170 AD)

Gnostic Writings

listsMuratorian Fragment (200 AD)

lacks Hebrews, James, 3 John, 1 and 2 Peter

adds Wisdom of Solomon, Apocalypse of Peter (not in church), Shepherd of Hermas

Eusebius (early 300’s)

Recognized

Disputed: James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2–3 John

Spurious- Acts of Paul, Shepherd of Hermas, Apocalypse of Peter, Epistle of Barnabus, Didache

Athanasius, Festal Letter, 367

27 books in our order

Augustine, De doctrina christiana, 396

Council of Carthage, 397

RequirementsUse in the Church universal, not just local

Apostolic derivation

Theological consistency (regula fidei)

Hebrews as A Test case

Authorship

ideas of Paul written by someone else

Rule of Faith

East - pilgrimage; West- authority

Warnings against apostasy

Christological heresies

Wide spread use

Early

Thoughtful

Organic

Democratic

Providential

Affirming the

canon

Late, arbitrary, and artificial imposition by the ecclesial establishment

Is the Canon Closed?

Open to finding insight in other places

Dawn Devries, “Ever to Be Reformed According to the Word of God”:

The process of forming the canon in essence involved groups of Christians identifying those writings through which they reliably encountered a Word of God. Since the time in which the canon was officially determined, groups of Christians have continued regularly to encounter a Word of God in these texts. Were they to substitute a different set of writings, however, the collective experience of the Christian community would no longer justify their confidence in the texts; that would have to be established in some other way. Convinced of the ever present and powerful reality of sin, the theologian would be obliged to question the motives and justifications a small group of people could have for establishing a new sacred canon. The collective experience of the many is always more reliable than the select experience of the few.

Translation issues1. Majority Text vs. Early Manuscripts

Mark 16:9ff

John 8

2. Type of Translation

Formal equivalence - NASB

Dynamic equivalence - New Living

Present Issues

Gendered translation for humans

1. brothers and sisters?

Heb 2:10 - sons or children?

Gendered language for God?