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Inspired by Paladin's post here - http://www.christianforums.com/t7861363-18/#post66932557 let's discuss the differences and where we stand on it.
you can not have Sola Scripture or even Prima Scripture without a set cannon
then you are accepting some authority outside of Scripture to set what is Scripture
unless you believe that the words in the Bible prove conclusively what ancient books should be seen as Scripture and what should not be seen as Scripture
Actually its not true historically that the function of Scripture depends upon having a set canon. It took several centuries to settle on the whole thing.
Actually its not true historically that the function of Scripture depends upon having a set canon. It took several centuries to settle on the whole thing. Yet people quoted the Gospels and Pauls letters well before that happened. Indeed 2 Peter appears to refer to Paul's letters as Scripture. It was surely written before the canon was settled.
From Bauckham's commentary on 2 Peter 3:16 (in the Word Commentary set):
"To determine the precise implication of this, we should first note that the term γραφή (scripture) was not limited to the books of the OT canon, but could be used for apocryphal writings (Jas 4:5; Barn. 16:5; 1 Clem 23:3; cf. Herm. Vis. 2:3:4: ὡς γέγραπται, as it is written). It need not therefore imply a canon of Scripture at all. The inclusion of Pauls letters in this category certainly means they are regarded as inspired, authoritative writings (as v 15 in fact says), ranked alongside the OT and probably various other books, including other apostolic writings. Probably the implication is that they are suitable for reading in Christian worship. But this does not at all require the conclusion that the author of 2 Peter knows a NT canon. Apostolic writings must have ranked as authoritative writings, suitable for reading in Christian worship, long before there was any fixed NT canon."
If youre going to treat Scripture as a random bag of proof texts, then it matters a lot which texts are in the bag. But if you treat it more critically, looking at how themes are treated throughout, and look at how different authors treated a subject and why they differed, then the kinds of variation in canon that existed in the early Church are much less significant.
Calvin's treatment of Scripture at the beginning of the Institutes sees it as inspired because it records the teachings of Prophets and Apostles. That is, he seems to see the authority coming from the fact that God spoke through the prophets and apostles that are its authors. This is subtly different from saying that this particular book as a whole, with a fixed table of contents, is inspired. He doesn't really even deal with the canon at that point. I don't think this is quite the same as Westminster, which plunks down the book on the desk, and declares it inspired.
I think though, that maybe Rhamiel's point is that there needs to be an accepted set of texts in use. It may be that there was not yet an official canon, or that even in the early days some things were used that would be eventually excluded. But the point is that without the authority or ability to make a decision as a community, it would be worthless to talk about the texts having some sort of authority.
you can not have Sola Scripture or even Prima Scripture without a set cannon
then you are accepting some authority outside of Scripture to set what is Scripture
unless you believe that the words in the Bible prove conclusively what ancient books should be seen as Scripture and what should not be seen as Scripture
Is this why some mainline Protestants are OK with quoting from the Gospel of Thomas?
Are you saying that basically magisterial Protestants have an indefinite canon?
Is this why debate about the authorships of certain books is so critical for some?
Note that I'm speaking of mainline churches. "Magisterial" refers to Lutherans and Reformed. I wouldn't want to be understood as speaking for the conservative parts of those traditions.
In worship we use the 66 book canon. However when exegetes and theologians work, they look more widely. So I don't think our churches would say the canon is indefinite. But you need to look at how it's used. Luther certainly had books he didn't think rated as high as others (e.g. James), and Calvin didn't comment on or refer to the Revelation. But used some books more heavily than others.
However the mainline today goes further than that, based on critical judgements of each book: authorship, date, purpose, theological outlook, etc.
Some writers on this issue refer to a "stepped canon." They point out that Jews saw the Torah as key, with a kind of continuum of books going out from there, with the Prophets having a bit higher status than the Writings, and then a bunch of D-C books and other books that were used.
Most PCUSA preachers use the lectionary. You can't make a lectionary without a canon. But when you get to serious theology, I think the boundaries are wider and grayer, with people making assessment of each book individually.
Thomas. Some scholars claimed that this gave, or sometimes gave, earlier forms of Jesus' teachings. The "Scholar's Press" NT treated it in parallel with the 4 canonical Gospels. Outside that fairly small set of scholars, I haven't seen much support for this. I personally don't think it gives us much information about Jesus' teachings that aren't there in the canonical Gospels, so I don't tend to use it. The commentaries I normally use don't refer to it very often.
Yes, authorship matters. If you assess books individually, it matters to me whether 2 Peter is a late book by someone other than Peter or Peter's actual work. But it's not a question of whether I redefine the canon to omit 2 Peter. Rather, it's a matter of how I would use it.
Certainly Hedrick, you are indeed speaking for the Conservatives (Lutherans at any rate). The canon of Scripture has not changed; the order has, but even in placing the Deutero-Canon (Apocrypha) between the Testaments; Luther was no first. St. Jerome thought that was a good place to put them but was dissuaded by his superiors.
In the Lutheran Confessions there is no listed Canon. Within Scripture itself we are led to understand that there are other "books" which are lost. Lost forever, who knows; but a closed Canon would preclude their inclusion, were they to turn up and it were possible to verify their authenticity. Thus, in Lutheranism the Canon remains open.
Yes, authorship matters. If you assess books individually, it matters to me whether 2 Peter is a late book by someone other than Peter or Peter's actual work. But it's not a question of whether I redefine the canon to omit 2 Peter. Rather, it's a matter of how I would use it.
I did not know that the Lutheran confessions left undefined the canon of Scripture, that's very interesting. The Eastern Orthodox have a similar position historically, I have been told, although there may be local synods that contradict this, I do not know for sure. All I know is what priests and friends have told me in the past.
I do know the Church of England's 39 Articles do have a defined canon of Scripture (and it is more or less the same as the Roman Catholic, with some qualifications). However, I have encountered a few Episcopalians that seem to regard the canon as open (the Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault likes quoting from Syriac scriptures quite a bit, for instance, seemingly with the same sense of authority she applies to the historic Bible), which is interesting as I wondered if there was a precedent in Protestantism for this, as I assumed the whole canon was completely closed soon after the Reformation and early confessions of Protestantism.
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It may be woth noting that the Catholic position defines which books are regarded as canonical but as far as I recall the wording does not limit the list to the 73 books. That is, the canon tells Catholics which books are included but there is no statement along the lines that "these and ONLY these" are acceptable.
hmmmm?
I thought scripture was counted as Public Revelation
and Public Revelation closed with the end of the Apostles?
That's right.
My comment related to writings that may be read with profit and may at some time in some circumstances be accorded similar authority to holy scripture as defined in early church councils and in Trent. I was thinking primarily about Catholics in Russia and some other eastern European lands where the bibles in hand do include some additions compared to the Vulgate (psalm 151, for example, and possibly 3 Maccabees etc).