Development of the New Testament canon
From Textus Receptus
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The '''development of the New Testament canon''' was, like [[Development of the Old Testament canon|that of the Old Testament]], a gradual process. According to the [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] article on the Canon of the New Testament: | The '''development of the New Testament canon''' was, like [[Development of the Old Testament canon|that of the Old Testament]], a gradual process. According to the [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] article on the Canon of the New Testament: | ||
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| + | The idea of a complete and clear-cut canon of the [[New Testament]] existing from the beginning, that is from [[Apostolic Age|Apostolic times]], has no foundation in history. The Canon of the New Testament, like that of the Old, is the result of a development, of a process at once stimulated by disputes with doubters, both within and without the Church, and retarded by certain obscurities and natural hesitations, and which did not reach its final term until the dogmatic definition of the [[Council of Trent|Tridentine Council]].<ref>cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm |title=Canon of the New Testament</ref> | ||
[[File:P46.jpg|thumb|left|175px|A folio from [[Papyrus 46|P46]], an early 3rd century collection of [[Pauline epistles]].]] | [[File:P46.jpg|thumb|left|175px|A folio from [[Papyrus 46|P46]], an early 3rd century collection of [[Pauline epistles]].]] | ||
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By the early 200s, [[Origen]] may have been using the same 27 books as in the ''Catholic NT canon'', though there were still disputes over the canonicity of Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, and Revelation<ref>Both points taken from Mark A. Noll's ''Turning Points'', (Baker Academic, 1997) pp 36–37</ref>, see also [[Antilegomena]]. Likewise the [[Muratorian fragment]] is evidence that perhaps as early as 200 there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to the 27-book NT canon, which included four gospels and argued against objections to them.<ref>H. J. De Jonge, "The New Testament Canon," in ''The Biblical Canons''. eds. de Jonge & J. M. Auwers (Leuven University Press, 2003) p. 315</ref> Thus, while there was a good measure of debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the major writings are claimed to have been accepted by almost all Christians by the middle of the third century.<ref>cite book |title=The Cambridge History of the Bible (volume 1) |author=P. R. Ackroyd and C. F. Evans, eds. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1970 |pages=308</ref> | By the early 200s, [[Origen]] may have been using the same 27 books as in the ''Catholic NT canon'', though there were still disputes over the canonicity of Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, and Revelation<ref>Both points taken from Mark A. Noll's ''Turning Points'', (Baker Academic, 1997) pp 36–37</ref>, see also [[Antilegomena]]. Likewise the [[Muratorian fragment]] is evidence that perhaps as early as 200 there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to the 27-book NT canon, which included four gospels and argued against objections to them.<ref>H. J. De Jonge, "The New Testament Canon," in ''The Biblical Canons''. eds. de Jonge & J. M. Auwers (Leuven University Press, 2003) p. 315</ref> Thus, while there was a good measure of debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the major writings are claimed to have been accepted by almost all Christians by the middle of the third century.<ref>cite book |title=The Cambridge History of the Bible (volume 1) |author=P. R. Ackroyd and C. F. Evans, eds. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1970 |pages=308</ref> | ||
| - | In his Easter letter of 367, [[Athanasius]], Bishop of Alexandria, gave a list of exactly the same books as what would become the 27-book NT canon,<ref> | + | In his Easter letter of 367, [[Athanasius]], Bishop of Alexandria, gave a list of exactly the same books as what would become the 27-book NT canon,<ref>cite book|title=A Brief History of Christianity |first=Carter|last=Lindberg|pages=15|year=2006|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|id=ISBN 1405110783</ref> and he used the word "canonized" (''kanonizomena'') in regards to them.<ref>Brakke, David. "Canon Formation and Social Conflict in Fourth Century Egypt: Athanasius of Alexandria's Thirty Ninth Festal Letter," in ''Harvard Theological Review'' 87 (1994) pp. 395–419</ref> The North African [[Synod of Hippo]], in 393, approved the 27-book NT canon<ref>The Book of Revelation wasn't added till the 419 Synod of Carthage according to McDonald & Sanders's ''The Canon Debate'', Appendix D-2, page 595, note 19.</ref> together with the Septuagint books, a decision that was confirmed by [[Councils of Carthage]] in 397 and 419. These councils were under the authority of [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]], who regarded the canon as already closed.<ref>Ferguson, Everett. "Factors leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon," in ''The Canon Debate''. eds. L. M. McDonald & J. A. Sanders (Hendrickson, 2002) p. 320; F. F. Bruce, ''The Canon of Scripture'' (Intervarsity Press, 1988) p. 230</ref><ref>cf. Augustine, ''De Civitate Dei'' 22.8</ref> [[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,<ref>cite book|title=A Brief History of Christianity|first=Carter|last=Lindberg|pages=15|year=2006|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|id=ISBN 1405110783</ref> or if not the list is at least a sixth century compilation.<ref>cite book |first=F. F. |last=Bruce |title=The Canon of Scripture |publisher=Intervarsity Press |year=1988 |pages=234}}</ref> Likewise, Damasus's commissioning of the Latin [[Vulgate]] edition of the Bible, circa 383, was instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West.<ref>cite book |first=F. F. |last=Bruce |title=The Canon of Scripture |publisher=Intervarsity Press |year=1988 |pages=225</ref> In circa 405, [[Pope Innocent I]] sent a list of the sacred books to a Gallic bishop, [[Exuperius|Exsuperius of Toulouse]]. Christian scholars assert that 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."<ref> Ferguson, Everett. "Factors leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon," in ''The Canon Debate''. eds. L. M. McDonald & J. A. Sanders (Hendrickson, 2002) p. 320</ref><ref>cite book |first=Bruce |last=Metzger |title=The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origins, Development, and Significance |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon |year=1987 |pages=237–238</ref><ref>cite book |first=F. F. |last=Bruce |title=The Canon of Scripture |publisher=Intervarsity Press |year=1988 |pages=97</ref> |
| - | Thus some claim, that from the fourth century, there existed unanimity in the West concerning the New Testament canon (as it is today),<ref> | + | Thus some claim, that from the fourth century, there existed unanimity in the West concerning the New Testament canon (as it is today),<ref>cite book |first=F. F. |last=Bruce |title=The Canon of Scripture |publisher=Intervarsity Press |year=1988 |pages=215</ref> and that by the fifth century the Eastern Church, with a few exceptions, had come to accept the Book of Revelation and thus had come into harmony on the matter of the canon.<ref>cite book |title=The Cambridge History of the Bible'' (volume 1) |author=P. R. Ackroyd and C. F. Evans, eds. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1970 |pages=305</ref><ref name=CathEncyc-NTCanon>cite web |title=Catholic Encyclopedia |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm Canon of the New Testament</ref> Nonetheless, a full dogmatic articulation of the canon was not made until the [[Council of Trent]] of 1546 for Roman Catholicism,<ref name=ref name=CathEncyc-NTCanon /> 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]]. |
McDonald and Sanders's ''The Canon Debate'', 2002, Appendix B, lists the following most important [[primary sources]] for the NT Canon.<ref>Eusebius' Church History 3.25.1-7 (c.303-325), Codex Claramontanus (c.303-367), Cyril of Jerusalem Catechetical Lectures 4.33 (c.350), Muratorian Canon (c.350-375), Athanasius' Ep.fest.39 (367), Mommsen [Cheltenham] (365-390), Epiphanius' Pan.76.5 (374-377), Apostolic Canons (c.380), Gregory of Nazianius Carmen de veris scripturae libris 12.31 (383-390), African Canons (c.393-419), Jerome Epist.53 (c.394), Augustine's Doct.chr.2.18.12 (c.396-397), Amphilochius Iambi ad Seleucum 289-319 (c.396), Rufinus Commentary on the Apostle's Creed 36 (c.400), Pope Innocent Letter to Exsuperius (c.405), Syrian catalogue of St. Catherine's (c.400).</ref> | McDonald and Sanders's ''The Canon Debate'', 2002, Appendix B, lists the following most important [[primary sources]] for the NT Canon.<ref>Eusebius' Church History 3.25.1-7 (c.303-325), Codex Claramontanus (c.303-367), Cyril of Jerusalem Catechetical Lectures 4.33 (c.350), Muratorian Canon (c.350-375), Athanasius' Ep.fest.39 (367), Mommsen [Cheltenham] (365-390), Epiphanius' Pan.76.5 (374-377), Apostolic Canons (c.380), Gregory of Nazianius Carmen de veris scripturae libris 12.31 (383-390), African Canons (c.393-419), Jerome Epist.53 (c.394), Augustine's Doct.chr.2.18.12 (c.396-397), Amphilochius Iambi ad Seleucum 289-319 (c.396), Rufinus Commentary on the Apostle's Creed 36 (c.400), Pope Innocent Letter to Exsuperius (c.405), Syrian catalogue of St. Catherine's (c.400).</ref> | ||
Revision as of 06:58, 17 August 2009
The Biblical canon is the set of books Christians regard as divinely inspired and thus constituting the Christian Bible. Although the Early Church primarily used the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint or LXX, or the Targums among Aramaic speakers, the apostles did not otherwise leave a defined set of new scriptures; instead the New Testament developed over time.
The development of the New Testament canon was, like that of the Old Testament, a gradual process. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Canon of the New Testament:
The idea of a complete and clear-cut canon of the New Testament existing from the beginning, that is from Apostolic times, has no foundation in history. The Canon of the New Testament, like that of the Old, is the result of a development, of a process at once stimulated by disputes with doubters, both within and without the Church, and retarded by certain obscurities and natural hesitations, and which did not reach its final term until the dogmatic definition of the Tridentine Council.<ref>cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm |title=Canon of the New Testament</ref>
[[File:P46.jpg|thumb|left|175px|A folio from P46, an early 3rd century collection of Pauline epistles.]]
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.<ref>Three forms are postulated, from The Canon Debate, chapter 18, page 300, note 21, attributed to Harry Y. Gamble: "(1) Marcion's collection that begins with Galatians and ends with Philemon; (2) Papyrus 46, dated about 200, that follows the order that became established except for reversing Ephesians and Galatians; and (3) the letters to seven churches, treating those to the same church as one letter and basing the order on length, so that Corinthians is first and Colossians (perhaps including Philemon) is last."</ref> 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.<ref>Ferguson, Everett. "Factors leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon," in The Canon Debate. eds. L. M. McDonald & J. A. Sanders (Hendrickson, 2002) pp. 302–303.</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">cf. Justin Martyr, First Apology 67.3.</ref> A four gospel canon (the Tetramorph) was asserted by Irenaeus, c. 180, who refers to it directly.<ref>Ferguson, Everett. "Factors leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon," in The Canon Debate. eds. L. M. McDonald & J. A. Sanders (Hendrickson, 2002) pp. 301.</ref><ref> cf. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 3.11.8.</ref>
By the early 200s, Origen may have been using the same 27 books as in the Catholic NT canon, though there were still disputes over the canonicity of Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, and Revelation<ref>Both points taken from Mark A. Noll's Turning Points, (Baker Academic, 1997) pp 36–37</ref>, see also Antilegomena. Likewise the Muratorian fragment is evidence that perhaps as early as 200 there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to the 27-book NT canon, which included four gospels and argued against objections to them.<ref>H. J. De Jonge, "The New Testament Canon," in The Biblical Canons. eds. de Jonge & J. M. Auwers (Leuven University Press, 2003) p. 315</ref> Thus, while there was a good measure of debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the major writings are claimed to have been accepted by almost all Christians by the middle of the third century.<ref>cite book |title=The Cambridge History of the Bible (volume 1) |author=P. R. Ackroyd and C. F. Evans, eds. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1970 |pages=308</ref>
In his Easter letter of 367, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, gave a list of exactly the same books as what would become the 27-book NT canon,<ref>cite book|title=A Brief History of Christianity |first=Carter|last=Lindberg|pages=15|year=2006|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|id=ISBN 1405110783</ref> and he used the word "canonized" (kanonizomena) in regards to them.<ref>Brakke, David. "Canon Formation and Social Conflict in Fourth Century Egypt: Athanasius of Alexandria's Thirty Ninth Festal Letter," in Harvard Theological Review 87 (1994) pp. 395–419</ref> The North African Synod of Hippo, in 393, approved the 27-book NT canon<ref>The Book of Revelation wasn't added till the 419 Synod of Carthage according to McDonald & Sanders's The Canon Debate, Appendix D-2, page 595, note 19.</ref> together with the Septuagint books, a decision that was confirmed by Councils of Carthage in 397 and 419. These councils were under the authority of St. Augustine, who regarded the canon as already closed.<ref>Ferguson, Everett. "Factors leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon," in The Canon Debate. eds. L. M. McDonald & J. A. Sanders (Hendrickson, 2002) p. 320; F. F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture (Intervarsity Press, 1988) p. 230</ref><ref>cf. Augustine, De Civitate Dei 22.8</ref> 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,<ref>cite book|title=A Brief History of Christianity|first=Carter|last=Lindberg|pages=15|year=2006|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|id=ISBN 1405110783</ref> or if not the list is at least a sixth century compilation.<ref>cite book |first=F. F. |last=Bruce |title=The Canon of Scripture |publisher=Intervarsity Press |year=1988 |pages=234}}</ref> Likewise, Damasus's commissioning of the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible, circa 383, was instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West.<ref>cite book |first=F. F. |last=Bruce |title=The Canon of Scripture |publisher=Intervarsity Press |year=1988 |pages=225</ref> In circa 405, Pope Innocent I sent a list of the sacred books to a Gallic bishop, Exsuperius of Toulouse. Christian scholars assert that 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."<ref> Ferguson, Everett. "Factors leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon," in The Canon Debate. eds. L. M. McDonald & J. A. Sanders (Hendrickson, 2002) p. 320</ref><ref>cite book |first=Bruce |last=Metzger |title=The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origins, Development, and Significance |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon |year=1987 |pages=237–238</ref><ref>cite book |first=F. F. |last=Bruce |title=The Canon of Scripture |publisher=Intervarsity Press |year=1988 |pages=97</ref>
Thus some claim, that from the fourth century, there existed unanimity in the West concerning the New Testament canon (as it is today),<ref>cite book |first=F. F. |last=Bruce |title=The Canon of Scripture |publisher=Intervarsity Press |year=1988 |pages=215</ref> and that by the fifth century the Eastern Church, with a few exceptions, had come to accept the Book of Revelation and thus had come into harmony on the matter of the canon.<ref>cite book |title=The Cambridge History of the Bible (volume 1) |author=P. R. Ackroyd and C. F. Evans, eds. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1970 |pages=305</ref><ref name=CathEncyc-NTCanon>cite web |title=Catholic Encyclopedia |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm Canon of the New Testament</ref> Nonetheless, a full dogmatic articulation of the canon was not made until the Council of Trent of 1546 for Roman Catholicism,<ref name=ref name=CathEncyc-NTCanon /> 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.
McDonald and Sanders's The Canon Debate, 2002, Appendix B, lists the following most important primary sources for the NT Canon.<ref>Eusebius' Church History 3.25.1-7 (c.303-325), Codex Claramontanus (c.303-367), Cyril of Jerusalem Catechetical Lectures 4.33 (c.350), Muratorian Canon (c.350-375), Athanasius' Ep.fest.39 (367), Mommsen [Cheltenham] (365-390), Epiphanius' Pan.76.5 (374-377), Apostolic Canons (c.380), Gregory of Nazianius Carmen de veris scripturae libris 12.31 (383-390), African Canons (c.393-419), Jerome Epist.53 (c.394), Augustine's Doct.chr.2.18.12 (c.396-397), Amphilochius Iambi ad Seleucum 289-319 (c.396), Rufinus Commentary on the Apostle's Creed 36 (c.400), Pope Innocent Letter to Exsuperius (c.405), Syrian catalogue of St. Catherine's (c.400).</ref>
