Canon Fodder

Tag Team with Michael Horton on “A New New Testament”

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Michael Kruger

Over the last month, I have offered an extended review of Hal Taussig’s A New New Testament (see here for the final post with all the links). Taussig tries to add 10 apocryphal books to the existing NT canon.

Over at the White Horse Inn Blog, Mike Horton and I have offered a tag team review of this book. Mike offered his own review yesterday (April 30), and then he has posted my review today (May 1). He tackles the book more from a theological perspective and I examine it more from a historical perspective.

Since my portion was already posted here on my own website, let me give …

The Formation of the Biblical Canon: My Review of Lee McDonald’s Latest Book

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Michael Kruger

Note: The review below was just published in the latest issue of Themelios.

I have enjoyed reading Lee McDonald’s many works on the NT canon. He has established himself as one of the leading voices in this area through his numerous books and articles. So I was pleased to see this latest volume, Formation of the Bible: The Story of the Church’s Canon (Hendrickson, 2012), which is intended to be a lay-level introduction to the origins of the Bible. There are very few introductory works on this subject matter (a point McDonald makes in the preface), so it is good to see something written for the person in the …

Why is There a New Testament at All? My New Book with IVP-Academic

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Michael Kruger

For most of us, the key question about the NT canon is “Why these books and no others?” But, I think there is another, more foundational question (that is asked much less frequently), and that is, “Why is there a New Testament at all?”

The answer, according to some scholars, is not to be found in the first-century—there was nothing about earliest Christianity (or the books themselves) that would naturally lead to the development of a canon. Instead, we are told, the answer is to be found in the later Christian church. The canon was an ecclesiastical product that was designed to meet ecclesiastical needs. Sure, the books themselves were …

Lessons from the Life of Eric Liddell: #4: “Truth is More Important than Popularity”

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Michael Kruger

The complete series on Eric Liddell can be found here.

Whether we realize it or not, and whether we are willing to admit it or not, there is a core value that has been ingrained in us from our very earliest days which teaches us that the most important thing in life is that we are well liked. If we are honest, we have to admit that a substantial portion (if not most) of our energies and our strivings and our efforts are designed to procure a “well done” from our friends, family, and co-workers.

This desire for approval is so ingrained in us (and our culture), that …