10 Misconceptions about the NT Canon: #7: “Christians Had No Basis to Distinguish Heresy from Orthodoxy Until the Fourth Century.”
This is the seventh installment of a blog series announced here.
Ever since Walter Bauer published his now famous Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity there has been a widespread obsession amongst modern scholars with the theme of early Christian diversity. Study after study has explored how different, contradictory, and divergent early Christian beliefs were. And it is on this basis that the terms “heresy” and “orthodoxy” are declared to be unintelligible prior to the fourth century. After all, we are told, there was no Christianity (as we know it) prior to this time period, but only a variety of different Christianities (plural) all claiming they are the true … Continue reading...
The Early Text of the New Testament Now Available (in the UK)
I just heard from the folks at Oxford University Press this week and they indicated that the volume edited by Chuck Hill and myself, The Early Text of the New Testament, is now available in the UK. Unfortunately, like many Oxford volumes, it is a bit pricey at 90 pounds ($175). Ouch. But, hopefully some major research libraries will pick it up (and some scholars with a generous book budget!). The book is available in the US in August.
Here is a blurb from the back cover and the table of contents:
… Continue reading...The Early Text of the New Testament aims to examine and assess from our earliest extant sources
Sola Scriptura and a New Book by Carl Trueman
It was the conviction that the Scriptures alone are the Word of God and therefore the only infallible rule for life and doctrine—known as sola Scriptura—that provided the necessary fuel for the Reformation to ignite. Indeed, it was regarded as the “formal cause” of the Reformation (whereas sola fide was regarded as the “material cause”). The sentiments of this doctrine are embodied in Luther’s famous speech at the Diet of Worms (1521) when he was asked to recant his teachings:
… Continue reading...Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it
10 Misconceptions About the NT Canon: #4: “Books Were Not Regarded as Scripture Until Around 200 AD”
Note: This is the fourth installment of a blog series announced here.
The date of the NT canon is one of the most controversial questions in biblical studies today. As a prior post indicated, part of the answer to the question of date is dependent upon one’s definition of “canon.” But, even if we take the functional definition of canon—books are canonical when they are being used as Scripture—there is still debate about how early this took place.
In recent years, however, somewhat of a quasi-consensus has been building that the canon was first regarded as Scripture at the end of the second century (c.200). McDonald is representative of … Continue reading...
Were the Earliest Christians Only Concerned About Oral Tradition?
I’ve spent the last week or so diving deeply (again) into the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. The Apostolic Fathers are an informal collection of early Christian writings, roughly 95-150 AD, which include books like the Didache, 1 & 2 Clement, the Epistle of Barnabas, and letters from Polycarp and Ignatius.
In recent years, scholars have expressed increased skepticism about whether these writings can inform our understanding of the development of the canon. What appear to be citations of and allusions to New Testament books are not that at all, we are told, but instead are best explained by these authors drawing upon oral tradition. This preference … Continue reading...