The Heresy of Orthodoxy: Was the NT Text Reliably Transmitted?
This post is the final installment in a series of videos where Andreas Köstenberger and I discuss the theory of Walter Bauer on unity and diversity in early Christianity.
These discussions are based on our book, The Heresy of Orthodoxy: How Contemporary Culture’s Fascination with Diversity Has Reshaped Our Understanding of Early Christianity (Crossway, 2010).
You can find the prior four installments here, here, here, and here.
In this last video, we tackle the very important issue of textual transmission. Skeptics have argued that the wild theological diversity in early Christianity would not only have led the church to have different canons, but it would also … Continue reading...
The Heresy of Orthodoxy: When Was the Earliest Complete List of New Testament Books?
For the last few weeks, I have been posting a series of videos where Andreas Köstenberger and I discuss our response to Walter Bauer’s thesis on heresy and orthodoxy in early Christianity.
These discussions are based on our book, The Heresy of Orthodoxy: How Contemporary Culture’s Fascination with Diversity Has Reshaped Our Understanding of Early Christianity (Crossway, 2010).
You can find the prior three installments here, here, and here.
In this next video below, Andreas and I discuss the earliest complete list of New Testament books. For years, this was thought to be Athanasius’ Festal Letter of 367.
However, I have recently argued that a often-overlooked list … Continue reading...
The Heresy of Orthodoxy: How and When was the New Testament Canon Put Together?
For the last few weeks, I have been posting a series of videos where Andreas Köstenberger and I discuss our response to Walter Bauer’s thesis on heresy and orthodoxy in early Christianity.
These discussions are based on our book, The Heresy of Orthodoxy: How Contemporary Culture’s Fascination with Diversity Has Reshaped Our Understanding of Early Christianity (Crossway, 2010).
The first week was an overview of Bauer and why we wrote the book (see here), and the second week was on the role of diversity in the NT books themselves (see here).
In this video below, we discuss an area very central to the Bauer thesis, namely the development … Continue reading...
The Heresy of Orthodoxy: Who is Walter Bauer and Why Write a Book About Him?
In 1934, the German scholar Walter Bauer wrote a landmark work entitled Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity. The problem was that no one yet knew it was a landmark work. The Germans (and the world) had other things on their mind during this phase of European history.
But, in 1971 the book was translated into English. And with all the new found (largely American) fascination with apocryphal Gospels like the Gospel of Thomas, the English translation proved to be well timed.
Bauer’s core thesis was that early Christianity was profoundly diverse in terms of its theological commitments. Various Christian groups believed all sorts of contradictory things about … Continue reading...
Here’s My Answer to One of the Most Common Questions I Get about My Books
“What’s the difference between Canon Revisited and The Question of Canon?”
When it comes to my books, this is one of the most common questions I get. I have answered it so many times over the last few years, that I thought it might make a useful blog post.
While both these volumes are about the origins of the NT Canon, they are primarily distinguished by the fact that they are answering different questions. Canon Revisited is answering questions like, “How do we know if we have the right 27 books?” or “Why these books and no others?”… Continue reading...