From: kilroy@gboro.glassboro.edu (Dr Nancy's Sweetie)
Subject: Dating the Canon
Organization: Rowan College of New Jersey (was Glassboro State College)
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 14:01:57 GMT


Steve Creps writes:

> The canon of Scripture was determined by the Church over 1500 years ago, by
> the Catholic/Orthodox Church.  This canon was not contested for over 1000
> years, when Luther decided to drop a few books that supported doctrines he
> wished to do away with.

Have you got any references for any of this?

The Eastern Orthodox have different books in their Bible than the Roman
Catholics do -- pretty strange if it was fixed when they were still a joined
church.

I lost all my notes when Nancy & I moved to New Jersey, but as I recall:

  The first list of Scripture which matches the 66 books currently in use by
  Protestants was written by St Athanasius as part of his Easter Letter of
  367 AD.

  The Synods of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) codified that list of Scripture
  along with the Apocrypha.  But these are only Synods and did not have the
  authority of a General Council (even though the latter is sometimes called
  "The Third Council of Carthage").

  The Roman Catholic Church officially established their Canon at Trent in
  1546, declaring a list of books to be received "with equal devotion and
  reverence".  The Eastern Orthodox Church finalised theirs at the Council of
  Jerusalem in 1672.

  The Canon was never fixed by a Council that represented the entire Church.


I remember getting this information from two books, but I cannot recall the
name of one.  The other is _The Birth of The Bible_, by Theodore Heysham.  The
quotes from Trent are cited in the New English Bible's essay on the Apocrypha
(which I have handy).

Can you please provide some references to the Council of ~500, including its
name, the particular passages where they declared what was Canonical, and who
accepts it as an Ecumenical Council?


BTW, this:

> So one either accepts the canon according to Luther (one man, who broke away
> from the Catholci Church), or one accepts the canon defined by an ecumenical
> council by the Catholic/Orthodox Church more than 1500 years ago.

(presupposing this ecumenical council actually existed) is a pretty standard
false dichotomy.  One may use the Scriptures accepted by any (or several) of
the Church Fathers, attempt to establish one's own list, adopt the Eastern
Orthodox one, or several other sensible options.

(Also, I think Martin Luther died Roman Catholic -- he never formally broke
 with the Vatican, because he only wanted to reform errors in practise in the
 church.)


Darren F Provine / kilroy@gboro.glassboro.edu
"Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun.  To lick your
 wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue
 the prospect of bitter confrontation still to come, to savor the last
 toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are given back -
 in many ways a feast fit for a king.  The chief drawback is that what you are
 wolfing down is yourself.  The skeleton of the feast is you."
                                                         --Frederick Buechner
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