Hi! I have an aquaintenance who is in college and needing a list of good reliable works on the forming and history of the cannon of Scripture for the Christian religion. I would also like your permission to cut and paste these answers to him on the net. Thanks for your help!!!
Wow! That must be some really powerful writing. One might say even explosive. And, no, I don't have anything constructive to add. Tom Nixon
Thanks! Sorry, I probably should've posted this on the off-topic area. I think it's for his master's thesis. He's a poster over on TheologyReview.com where me again and I are at. It would be an interesting study. I know there are many views on what should or shouldn't be considered cannon. A good study of the history of it and the councils that discussed and decided it would be, IMHO, interesting. Any other books that you folks think would be good for this subject?
A General Introduction to the Bible, by Norman Geisler. This book won't serve as his or her primary resource, but it will offer a ton of great supporting info. It covers canonicity of the Old and New Testaments, time lines, disputes in the early church over canonization, the apocryphal and pseudepigriphal books, origin, intended audience, theories of authorship, etc. It even goes into translations, transliterations, and versions of the canon. Tony
=== Kevin check spelling. If this is for a masters thesis intending to deal with church usage, then your friend needs to go to the original sources not to a book on Biblical Introduction. Have that person look at the Jewish usage of the intertestamental literature .Have your friend access the writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers for their usage of the Biblical Books and their opining on canonical lists. Also look at the two series of 10-12 vols in each of the Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, particularly the vol in the second series on the history of those creeds which reference canons. Then look at Schaffs 3 vol set on the Creeds. Then have your friend look at the best RC and Protestant apologia for the respective canons which should easily be accessable on the web. Our mutual friend the RC Dave could help from his point of view. A Master's thesis should employ primary sources not just the best secondary ones.
There are a number of great resources available in the study of this topic. Bill Grover has provided some essential places to go. One work that deserves consideration is the Ecclesiastial History by Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 320 AD). This provides a view of what it was like before a universally accepted cannon was adopted and some of the struggles that went on (different people and groups proposing variant cannonical lists, apocryphal and disputed books, attempts to establish criteria for canonicity, etc.). As contemprary history goes, Eusebius is far from perfect; however, many pieces of pre-Nicene Christian literature (including some that are relevant for history of the canon) are only available to us through his Church History. If I recall correctly, the cannon as it is presently formed (Athanasius' list) was ratified by the Third Council of Carthage (397). Tony Pina Faculty, Cal State U. San Bernardino
c-a--n--o-n. not cannon, as Tom has already pointed out. One kills. The other claims to give life. Eusebius is included in the sets I mentioned.
Me too. And I used both spellings. When I went back to edit it, I had let too much time lapse...how embarrrrrassssssing Tony Bill, I know that Eusebius is one of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. I just thought that his work deserved special mention.
=== Just wanted to make sure Kevin's friend knew that while Dorset Press publishes E. separately it is also found in vol 1 of the second Series of the A. and P. Nicene Father. Eusebius, of course, did not much like the creed of the framers of Nicaea.
Kevin, Stumbled upon this site quite by accident: Download The Complete Early Church Fathers Collection in WinHelp Format: Copyright (C) 1996-2001 Zeitun-eg.org. All rights reserved. Many thanks to Professor Harry Plantinga for hosting these files on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library server, at Wheaton College. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 'Early Church Fathers Series in WinHelp Format' is a 37-volume electronic collection of writings from the first 800 years of the Church. This collection is divided into three series, Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Series I, and Nicene and Post-Nicene Series II. These writings include apologetics, biblical commentary (mainly by St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom, the Golden Mouthed), sermons, treatises, letters, liturgies, poems and hymns, dialogues, ascetic writings, Church canons and history... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.redbay.com/newbies/mag/ecfwh.htm Hope it is helpful. Blessings,