by Adam Linton » September 22nd, 2006, 10:29 pm
With only a few books still in question (Hebrews, 2 John, 3 John, Revalation, for example) the Canon of the New Testament was substantially fixed well before the decisive final Councils. Athanasius of Alexandria was the first (that we know of) to list the 27 books exactly as we have them. But the critical phase, even before this, I'd say, is what we see by engaging in 2nd and 3rd Century patristic studies.
Best single volume on the development of the New Testament, in my opinion, is Bruce Metzger's The Canon of the New Testament, Oxford/Clarendon. Highly recommended.
It is worthy to note (although it may seem strange to Protestants and Roman Catholics) that, as far as the Old Testament Canon - comparing and contrasting Greek and Russian Orthodox Bibles** makes clear that even now, the exact parameters of the Bible are not even now exactly tacked down in the Eastern Church. But this does not, by any means, imply that all is up for grabs -- that there is not a vivid sense of an Old Testament. It simply represents an earlier way of engaging with the issue of biblical canon.
** and both of these have more than the Latin Vulgate OT.
Last edited by
Adam Linton on September 22nd, 2006, 10:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
we have not loosely through silence permitted things to pass away as in a dream