History of the Bible
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Lesson OneRevelation and Canon17 Activities|2 Assessments
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Getting Started
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In | Revelation and Inspiration
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In | Revelation Is Ongoing
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In | Apostolic Sources and Sacred Library
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In | Using the Bible to Interpret Itself
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Behind | Canon and Canonicity
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Behind | Fixed and Fluid Canon
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Behind | The Format of the Canon
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Behind | Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint
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Behind | Deuterocanonical Books
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Behind | Councils and Canon
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In Front | Being an Interpretative Community
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In Front | Apostolic Fathers on the Authority of Scripture
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In Front | An Easter Letter from “the Black Dwarf”
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In Front | Jesus in the Biblical Tradition
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In Front | Orthodoxy and the Holy Spirit
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Lesson TwoTransmission and Translation19 Activities
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Getting Started
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In | The Scribal Tradition
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In | Aramaic Targums
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In | The Septuagint
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Behind | Scribes: The Anonymous Heroes
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Behind | Pangur Bán and Scribal Vocation
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Behind | Greek and Early Bible Translation
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Behind | The Biblical Manuscript Tradition
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Behind | Text Criticism
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Behind | Papyrus
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Behind | Workbook: Recycled Codex Climaci Rescriptus, Part 1
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Behind | Workbook: Recycled Codex Climaci Rescriptus, Part 2
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In Front | Texts and Text Criticism
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In Front | Workbook: Autographs – Original Manuscripts, Part 1
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In Front | Workbook: Autographs – Original Manuscripts, Part 2
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In Front | NT Text Criticism and Manuscripts [Bonus]
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In Front | Workbook: Facsimiles, Part 1
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In Front | Workbook: Facsimiles, Part 2
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Lesson ThreeReformation and Publication16 Activities
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Getting Started
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In Front | Technology, Change and Reformation
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In Front | Vernacular Bibles and Reformers
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In Front | Workbook: Christian Preference for the Codex
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In Front | Christian Preference for the Codex, Part 1
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In Front | Christian Preference for the Codex, Part 2
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In Front | John Wycliffe
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In Front | Martin Luther
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In Front | Reading the Bible in the Middle Ages
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In Front | Workbook: The Regulation of Bibles in the Middle Ages
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In Front | The Regulation of Bibles in the Middle Ages
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In Front | The Bible and Literacy
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In Front | Workbook: The Bible and Literacy, Part 1
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In Front | Workbook: The Bible and Literacy, Part 2
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In Front | “Noble Fragments” of Gutenberg Bibles
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Lesson FourModern Bible Translation15 Activities|2 Assessments
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Getting Started
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In Front | Spreading the Word: Societies
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In Front | English Bible Translations
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In Front | Various Approaches to Translation
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In Front | The Best Bible Translation?
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In Front | Workbook: Reflection
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In Front | Workbook: The Cherokee Bible Translation, Part 1
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In Front | Workbook: The Cherokee Bible Translation, Part 2
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In Front | The Hêliand: Saxon Life of Christ
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In Front | The Nazi Bibles
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In Front | Bible Translation and Human Frailty
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In Front | Evolution of Language and Grammar
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In Front | Workbook: Translation Work on Mog Mog Island, Part 1
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In Front | Workbook: Translation Work on Mog Mog Island, Part 2
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Lesson FiveThe Bible Movement Today14 Activities|3 Assessments
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Getting Started
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In Front | Workbook: Aspects of Bible Education
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In Front | Owning and Reading the Bible, Part 2
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In Front | The Bible Movement
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In Front | Categories of Bible Engagement, Part 2
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In Front | Definitions of Bible Engagement
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In Front | Measuring Bible Engagement
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In Front | The Center for Bible Engagement
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In Front | Personal Convictions About the Bible
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In Front | Workbook: Personal Convictions About the Bible, Part 1
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In Front | Workbook: Personal Convictions About the Bible, Part 2
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In Front | Exploration, Exposure, Engagement
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In Front | Advantages of Bible Illiteracy
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Wrap-Up1 Activity|1 Assessment
Behind | Canonicity
We can sometimes think of the New Testament as being something an early group of Christians voted into existence, by arbitrarily choosing some books over others. The reference in 1 Peter to Paul’s writing as “Scripture” reminds us that the books that became accepted in the New Testament were included precisely because they were already bound up in the life of the Early Church. No New Testament book became read and honored in the Church as authoritative because a council said it should be. Rather, councils accepted the authority of certain books because they were already read and accepted throughout the Christian world.
Christians knew of apostolic letters in circulation and wanted access to testimonies and explanations other churches had received. Letters were shared, along with Gospel accounts, and the New Testament biblical tradition developed in an organic way. Along with the standard of catholicity, which required that a book had to already be widely used and accepted as authoritative throughout the Christian Church, there were two other main tests or standards of canonicity.
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One test was orthodoxy, which meant a book needed to agree with existing Church doctrines, liturgies and hymns that were established in the life of the Church. The third was apostolicity, which means it was written by an apostle or by a friend of an apostle. Each of these three criteria needed to be met for a book to be accepted as an official part of the New Testament.
And as we mentioned, this process of canonization in the Early Church may be better understood as a confirmation process rather than a selection process. Its purpose was to formally agree on books that were already accepted as authoritative. Dr. Bruce Metzger notes that in the Early Church, an “implicit authority” of New Testament writings “was sensed before a theory of their authority had been developed—in fact, before there was even a consciousness of their authority.”
In other words, long before councils gathered to discuss the inspiration or authority of any texts, certain texts had distinguished themselves as being bound up with the life and identity of Christian community. As F. F. Bruce puts it, “what these councils did was not to impose something new upon the Christian communities but to codify what was already the general practice of these communities.”
Paul’s letters, like those to the Thessalonians, were circulated and treated as “Scripture” long before any council gave them formal approval. They passed the test of canonicity long before it was ever applied and have their own authority, with or without a council to confirm it. We read Paul’s letters today not as the product of an arbitrary selection process, but as the fruit of a consistent and widespread testimony to the saving work of Jesus.
Source of quotes: Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development and Significance, 1992, p. 73; F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, 1960, p. 27.
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Question 1 of 1
1. Question
What do you think the two other tests might have been? Which of the following do you think was applied as another standard of canonicity?