Premium
The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate . By
Author(s) -
Holmes Michael W.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
religious studies review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 1
eISSN - 1748-0922
pISSN - 0319-485X
DOI - 10.1111/rsr.12216_5
Subject(s) - canon , status quo , citation , theology , classics , philosophy , history , library science , art , literature , law , political science , computer science
The understanding of the New Testament canon is an unsettled issue. The question used to be more about which books were canonical, but in the last fifty years the question has shifted to what canon actually is and when it came into existence. The “extrinsic” model of canonical creation has become dominant. It says that the church created the canon when it fixed the boundaries of the canonical books in the fourth and fifth centuries. Another model would be the “intrinsic” model, which views the canon as arising organically from within the early Christian religion. These two models are not necessarily mutually exclusive; elements of both may be true. We should also keep in mind that these models are historical models and do not require any theological commitments. This book will explore five central tenets of the extrinsic model and suggest that each tenet is problematic as currently held, although not completely deficient. The result is that our understanding of canon should continue to shift as we better understand the central questions surrounding the nature of canon.