Loading...So: I’ve started to work on my next book (or books, depending on how things go), on how we got the canon of the New Testament. Why these 27 books? Why not others? Who decided? When? On what grounds? etc.
I started thinking about this issue already as an 18-year-old in Bible college, but at that point had the traditional theological answers for it that are still being published regularly by evangelical scholars as if they are “news” (!). We saw it as a divinely directed event with an inevitable outcome in which the inspired books were the ones that were included simply because they were the ones recognized as being inspired by God.
When I went to Princeton Seminary, for my Masters and then PhD, it was primarily to work with Bruce Metzger, because he was the world leading expert on ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. He was also the foremost scholar of the day on the formation of the canon of Scripture (and published the still authoritative account of it, over four decades later). And the very first PhD seminar I took was with him on the formation of the canon; the paper I wrote for that course was my very first academic article to be published. And so now that I’m at the end of my career (I have just 35 years to go), I’ve decided to return to one of my first loves.
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Great story! Speaking of looking back, I just got done reading your Introduction to the New Testament, second edition–again!–in anticipation to a class I’m teaching on the New Testament (best NT textbook ever! I always recommend it to my students!). I noticed that your latest edition has over 100 more pages. Do you think it’s worth the upgrade or does the second edition still do the job?
It completely depends what you want/need it for. Eah edition has gotten better (some of htose pages are picture essays, highly informativie but not a lot ofr reading. I’d suggest you at least get a used edition of the 7th edition which should be inexpensive enough I would think, to get a sense of how it evolved.
Bruce Metzger – Taught at Princeton Theological Seminary for over 40 years.
• Role: A leading authority on the Greek New Testament and early Christian writings.
Thats a long time! I sure he is proud of you and all the work you have done! ❤️
Didymus the Blind defended the Nicene faith against Arianism, which taught that Christ was created and not fully divine.
I definitely need to read your work, “The Gospel Text of Didymus.”
If I had to write something, it would focus on the figure of Zeus and the implications of what happened in the Acts of the Apostles. Could it be that Barnabas had a more majestic presence? What does that mean? He was older than Paul, but making that assumption seems extreme, especially since we have very little record of him speaking. Did he command Paul, and did others witness it? That seems quite a stretch to me, particularly for a man who supposedly sold his land to put money at Peter’s feet. Or am I missing something? Were they perhaps drunk on wine? Why did they call him what they did in Acts 14:12? It truly boggles my mind!
Bart, are there any books you can recommend on these books that didn’t make it into our New Testament? Books that explain the history, author etc on say Shepherd of Hermas, first Clement, the writings of Didymus similar to how the Harper Collin’s study Bible explains the New Testament.
You might check out my book After the New Testament, that provides modern translations (some but not all of them mine) of the post-canonical writings, arranged topically, with brief introductions explaining each one.
Sorry to bother you this way, but it seems like some of your earlier posts have lost content after the blog upgrade. I tried contacting support but got an error message so am resorting to the comments section. I also had to reset my password with no prior warning after the upgrade. Please pass this message to the appropriate people. Thanks again for all you do!
Tried to click on an even earlier post and got the dreaded “pardon our dust” page. Maybe the support people should provide an update on progress? What works and doesn’t?
Very interesting. (“I have just 35 years to go” – good news for members of the blog and the charities supported by the blog!)
Hello Bart Erhman
So if almost all critical/serious scholars think that miracles are highly un liekly then do most scholars also think that Jesus almost certanly did not rise from the dead?
They think that if he was raised from the dead it was a miracle. (If you can’t prove that a miracle happened, you can’t also prove that it didn’t happen; but by definition, it is unlikely to the extreme that it did, if, for example, it involves violating the laws of physics)
My interest in the New Testament comes in part from wanting and needing to look at the problems with its ideology and theology.
Things like:
A god that requires a human sacrifice. (for any reason)
Scapegoating as functional theology/ideology, whether of an animal or of another human being.
The way women, and sometimes children, are depicted in the bible. (this also overlaps with scapegoating)
Scenarios that seem to depict inbreeding as okay, and even god orchestrated and ordained.
There’s more…
So, my first question has to be, Does the bible really say these things?
If so, how legitimate are the authors who wrote these things, and how accurate are our translations?
I keep asking myself, Does one need the bible at all to be Christian?
Thanks for reading
The simple answer is no. There were Christians long before there was a Bible, and the majority of Christians in history have not had direct access to the Bible (either becuase of where they lved or because they couldn’t read, etc.)
I’ve just watched a documentary on Spinoza and how he stated that Paul had replaced Jesus’ teachings with hierarchical thinking, particularly as it related to the Roman government.
It’s kind of a pop video, made for pop audiences, but it still has some points to make. – I thought I’d post a link to it incase people are interested.
Spinoza Proved Paul Replaced Jesus’ Law With Empire Law — The Clause That Changed History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvLruxf64OI&t=16s
I agree with Paul in that people should be able to eat bacon cheeseburgers if they want to, and that circumcision should be a choice. There are other things that he wrote that I very strongly disagree with, and feel like they are not Christ or Christian at all.
Have you read much about what Spinoza wrote about the bible and about Paul? If so, what did you think of it?
I’m not a Spinoza scholar, and have not studied his understanding of Jesus and Paul.
I am excited for this book, it’s something I have wanted to read about for some time. I always wondered about the process that was employed to choose the 27 books.
Dear Bart, The biggest problem is a closed canon argument. Edmon L. Gallagher and John D. Meade, as you know, show that the best we can do is prove the canon’s stabilization. The Ethiopian Church advocates an open canonical system. Different ancient Christian communities produced different lists of books which they read and cherished in their local groups. I’m sure we will agree that the church chose its own canon based on its theological convictions. Beckwith states that the Muratorian Fragment contains the Shepherd of Hermes and another book not in our NT canon. Yet, evangelicals use this document to insist on a closed canon. Christianity’s doctrine of plenary inspiration has done much to confuse these issues. All we can say is the Bible is the “church’s book” in which the contents was to be read liturgically in faith communities. I’ve attempted to deal with some of these issues in Volume One of the BYUNTC series in which I advocate for an open canonical position. It would be great to discuss this subject at some point. Bart, thank you from the bottom of my heart, for educating the public on these vital issues. Sincerely, Tom Roberts, PhD , DD
Yes, I’d say the quesiton of “open” or “closed” canon is a theological, not a historical one, and as such, people with different theological views will have different perspectives; the “right” answer, therefore, is not a factual one per se, but a theological one.
Greetings Bart,
Congratulations on your so-called retirement. You will at least have more time to write books and teach in other ways. I’m guessing you’re not getting a lot of fishing in.
I just saw this post and am so excited to hear that you are planning a book on the development of the New Testament canon. I’m really looking forward to reading it as I’ve been really interested in that and feel that I have a lot of pieces of how it came together but not a coherent whole picture.
I just received in the mail today a book by Markus Vinzent titled: “Resetting the Origins of Christianity – a new theory of sources and beginnings.” The authors method of looking backwards from a developed point of Christianity to the beginning seems like a unique approach. I’m guessing you may know Prof. Vinzent (who I think also recently retired) as you seem to know so many in this area.
Best to you in the new year,
Nick Cittadino
Thanks! Yes, I do know him, but not well. He puts forth a number of creative ideas!