Canon and Scripture Flashcards
With what canon of Scripture did the church begin?
Church began its canon of scripture with Jewish Scriptures which was the Septuagint
When was the first appearance of the canon we know today?
337 CE
Early church functioned this long without one
Athanasius combined writings for our current 27 books
In what ‘age’ were decisions made about the canonical status of the additional books in the Septuagint and what were the decisions of the Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox Churches about the OT canon?
Decisions were made about the Canonical status of the addition of books in the Septuagint during the reformation
Protestants: limited to 39 books accepted by Jews
Roman Catholics: Council of Trent, Apocrypha
Orthodox: 1 Esdras, Prayer of Manassa, Psalms 151, 3 Macabees
What is the ‘Scripture principle’ according to Ferguson?
What are the stages?
Scripture Principle is the transition from oral to written (Before Stages)
- How certain writings are seen as authoritative (1st Stage)
- Transition from recognition of written authority to the explicit recognition that the number of authoritative written documents are limited-there is no clarity as to where the line is drawn (2nd Stage)
- Closed Canon stage is an effort to prevent more additions or deletions from the accepted list- this is an individual and communal response (3/4th Stage)
What did the (early) Syriac church accept ‘as the standard form of the Gospels’?
Early Syriac Church accepted the Diastessaron as the standard form of the gospels
What is the ‘three-fold standard of authority for Christians’ to which several second-century authors refer?
Prophets-old testament
The Lord-differs for every person
Apostles-new testament
What was the ‘core canon recognized virtually everywhere’ by the end of the second century?
4 Gospels Acts of the apostles 13 letters of Paul Varying other apostolic writing -These are accepted by all but some groups still add more books, there is no hard line between the authority of additional books
What is ‘the standard method of biblical interpretation used during the Middle Ages’?
4-Fold Approach
What is the historical significance of Festal Letter 39 (AD 367) of Athanasius of Alexandria?
combines Eusebius 1st and 2nd category and that is our present 27 books
What are the ‘three non-literal senses’ that can be distinguished in addition to the literal sense?
1 - Historical (literal context)
2- Allegorical-define what Christians are to believe/
the theological importance
3 -Tropological(moral)-define what Christians are to do/
How we should live
4-fold adds
4- Anagogical-define what Christians are to hope for
What did Iranaeus have to say about how Gnostics were interpreting the parables?
He explains that parables should not be used as ambiguous knowledge you need to establish a connection between allegory and need similarities and harmony
What did Origen say about interpreting scripture?
There are two types of scripture - literal and interpretive/non-literal If a literal reading of a text jeopardizes the character of God or the general doctrine of the church then you should read it interpretively
