in what year was the new testament canon completed, and presented?
by admin ~ January 27th, 2006 . Filed under: Religion & Spirituality .
blademan asked:
The first time the new testament first appeared with the list of twenty-seven books as we have it now?
Logan
The first time the new testament first appeared with the list of twenty-seven books as we have it now?
Logan
January 27th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
Major Church Pronouncements on the Bible
Pentecost (30/33AD)
The beginning of the Church; the Church exists before a determination of a canon or a definitive list of books of what was later called the Bible. The NT was not even written yet. The Bible is the book of the Church, we are not a church of the Bible.
Melito, Bishop of Sardis (c. 170)
Produced the first known Christian attempt at an Old Testament canon. His list maintains the Septuagint order of books but contains only the Old Testament protocanonicals minus the Book of Esther.
Council of Laodicea (c. 360)
A local council of the church in union with Rome produced a list of books of the Bible similar to the Council of Trent’s canon. This was one of the Church’s earliest decisions on a canon.
Council of Rome (382)
Local church council under the authority of Pope Damasus, (366-384) gave a complete list of canonical books of the OT and NT which is identical with the list later approved by the Council of Trent.
Council of Hippo (393)
Local North African Church council in union with and under the authority of the Bishop of Rome approved a list of OT and NT canon (same as later approved by the Council of Trent)
Council of Carthage (397)
Local North African Church council in union with and under the authority of the Bishop of Rome approved a list of OT and NT canon (same as later approved by the Council of Trent)
Pope Innocent I, Bishop of Rome, 401-417 (405)
Responded to a request by Exuperius, Bishop of Toulouse, with a list of canonical books of Scripture; this list was the same as later approved by the Council of Trent.
Council of Carthage (419)
Local North African Church council in union with and under the authority of the Bishop of Rome approved a list of OT and NT canon (same as later approved by the Council of Trent)
Council of Florence, an ecumenical council (1441)
Complete list of OT and NT canon was drawn up; this list later adopted by the Fathers of the Council of Trent
Council of Trent, an ecumenical council called to respond to the heresy of the Reformers (1545-1563)
The canon of OT and NT received final definitions: 46 books in the OT; 27 in the NT; “Henceforth the books of the OT and the NT, protocanonical and deuterocanonical alike, in their entirety and with all their parts, comprise the canon and are held to be of equal authority.” The ancient Vulgate edition of the Bible was called the authoritative edition of the Bible.
Vatican I Council (1869-1870)
Reaffirmed the decree of Trent. The Church holds the books of Holy Scripture as sacred and canonical, not because she subsequently approved them, nor because they contain revelation without error, but precisely because “having been written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author and, as such, they have been handed down to the Church itself.”
Providentissimus Deus (1893), Pope Leo XIII, Bishop of Rome, 1878-1903
Inaugurated a new era in Roman Catholic biblical studies. Presented a plan for biblical study; Defined inspiration: “By supernatural power God so moved and impelled the human authors to write - he so assisted them in writing - that the things he ordered and those only they first rightly understood, then willed faithfully to write and finally expressed in apt words and with infallible truth.”
Pascendi Dominica Gregis (1907), Pope Pius X, Bishop of Rome, 1903-1914
Refuted the errors of the Modernists; Scored erroneous teaching on the origin and nature of the Sacred Books, on inspiration; on the distinction between the purely human Christ of history and the divine Christ of faith; on the origin and growth of the Scriptures.
Spiritus Paraclitus (1920), Pope Benedict XV, Bishop of Rome, 1914-1922
Commends modern critical methods in biblical studies. All biblical interpretation rests upon the literal sense. Goal of biblical studies is to learn spiritual perfection, to arm oneself to defend the faith, to preach the word of God fruitfully.
Divino Afflante Spiritus (1943), Pope Pius XII, Bishop of Rome, 1939-1958
Permitted scholars to use original text of Scriptures. No claim was made that the Vulgate is always an accurate translation, but that it is free from any errors in faith or morals. The scholar must be principally concerned with the literal sense of the Scriptures; search out and expound the spiritual sense; avoid other figurative senses. Literary criticism should be employed. Stated that there are but few texts whose sense was determined by the authority of the Church (only seven biblical passages have been definitively interpreted in defending traditional doctrine and morals–Jn 3:5, Lk 22:19, 1 Cor 11:24, Jn 20:22, Jn 20:23, Rom 5:12, Ja 5: 14); this counteracts the frequent misunderstanding that Catholics have no freedom interpreting the Scriptures.
Humani Generis (1950), Pope Pius XII, Bishop of Rome, 1939 - 1958
Instructs scholars on evolution, polygenism and OT historical narratives
Va
January 31st, 2006 at 12:21 am
A Visual Diagram of the History of the New Testament Canon
Summary: Athanasius first lists our present 27 New Testament books as such in 367. Disputes still persist concerning several books, almost right up until 397, when the Canon is authoritatively closed.
February 3rd, 2006 at 11:01 am
That is an issue that really has no answer. Different divisions of the Christian church reached their consensus on this at different times.
The earliest known codexes (a forerunner to what we call a “book”) to contain all 27 books appeared in the mid 200s. No copies of them survive, so we have to trust the witnesses who list the contains of those books.
Prior to 200 AD, the “codex” did not exist, and all New Testament were in scroll form. As no single scroll could hold all 27 books, no copies of all 27 are found together.
Instead we have to look at other sources to determine what were considered to be the “canon”. If you look through the litergies, rituals, and prayers of the first and second century Christians, you will find quotes from all the 27 books of the New Testament except the two one chapter long letters of 2 and 3 John. (Read them some time, there is little theology in them to quote). What is also important is that you do NOT find quotes from any other sources or “missing” books. That would seem to indicate that the canon was only understand to include those 27 writings (and no others) by the early second century - within a century of the time of Christ.
The first “official” declaration of canon came durint the early 4th century. It was not until the death penalty for being a Christian was removed that they were able to have their first open and official council to determine a “canon”. When it was requested that they publish 50 Bibles, they had to decide what to include in it. They chose the Greek version of the Old Testament, and the 27 books we know today as the NT.
However the Catholic church did not publish an “offcial” bull settling their canon of scripture until the Council of Trent in the 1500’s.
February 5th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
I am not a scholar, only know the truth of God.
Jesus told of a parable and said that a Master went out to the field to plant “good” seed. Then “an angel” (just like in the garden, eh?) came to ask Him, “Master, did you not plant good seed”? (”is it not true…you wil not die?” - familiar? read Genesis) Bad wheed is growing with the good one; do you want us to uproot the bad one? No; let them grow TOGETHER. At the end we will remove the bad wheed and burn it.” (I just parraphrased it).
The apostle Paul said “I know that AFTER my departure, ravenous wolves will enter the ‘congregation’ (not ‘eclesia’) and will not treat the flock with lovimg care”.
After the death of the first ‘christians’ (this was an insulting expelletive used for jews following Jesus, that God made it universal, to mock satan the looser), new doctrines and regulations started to come into their understanding; the first big step was that Constantine - a murderer pagan - made himself ‘Pontifex Maximus’ (sort of Holy Priest) and declare the religion “oficial”. But the infiltration of lies and doctrines that had nothing to do with the truth Jesus taught had begun, big time. In the Nicean council, lots of “fathers” (”do not call any of you ‘father’, for you have only one Father in heaven” said Jesus), decided - not Yahweh, the God of Jesus, His Father - what should be included and excluded in the “Book” (for instance, KJV excludes the book of Enoch, which Jesus quoted; it was good for Him, not good enough for them, eh?). So, the “Cannon” was born (Cannon = measuring rod, standard). Subsequent division ocurred when England separated his church from rome, after lots of blood spilled in europe. After that, new division appeared into the ‘protestant’ group, and so forth…”Does the Christ exist divided” was the rethorical question Paul asked their brothers. Ask yourself the same question.
At what point the “bad wheed” started? It is hard to say, but it is easy to detect, tough. If it is “tradition” it is not from Him.
Hope this helped.