The Canon of Scripture

545 Pages·1988·2.09 MB·English

by  Frederick Fyvie

The
C of
ANON
Scripture
F.F. BRUCE
Downers Grove, Illinois InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com
E-mail: [email protected]
©1988 F. F. Bruce
Published in the United States of America by InterVarsity
Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, with permission from Chapter
House Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.
InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a student movement
active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and
schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a
member movement of the International Fellowship of
Evangelical Students. For information about local and
regional activities, write Public Relations Dept., InterVarsity
Christian Fellowship/USA, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box
7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895, or visit the IVCF website at
www.intervarsity.org.
The Scripture quotations quoted herein are from the Revised
Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All
rights reserved.
Design: Cindy Kiple
Images: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
ISBN-10: 0-8308-1258-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-8308-1258-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bruce, F.
F. (Frederick Fyvie), 1910-The canon of scripture/F. F. Bruce
p. cm.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8308-1258-X
1. Bible—Canon. I. Title.
BS465.B78 1988
220.1’2—dc 19 88-29206
CIP
TO THE DEPARTMENTS
OF HUMANITY AND GREEK
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN
FOUNDED 1497
AXED 1987
WITH GRATITUDE FOR THE PAST
AND WITH HOPE
OF THEIR EARLY AND VIGOROUS RESURRECTION
CONTENTS
Preface
Abbreviations
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1 HOLY SCRIPTURE
PART TWO: OLD TESTAMENT
2 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS
3 THE GREEK OLD TESTAMENT
4 THE OLD TESTAMENT BECOMES A NEW
BOOK
5 THE CHRISTIAN CANON OF THE OLD
TESTAMENT:
A. IN THE EAST
6 THE CHRISTIAN CANON OF THE OLD
TESTAMENT:
B. IN THE LATIN WEST
7 BEFORE AND AFTER THE REFORMATION
PART THREE: NEW TESTAMENT
8 WRITINGS OF THE NEW ERA 9 MARCION
10 VALENTINUS AND HIS SCHOOL
11 THE CATHOLIC RESPONSE
12 THE MURATORIAN FRAGMENT
13 IRENAEUS, HIPPOLYTUS, NOVATIAN
14 TERTULLIAN, CYPRIAN AND OTHERS
15 THE ALEXANDRIAN FATHERS
16 EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA 17
ATHANASIUS AND AFTER
18 THE WEST IN THE FOURTH CENTURY TO
JEROME
19 AUGUSTINE TO THE END OF THE
MIDDLE AGES
20 THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON IN THE
AGE OF PRINTING
PART FOUR: CONCLUSION
21 CRITERIA OF CANONICITY
22 A CANON WITHIN THE CANON?
23 CANON, CRITICISM AND
INTERPRETATION
Appendix 1 THE ‘SECRET’ GOSPEL OF MARK
Appendix 2 PRIMARY SENSE AND PLENARY SENSE
Bibliography
PREFACE
When I taught in the University of Manchester I lectured in
alternate years on the Text and Canon of the Old Testament
and the Text and Canon of the New Testament. My lectures on
the text, I hope, served the needs of the students who listened
to them, but they do not call for further publication. The
subject-matter of my lectures on the canon, however, has
continued to engage my attention, as regards both its historical
aspect and its relevance today.
It will be plain in what follows that I am more concerned
about the New Testament canon than about the Old Testament
canon. The collapse of the century-old consensus on the Old
Testament canon—namely, that the process of canonization is
indicated by the traditional threefold division of books in the
Hebrew Bible—has been underlined in two important works of
recent date: Roger Beckwith’s The Old Testament Canon of the
New Testament Church and John Barton’s Oracles of God.
Attacks have been made on the consensus on the New
Testament canon—namely, that its main structure was
substantially fixed by the end of the second century. It
continues to stand, however, because it is supported by
weighty evidence, as is shown in Bruce Metzger’s magnificent
work on The Canon of the New Testament. When a consensus
is attacked, it has to be carefully reassessed, and that is all to
the good: there is no point in pretending that we know more
than we do.
With works like those mentioned now available, it may be
asked, what need is there for this book? Perhaps the author
needs to get it out of his system, but it may justify its
appearance as an attempt to communicate the present state of
knowledge to a wider public.
I am most grateful to the University of London for
permission to reproduce my Ethel M. Wood Lecture (1974) as
Appendix 1, and to the Epworth Review and its editor, the
Revd John Stacey, for permission to reproduce my A. S. Peake
Memorial Lecture (1976) as Appendix 2.
My first introduction to this subject was effected through
the original edition of The Text and Canon of the New
Testament, by my revered teacher Alexander Souter, Regius
Professor of Humanity in the University of Aberdeen. My
indebtedness to him and to the Department over which he
presided with high distinction, together with its sister
Department of Greek, is acknowledged in the dedication.
F.F.B
ABBREVIATIONS
GENERAL
ANF The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Eerdmans) AV/KJV
Authorized/King James Version (1611)
BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands
(University) Library CBQ Catholic
Biblical Quarterly CHB Cambridge
History of the Bible, I–III (Cambridge,
1963–70) Cod(d). Codex (Codices) CSEL
Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum
Latinorum (Vienna) DB Dictionary of the
Bible, I–IV, ed. W. Smith (London,
21893) DCB Dictionary of Christian
Biography, I–IV, ed. W. Smith and H.
Wace (London, 1877–87) EQ
Evangelical Quarterly E.T. English
translation FGNTK Forschungen zur
Geschichte des neutestamentlichen
Kanons, I–IX, ed. T. Zahn (Leipzig,
1881–1929) GCS Die griechischen
christlichen Schriftsteller (Berlin) Hist.
Eccl. Ecclesiastical History (Eusebius,
Sozomen) HTR Harvard Theological
Review JBL Journal of Biblical
Literature JBR Journal of Bible and
Religion JTS Journal of Theological