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editorials:meme_spin_on_how_the_list_of_books_in_the_bible_was_arrived_at [2019/06/12 08:23] adminuser created |
editorials:meme_spin_on_how_the_list_of_books_in_the_bible_was_arrived_at [2019/06/12 12:59] (current) |
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+ | // Back to [[editorials: | ||
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====== Meme spin on how the list of books in the Bible was arrived at ====== | ====== Meme spin on how the list of books in the Bible was arrived at ====== | ||
+ | //Continued from [[Futility inherent in do-it-yourself religion, what's the point]]...// | ||
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Someone else responded with a meme on "How You Got Your Bible", | Someone else responded with a meme on "How You Got Your Bible", | ||
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- But today christians running around with the bible don't know that what they are believing in was purposefully planned out for them to believe by men. | - But today christians running around with the bible don't know that what they are believing in was purposefully planned out for them to believe by men. | ||
- | ==== How I responded initially ==== | + | ===== How I responded initially |
That wasn't quite how the process of deciding on canonicity was described in Bruce Metzger' | That wasn't quite how the process of deciding on canonicity was described in Bruce Metzger' | ||
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* The meme might be true, but given the problems I noted in first paragraph, it has the feeling of a conspiracy theory spin. The truth might not be at the extremes, but possibly somewhere in the middle. | * The meme might be true, but given the problems I noted in first paragraph, it has the feeling of a conspiracy theory spin. The truth might not be at the extremes, but possibly somewhere in the middle. | ||
- | It turns out that was not even entirely correct. That is the problem in responding to a meme. However, it did trigger me to do some more research, and I learned more about the process from reputable sources. | + | It turns out that was not even entirely correct. |
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+ | That is the problem in responding to a meme. However, it did trigger me to do some more research, and I learned more about the process from reputable sources. | ||
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+ | ===== Bruce Metzger' | ||
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+ | ==== Who was Bruce Metzger? ==== | ||
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+ | Here is how one author describes Bruce Metzger and his book on New Testament canonicity: | ||
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+ | * Bruce Metzger was professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary, and a board member of the American Bible Society. He was chief editor of the Reader' | ||
+ | * Without doubt he is a scholar of considerable breadth of learning and erudition. His 1987 work „The Canon of the New Testament‟ is often cited by evangelicals as a valuable reference work. Metzger‟s view of the New Testament is plain from his first sentence. „The recognition of the canonical status of the several books of the New Testament was the result of a long and gradual process, in the course of which certain writings, regarded as authoritative were separated from much larger body of early Christian literature‟1 | ||
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+ | Some questions asked by this author: | ||
+ | * Does the data warrant such radical conclusions? | ||
+ | * Does Metzger‟s work provide a sound and credible description of the genesis of Scripture, or has the work fallen prey to influences quite apart from the evidence? | ||
+ | * How soundly founded are Metzger' | ||
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+ | Source: | ||
+ | * https:// | ||
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+ | ==== The Full Text of Bruce Metzger' | ||
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+ | A link to the full text of his book is here: | ||
+ | * [[https:// | ||
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+ | Some more scholarly discussion of canonicity, and reference to Bruce Metzger' | ||
+ | * http:// | ||
+ | * " | ||
+ | * Early Christans often "were Jews, for whom it would have been unthinkable to have questioned the authority of the Old Testament as divine revelation." | ||
+ | * "But why did the early Christians come to add another book of writings to the Old Testament and come to regard them as Holy Scripture and ultimately as canonical as the Old Testament? In nuce the answer may be found in one word: authority. Ultimately, they discerned in these books the authoritative voice of God and the authority of their Lord Jesus.(14) In other words, the church did not create the canon. She recognized what God had constituted.(15)" | ||
+ | * "Is the canon of the New Testament open or closed?" | ||
+ | * (38) Metzger, Canon of the NewTestament, | ||
+ | * (39) Metzger, Canon of the NewTestament, | ||
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+ | === Bruce Metzger' | ||
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+ | * "Thus, side by side with the old Jewish canon, and without in any way displacing it, there had sprung up a new, Christian | ||
- | ==== Examining a meme prejudiced against how the modern list of books in the Bible was created ==== | + | This is in direct contradiction with the meme. And the later quote from the International Bible Society does not claim that the church father Athanasius decreed the list of books, only that he was the first who provided the " |
+ | ===== Examining a meme prejudiced against how the modern list of books in the Bible was created | ||
- | === What was the Happening in A.D. 325 - Council of Nicaea === | + | ==== What was the Happening in A.D. 325 - Council of Nicaea |
It was during this council that there was a beginning of creating the list of the books in the modern Bible new testament was approved. Encyclopedia Britannica does not list creating an authoritative list of the books of the Bible as one of the achievements of this council. | It was during this council that there was a beginning of creating the list of the books in the modern Bible new testament was approved. Encyclopedia Britannica does not list creating an authoritative list of the books of the Bible as one of the achievements of this council. | ||
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- | === About the council of Nicaea === | + | ==== About the council of Nicaea |
Alternative Title: First Council of Nicaea | Alternative Title: First Council of Nicaea | ||
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Source: https:// | Source: https:// | ||
- | === what is a Catechumen === | + | ==== what is a Catechumen |
From the encyclopedia Britannica: | From the encyclopedia Britannica: |