Canon (Bible) - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

Etymology

The word gun , which comes from the old Greek κανών ( kanôn ), itself of Semitic origin: Hebrew qaneh (reed, measurement, cane), Akkadien quanu , Ougaritique qn , the Punique qn' ) and perhaps even Sumérien gin .

It indicates a Roseau
It indicates a measuring instrument made of a reed as the rule of the Charpentier.
Philosophically , it becomes the code of conduct, the Norme, the model.
the ancient Astrologie indicates thus lists, catalogs of tables of the apparent movement of the Astre S.

To the 2nd century, the word passes in the Christian medium and indicates:

Kanon the aletheia : the gun of the truth,
Kanon the ekklesia , the rule of the assembly, i.e. codes of conduct , in fact of Government, specific to each church (local communities chétiennes).

At the 4th century, the direction of this word is put in connection with the Bible. They are then the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament which are two announced new expressions:

In 363, with the Council of Laodicée in gun 59 (regional council)
In 392, in the letter Festale of Athanase of Alexandria.

Canon of the Hebraic Bible

The idea of a gun of the Hebraic Bible (named “Old Testament” by the Justin of Nablus) is essential only after the Synode of Jamnia (or Yabnah or Yabneh), i.e. at the end of the 1st century, after the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans. Previously, the concept of a closed list (within the meaning of complete and final) pounds included in the Seventy is inconceivable. On the other hand, the processes of canonization seem to have been an open process.

The current Texte massoretic is contemporary writing of the Mishna, i.e. the fruit of the work of the doctors of the 2nd century. This work of grammairiens (the vocalization records various possible pronunciations) continues until the 10th century; the manuscript of Saint-Petersbourg ( Codex Leningradensis ) which dates from the 10th century and is used as a basis for the bibles of Hebrew study, is a witness of this work. Until the 1st century, the Bible of all is the Greek text of the Seventy, though editions in Hebrew different from the text proto-massoretic existed, as the rollers of Qumran show it.

assumption of the gun of Jamnia

In the Jewish Antiquities , Flavius Josèphe gives a list of 22 books composing the gun of the Jewish writings. It includes/understands:

13 pounds of Prophet S,
4 books of maxims, Proverb S and Wisdom,
5 books of Brace .

After Jamnia, the rabbinical medium tannaïte, the medium which writes the Mishna, is lived like the heir-at-law to all the former traditions, which they are Saducéen born, ésseniennes or, obviously, Pharisien born. However, for the medium of Gamaliel II, the apocalyptic attitude of the “members of the Movement of Jesus” according to the expression of Jacques Schlosser (professor at the catholic Institute of Lyon), in fact a danger to the relations with the Roman occupant. Moreover, they are minim (sectarian), in that which they concentrate the access to alliance on the Baptême. From this point of view, they ignore the whole of the people. De facto, they are a sect reforming and graduating machine like were Ésseniens.

Moreover, they “make say” increasingly strange things to the Seventy. The rabbinical controversies, recorded in the Talmud show discussions which, under pretext of imaginative interpretation, present opinions on the relevance of such or such text (Traité Meguila, Traité Sofa). One thus attends a return to Hebrew, with a mistrust towards the Greek texts which will calm down only at the beginning of the 3rd century.

The witnesses of this development are numerous. For example:

In the Seventy, Samuel is indicated as “perpetual Nazir since the center of his/her mother” while the text massoretic used nowadays denies this quality to him. Traditional interpretation said that the Seventy moves away from the original Hebrew text. However, a discussion in the Nazir treaty worries about the Nazirat of Samuel. One can thus think that the text of the Seventy was not very different from one or the other of the Hebraic texts then usually in circulation and that the development tannaïte was creative, initially to eliminate any apocalyptic or Messianic aspect, i.e. revolutionary.
Another discussion talmudic shows the downgrading of a text written in Araméen. It corresponds to the period of mistrust towards the texts translated of the syriaque one, which is an Eastern araméen. With the Meguila treaty, Jonathan B. Uzziel downgrades the book of Daniel of Prophète ( nebiim ) writes some ( ketoubim ) whereas Flavius Josèphe and the Seventy held it for Prophète.

The concomitant drafting of Mishna and the Évangile S reveals subjacent polemics. They are concurrent draftings. These polemics play a considerable part as well in the evolution of the rabbinical thought around Gamaliel II as in the childbirth of the Christian system.

(See the article specialized Abraham Joshua Hershel)

Assumption of Sunberg (1964)

Starting from a consensus established around a canonization in 3 phases:

a first phase towards 400 before the common era concerning the Pentateuque
a second phase towards 200 before the common era concerning the Prophet S
a third phase towards 90 before the common era concerning the Writings. This last canonization being ratified at the first century by the common use.

Albert C. Sundberg, Jr considers, as from 1964, a more complex assumption

Assumption of Thackeray (1921)

Henri St John Thackeray is a grammairien. He worked primarily on the Seventy, i.e. on the Bible in Greek. In 1921, it publishes " The Septuagint and Jewish worship;: With study in origins, (The Schweich readings off the British Academy) "

Assumption of Leman Beckwith

Leman Beckwith : The Old Will off the Early Church , Harvard theological Studies, n° 20

Construction of the Canon of New Testament

Two successive theses are currently in the process of synthesis.

thesis of Adolph von Harnack and Hans Freiherr Von Campenhausen

for Hans Freiherr Von Campenhausen to see Formation of the Christian Bible
Adolph von Harnack its book: Origin off the New Will

Towards 200 emerges the idea of a catalog of the books composing New Testament. Make authority then:

4 Gospels
13 letters of Paul
the acts
the first letter of Jean
the first letter of Pierre

In addition to the indices of the advance in the slow constitution of the corpus, indicated in the article Gospel, of the more concrete witnesses are given in:

the Fragment of Muratori, Roman origin
Irenee of Lyon, originating in Minor Asia,
Tertullien de Carthage
Clement of Alexandria

The influence of Marcion was determining in the constitution of a gun.

Thesis of Ablbert C. Steinberg

(to read: The Old Will off the Early Church Harvard Theological Studies n°20)

According to this work, there was never Canon Alexandrin of the Seventy, which confirms the studies on the construction of the Talmud, as evoked above.

The closed list appropriateness questions the Christians only starting from the any end of the 4th century. It interests really only the Westerners. The gun of the Old Testament, that of the Latin churches like that of the Greek churches, evolve/move in parallel. Until the 4th century, one speaks about open gun and subsequently about gun closed .

However Steinberg goes back the fragment to Muratori of the 4th century and gives him an Eastern origin. These characteristics make a list of it among all the others and withdraw its statute of inaugural list to him. This design eliminates the long debate between the churches and allots the closing of the gun to an ecclesiastical authority.

The contents of the fragment ruin this assumption on the construction of New Testament. The Fragment does not say word of the Epitre to the Hebrews extremely appreciated in the Eastern churches because wrongfully allotted to Paul de Tarse.

Birth of a tradition written in the East

Until the Ier century, the Bible of all is the Seventy, though editions in Hebrew different from the text proto-massoretic existed, as the rollers of Qumran show it. It is it which will give the Old Testament Christian . The current Texte massoretic is contemporary writing of the Mishna, i.e. the fruit of the work of the doctors of the IIe century though a text proto-massoretic is known of the 150 before the common era.

This work of grammairiens (the vocalization records various possible pronunciations) continues until the Xe century; the manuscript of Saint-Petersbourg ( Codex Leningradensis ) which dates from the Xe century and is used as a basis for the bibles of Hebrew study in , is a witness of this work.

After the Synod of Jamnia, the rabbinical medium tannaïte which wrote the Mishna, is lived like the heir-at-law to all the former traditions, which they are Saducéen born, esséniennes or, obviously, Pharisien born. For the medium of Gamaliel II, the Christians seem sectarian and heretics. Their interpretation of the Seventy is blamed. One thus assists with a mistrust towards the Greek texts and with a return to the Hebrew . The concomitant drafting of the Mishna and the Évangile S thus reveals polemical subjacent which played a considerable part as well in the evolution of the rabbinical thought around Gamaliel II as in the childbirth of the Christian system.

The attempts of Tatien, Marcion face the opposition of Irenee and with the dogmatism of Athanase are clearly at the origin of Canon

The gun of Marcion (towards 150)

It precedes the official gun. It does not keep writings which circulate:

epistles of Paul, of which he knows only 10 of them out of 13 of the posterior official gun,
a version expurgée of the Gospel according to Luc that Marcion holds for a companion of Paul.

The letters of Paul known by Marcion are the following ones:

Galates,
1 and 2 Corinthians
Romains,
1 and 2 Thessaloniciens
Ephésiens that Marcion names " Laodicéens"
Colossiens
Philippe
Philémon.

This leading corpus perduré in the syriaque church, with moreover the Epistle with the Hebrews that some modern authors allot to Marcion while the old ones allotted it to Paul.

Diatessaron de Tatien

Disturbed by the fact that one retains 4 Gospels presenting 4 testimonys different on said and the facts from Jesus , Tatien undertakes to melt them in only one account continuous and coherent, retaining only what is common for them, gumming by this selection all that is divergent that he regards as deprived of direction other than anecdotic. It takes as a starting point the 4 Gospels, canonized since. The freedom with which it uses them, similar to that whose the authors of according to Luc and used according to Matthieu in their resumption of according to Marc watch that at the moment when it writes, the 4 large Gospels are not sacrilized yet. The loans which it makes with other sources show that they do not have vocation to be an exclusive source. In a time when triumph the idea of Plotin that the Vérité is one and that the dissensus is hateful, one cannot conceive that each Gospel considered canonical had vocation to be sufficed for itself and not to supplement the others. Each one of them, from the point of view of their authors, proposed to become the only valid testimony of the life and the teaching of Jesus who would supplant all the others . Moreover, the polemical intention is clearly marked in the incipit of the author with Theophilus . Several harmonizing compilations were produced. That of Tatien will perdurera in the canonical corpus of the syriaque church.

Canonization of the 4 Gospels

Why these 4 there and not others? This question comes immediately to mind from a reader from the 21e century. It interested also the readers of late Antiquity and the answer given by Irenee of Lyon in his Apud Haereses will not fail to astonish the contemporary reader:

it can have there neither a greater nor more small number of Gospels. Indeed, there are 4 areas of the world in which we are and 4 principal winds

Irenee locates his reflection in the oikoumene of Anaximandre If the America and the Oceania had been known in the time of Irenee, the Old ones would have canonized two Gospels moreover, which had been in conformity with the cosmology of time; the interior world was to reflect the structure of the outside world.

Coexistence of an oral tradition

The study of the Fathers of the church and the collection of the quotations which they give in the writings of the 2nd century and 3rd century show that the words allotted to Jesus do not come from the Gospels such as they are known for us. The first assumption is that they quote of memory and that this one is not completely precise. The comparison with the quotations of the Old Testament watch less divergences with the texts of the Seventy. Should one suppose that their memory is less faithful for the known as of Jesus than for the texts of the Seventy? However, the men of antiquity were over-trained for long recitations. One thus formulates another assumption . Others Gospel S were written which transmit other traditions on said and the facts of Jesus . They make profitable same the Oral tradition and are used as reference in the texts of the old Fathers. Works like:

the Gospel of Thomas

the Gospel of Pierre

the dialog of the Saver

traditions preserve on Jesus which do not owe anything with the canonical Gospels. Some of these peripheral texts are usually used which were not preserved by canonization. Thus, Papias, bishop of Hiérapolis which is known only by the ecclesiastical History of Eusèbe de Césarée, knows accounts similar to those brought back in the Gospel " according to Marc" and of the elements of accounts which one will find in the Gospel " according to Matthieu". These some indications on knowledge of the first fathers are enough to invalidate the theory of Augustin d' Hippone on the chronology of the Gospels, as reported for memory in the article the synoptic Problème. Papias wrote Explications on the words of the Lord , lost since, except for the quotation of the Foreword that in fact Eusèbe. These explanations relate to the oral accounts which it received.
See also: Critical radical

On the concept of heresy

According to whether one is located at the 2nd century, the 3rd century, at the 4th century, the Hérésie S are not the same ones. It results from it that the rejected books are not the same ones. Except for the hérésies" donatist, melecian and novartienne, which treats dissensions on the action to be taken vis-a-vis the apostates and others Relaps and raises the question of the forgiveness , the heresies mainly regional and are on a regional level treated until the council of Nicée of 325. It is thus understood that a list of heresies which varies with the geography (area) and the history (time) led to exclusions/inclusions which concern time to others of the settling of score. Until the Council of Chalcédoine, such which is excommunicated with Rome can be raised with Antioche or elsewhere and reciprocally. Two examples:

Marcion which carries to Rome towards 140 - 150 its 10 letters of Paul de Tarse sets out again excommunicated, founds about it its church and its corpus is retained as bases by the church Syriaque

Athanase of Alexandria, excommunicated in its Patriarcat of origin is raised and accommodated in Rome until the emperor makes rule in council that it is not possible any more with a bishop to raise excommunication of another of his colleagues. In spite of what, the bishops of Nicomédie, Antioche, Césarée will continue to accommodate and to reinstate excommunicated Alexandria or of Rome.

Conclusion of stage

Tatien and Marcion, by the choice of their sources and their company of rewriting testify to resistance to accept several divergent testimonys. The role of Marcion was decisive, would be this only in the idea to close a list to draw up it against the other sources, of a corpus being opposed to other corpora available. The church of Marcion, discredited under the name of Marcionitisme, will remain several centuries in Asia Mineure. To fight against this one, the Eastern and Western patriarchates will use the method which it had inaugurated: to draw up a list where the distinction of certain books raised with the statute of writing inspired returns the other sources to the row of fabulae , i.e. of Apocryphe S.

Canon d' Orient, gun of Occident

Criteria

According to whether they come from Orient and Occident, the lists of books selected are not the same ones. In addition to the reserves with the plural reception of a testimony tétramorphe (neologism of Irenee!), certain books received in Occident are repudiated in the East and reciprocally. The Eastern churches will function a long time with a gun of 22 books while the churches of Occident will hold for a gun of 27 pounds . Eastern as Occidentaux use the same criteria however:

Is indisputable the books which are received by the greatest number
Suit a second collection of books which seem good but which one wonders whether they are it enough to be read as a public during the liturgy S.
the third list gathers the books written by heretics and, for that must be rejected (even destroyed)

This classification calls some remarks.

On the second list

It generally comprises texts whose contemporary textual criticism shows that they are of contemporary or quasi-contemporary drafting of those which are given the responsability to draw up the lists. Though the canonization of a contemporary text is not prohibited, as shows it that of the Diatessaron of Tatien in the syriaque church, it seems that the seniority allotted to the texts is a sesame. This second list comprises also books born of unknown father but received everywhere. At the end of protracted negotiations, some will be included in the gun. Others, of liturgical use in certain communities, will be rejected. There is no idea of what pseudepigraphy means.

Books always selected

The first list includes/understands everywhere:

the 4 Gospels
the acts
the first epistle of Jean

With regard to the epistles, the lists vary. Marcion knew 10 of them, the other lists give 13 of them, even 14. Certain lists were built around the symbolic system of number 7 at the price of acrobatics: double letters cash for only one.

specialized article: Paul de Tarse

the following books were always delayed:
epistles known as catholic , not because they belong into clean to a denomination (as one would tend to believe it today) but because they are addressed to all the churches instead of being addressed to the one of them, a metropolis, in particular as the case is constant at Paul and whose they imitate the literary kind.

Enclose gun

In the Latin churches

The gun is closed with 27 pounds by authority of church. So it is closed earlier than in the East with the regional synods of Carthage of 397 and 419. Until the last years of the 4th century, it excludes the epistle with the Hebrews. This question is never treated in the oecumenical councils end of the century. This gap thus assigns these councils with the role of court and instead of space where to treat businesses of the churches in a project of unification. In spite of the decrees of Gélase, apocalyptic literatures others that of Jean will be recopied and held for recipient of the New Testament until the medium of the Middle Ages (13th century)

In the Greek churches

It is the use of the books in the communities which determines the gun. The gun starts with 22 books, without epistle with the Hebrews, letters of Jaques, neither 2 Pierre, nor 3 Jean either that Jude. In the middle of the 3rd century, the work of Cyprien de Carthage does not quote any of these 5 books either but the letter with Philémon and, obviously without Apocalypse.

This opposition to the apocalyptic literatures falls under the fight against the Millénarisme montanist, attested by Eusèbe de Césarée, then by Gregoire de Naziance, Amphiloque d' Iconium (death in 896) which declares in connection with the Apocalypse:

Some accept it but the majority say it unauthentic

The school of Antioche, with Jean Chrysostome (347 - 407), Theodore de Mopsueste (393 - 466) sticks to a gun of 22 books without Apocalypse. The council In Trullo (692) does not regulate anything.

Ambiguity of the fence

In its Festale letter, Athanase recommends noncanonical books for the instruction of the beginners who are, now considered as Apocryphe S:

Pasteur d' Hermas
Doctrines of the apostles (lost today)

It recommends also Apocryphes of the Old Testament included today among the deuterocanonic :

the wisdom of Solomon (Known in his time like wisdom of the friends of Solomon and in its honor )
the passage of books without father with absurd books and irreligious people takes place slowly during debates and is expressed in this form at Eusèbe. To some extent, the quality of heretic goes up from the men worms the books pseudépigraphes. This appreciation is tasty a posteriori when the Exégèse showed since the 19th century that even the 4 Gospels considered canonical are themselves of the pseudépigraphes.

specialized articles: Apocryphal book, Handwritten of the Bible In this criticism of Athanase enracine the best current assumption concerning the manuscripts coptes of Nag Hammadi; one can think that they were buried because a part of them belonged to the condemned books.

Writings mentioned in the Bible but which are not there

the Book of alliance] (Ex 24:7)
Wars of the Eternal (No 21:14)
the Book of the Juste (Jos 10:13; 2 S 1:18)
the Book of the acts of Solomon (1 R 11:41)
the Book of Samuel the indicator (1 Ch 29:29)
the Book of Nathan the prophet (1 Ch 29:29; 2 Ch 9:29)
the Book of Gad the prophet (1 Ch 29:29)
the Prophecy of Achija de Silo (2 Ch 9:29)
Revelations of Jéedo the prophet (2 Ch 9:29)
the Book of Schemaeja the prophet (2 Ch 12:15)
the Book of Iddo the prophet (2 Ch 12:15; 13:22)
Memories of Jéhu (2 Ch: 20:34)
the Book of Hozaï (2 Ch 33:19)
the prophecies of Hénoch /H énoc (Jud v. 14)
an epistle with the Corinthiens (1 Co 5:9)
an epistle with the Éphésiens (Ép 3:3,4)
an epistle in Laodicéens (Collar 4:16)

Random links:

Long-bank | Atelecyclidae | Classification of the best record sales in France in 1979 | Frederic Fontang | Ricoré