1. Theme 1 DEF The Bible – formation, inspiration
Kerygma – historical value, relevance
Two views of Jesus

2. The Canon of the Bible Watch the video. What do you find out about:
the Hebrew Scriptures?
the Apocrypha?
the Christian Bible?
What explains some of the disagreements?
Mindmap some facts about the Bible that you heard.

3. + Hebrew Scriptures TaNaKh (in Hebrew) St.Jerome
Torah & Nevi’im written during and after Babylonian Exile 6th BC, after Temple lost 6th BCE. But Writings not authoritative until early AD
Jesus knew Torah, Prophets, Psalms. Jewish historian Josephus, 1AD, mentions Torah, Prophets and four other books.
Hebrew Scriptures TaNaKh (in Hebrew)
Torah (5books of Moses)
Nevi’im (Prophetic books)
Ketuvim (Wisdom books)
Brought together as a single text after return from B. Exile.
St.Jerome
translates Septuagint/ Jewish Scriptures, New Testament into Latin C4thAD
= VULGATE
New Testament (in Greek)
4 gospels
Letters of Paul & other apostles
Book of Revelation
(other, apocryphal writings of NT era were not accepted into NT canon eg Gospel of Peter, Shepherd of Hermas)
Translated into Greek C3rdBC by 70 scribes
= SEPTUAGINT
This is the Scripture Jesus would have known. +
Apocrypha
(Greek conquest period, BC) Wisdom (Job, Tobit, Jonah, Ecclesiasticus, Bk of Wisdom); Maccabees
Protestants, like Jews, consider Apocrypha to be additions to the Jewish canon, that do not have same authority or divine inspiration as the other writings (written in Greek, not Hebrew, in Greek influenced culture). They are not part of the Protestant list of OT books, but may be included as “inter-testamental” books.
Catholics believe the Apocrypha are fully and equally inspired, but as additions to the first original list of books, they are deutero-canonical – belonging to a “second” canon.
NT contains 27books, OT contains 39 or 46 (7 Apocryphal)

4. Look at the lists of books in the OT Of different Bibles.
What differences can you find in:
books included/ excluded
order of books
Why are they in this order? It is not chronological –
eg in Hebrew Scriptures, Ruth, though referring to early events in Jewish history, placed after the “late” Song of Solomon.
eg in Catholic OT, Neh/ Chronicles placed before minor prophets, even though written later
Hebrew Scriptures
Contain…
don’t contain…
order…
OT Catholic Bible
Contain…
don’t contain…
order…
OT Protestant Bible
Contain…
don’t contain…
order…
- Ends minor prophets & Maccabees (rebellion against Greek rule & persecution: these books look forward to Prophet Elijah announcing liberation and restoration of a new world order : NT begins with John Baptist..
Apocrypha - greek writings (Tobit, Judith, Maccabees, Wisdom, Baruch, Sirach, additions to Daniel & Esther) Jerome rejected these as not in Hebrew text, but other Church Fathers, including Augustine, accepted them.
Apocrypha are deutero-canonical– fully, equally inspired, but additions to original canon
Ends minor prophets
rejects Apocrypha
(aka inter-testamental collection, - may be included in a separate section of Protestant bibles)
eg Luther rejected Maccabees 2:12 as it lends support to the Catholic idea of Purgatory, which he rejected (undermines justification by faith)
Ends Nehemiah/ Chronicles
–chronologically correct.
- in Neh/ Chron. is Israel has returned from exile and is focussed on rebuilding the nation.
No Apocrypha – greek writings, not hebrew, in greek culture
Order reflects importance: covenant & law. Prophets recall the people to following the Covenant. Writings advice on how to live.
Some books follow other books because believed to be by same author eg Jeremiah, Lamentations.

5. Describe differences between Jewish, Catholic and Protestant Scriptures.

6. Establishing the Canon
Canon means “measuring rule”
the Canon of Scripture, means the list of books that are authoritative for correct faith in God.
other writings and ideas must be “measured” against the canonical status of the biblical texts
How did the Jews decide which books to include as canonical (C6th BCE)?
if they were recognised by a wide variety of Jews in different locations, to be important in supporting their Jewish faith and practice.
the key revelation is the law given to Moses – the Torah - “the canon within the canon”
the books thought to be written by Moses, are canonical (Genesis, Exodus)
the books of the Law given to Moses are canonical (Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy)
those that were still in existence !
other books eg Prophets, Writings were included if they supported the teachings of the Torah eg recalled people to proper observation of the Torah

7. How was the Jewish canon decided?
Canon with the canon
Use
Supporting faith

8. Establishing the Canon – NT
General rule: canonical books are those that support a correct interpretation of the faith. What is the central truth/revelation that they must conform with? (for Jews, it is the Torah given to Moses)
The “Canon within the canon” in the NT is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
DECIDING THE CANON
Support a correct interpretation of the faith ie reflect the central revelation of the life, death and resurreciton of Jesus
Connection with the Apostles - apostolic writings: gospels, letters of Paul, James, John, Peter. (a compilation of the 4 gospels was made and soetimes used – diatessaron)
Connection with churches – if churches that received the letters, found them useful, they wered copied and circulated. Growing sense of them being “scripture”.
Found useful in supporting correct faith – Book of Revelation, Letter to Hebrews, Ephesians.
Definitive NT canon decided by Pope Damasus in 382AD. Why so late years?
Muratorian Canon
Earliest known list of canonical books - 170AD: quick consensus as to which books were “scripture”.
Warns against including some books, which are forgeries.
Could it have been difficult to decide which books are authoritative?
Read the extracts, and see if it would be obvious or not.

9. NT Canon of Books 1. Letters of Paul AD50-70 long eg Romans
short eg Galatians
to Churches eg to the Corinthians, Thessalonians
to individuals eg to Timothy, Philemon
2. Book of Revelation – a prophetic, richly symbolic book, concerning persecutions of Christians, growth of Churches & second coming of Christ
3. Gospels: Mark 70AD, Mt, Lk (80-90AD), John (100AD)
4. Letters of other apostles, or ascribed to disciples of apostles
Letter of James
Letters of Peter
Letters of John
5. Other, non-apostolic letters
Letter to the Hebrews
Jude
NT Canon of Books
NT writings began with the letters of St. Paul, as the earliest.
1. What order would you put the books of the NT in?
DISAGREEMENTS
Look at the extracts from other Christian writings, from 2-3rd Centuries. Would you include/ accept them?
2. Explain why Marcion was rejected as a heretic.
3. How serious were the disagreements?
Shepherd of Hermas not heretical, but not accepted as Canon (apocryphal).
Marcion – denounced as a heretic, for rejecting the OT
Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Judas – heretical (Mary was “the companion of the saviour” and Judas was really a good guy).
Revelation – widely accepted by early Church fathers, on account of its author (believed to be apostle John) but later challenged. Accepted into the canon only late.
Hebrews also only late, as authorship unknown – apostolic?
Time for Canon to be established: Faith first spreads orally, through apostles, their disciples (Church Fathers) – who only begin to die out 4th century. So then makes sense to decide on which are the definitive writings that these Christians relied on – C4th. Widespread agreements before then (Muratorian canon).

10. The Canonical Orders (order of books in the biblical canon)
order of importance: Torah, Gospels
But also
books by same author alongside each other (Luke/ Acts)
books of same story-line (Joshua, 1&2Kings, 1&2 Chronicles are all historical narratives of Israel)
books of similar style (wisdom books – Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes; the four gospels)
The flow of the Hebrew Scriptures/ Bible as a whole makes a difference to its meaning – it traces a development – a history of salvation - in the way God has acted to save his people. But if the order were to change, this would not be so clear...
Write down the challenges, to why the order of the Canon may not have been divinely inspired.
How would you respond to the points?
The order of books does vary (Jewish vs Christian – Nehemiah&Chronicles vs. minor prophets) and the kinds of books included varies (Catholic Apocrypha) then it seems like it it a matter of human choices, not a divinely inspired ordering or decision.
There was disagreement about what books to include – eg Apocrypha, Book of Revelation, Shepherd of Hermas, and the canon was not established until C4th – this suggests God was not at work inspiring the choices.
Some books are considered more important – placed at the beginning, prioritised as “canon within canon” – does that mean some books can be less inspired than others?

11. Responses to the challenge that the Canonical Order was not divinely inspired
Order and books included varies
Some books seem to be “more inspired” than others
Canon decided late, folllowing disagreements
Widespread agreements
Muratorian Canon
No urgency in deciding the Canon – because widespread agreements
God works through the Church as well (Catholic view: Scripture + tradition)
Plenary Verbal Inspiration
Heretical teachings quickly rejected
Disputes centred on authorship, not content

12. Exam Questions Explain how the NT canon was formed.
The Canonical Orders were not divinely inspired. Discuss

13. How Bible was written
Order of books
Deciding the Canon: Jewish, Christian
disagreements: Apocrypha in OT, NT