The Canon Debate

An international roster of outstanding experts on early Judaism and early Christianity present the history of discussion on the canon and assess the current status.

Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- List of Contributors -- Part One: Introduction -- 1. Introduction -- Part Two: The Old/First Testament Canon -- 2. The Notion and Definition of Canon -- 3. The Jewish Scriptural Canon in Cultural Perspective -- 4. The Formation of the Hebrew Bible Canon: Isaiah as a Test Case -- 5. The Septuagint: The Bible of Hellenistic Judaism -- 6. Questions of Canon Viewed through the Dead Sea Scrolls -- 7. Josephus and His Twenty-Two Book Canon -- 8. Origins of a Tripartite Old Testament Canon -- 9. Jamnia Revisited -- 10. The Rabbis' Bible: The Canon of the Hebrew Bible and the Early Rabbinic Guild -- 11. The Scriptures of Jesus and His Earliest Followers -- 12. The Old Testament Apocrypha in the Early Church and Today -- 13. The Pseudepigrapha in the Early Church -- 14. The Codex and Canon Consciousness -- 15. The Status of the Masoretic Text in Modern Text Editions of the Hebrew Bible: The Relevance of Canon -- 16. The Issue of Closure in the Canonical Process -- Part Three: The New/Second Testament Canon -- 17. The New Testament Canon: Recent Research and the Status Quaestionis -- 18. Factors Leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon: A Survey of Some Recent Studies -- 19. Reflections on Jesus and the New Testament Canon -- 20. Marcion Revisited -- 21. Gnosticism and the Christian Bible -- 22. Evidence for an Early Christian Canon (Second and Third Century) -- 23. The New Testament Canon of Eusebius -- 24. The Muratorian Fragment and the Origins of the New Testament Canon -- 25. Identifying Scripture and Canon in the Early Church: The Criteria Question -- 26. The Problem of Pseudonymity in Biblical Literature and Its Implications for Canon Formation -- 27. The Greek New Testament as a Codex -- 28. Issues in the Interrelation of New Testament Textual Criticism and Canon.

29. The Canonical Structure of Gospel and Apostle -- 30. The Significance of a Canonical Perspective of the Church's Scripture -- 31. The Once and Future New Testament -- 32. Has the Canon a Continuing Function? -- Appendixes -- A. Primary Sources for the Study of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible Canon -- B. Primary Sources for the Study of the New Testament Canon -- C. Lists and Catalogues of Old Testament Collections -- D. Lists and Catalogues of New Testament Collections -- Select Bibliography -- Index of Subjects -- Index of Modern Authors -- Index of Ancient and Medieval Sources -- 1. Old Testament / Hebrew Bible -- 2. Apocrypha of the Old Testament -- 3. New Testament -- 4. Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament -- 5. Writings from the Judean Desert -- 6. Rabbinic Literature and Targumim -- 7. Writings from Nag Hammadi -- 8. Other Ancient and Medieval Writings -- Notes.