¶ … Orthodoxy and the Canon:
There are several areas in the early church on essential issues such as the deity of Christ, nature, and humanity. This period of dispute was also characterized with the emergence of groups like Gnostics, which brought a completely new set of presumed beliefs to the faith that came alongside the faith and in total compromised tenets of the faith. These new beliefs were supposedly based on the truth of Christ's teachings as presented to his followers. Consequently, there was a great need to explain the true writings that presented the truth of Christ. The need for clarifications of these truths was necessary because of the fact that heretical parties involved would constantly present texts and teach them as being the writings of the Apostles. This process should include clarification of key events and movements that impacted the acknowledgment of the canonical books.
Orthodoxy and Canon:
Canon is a term that is generally used to refer to the identity of a group of people through differentiating a line around a group of texts that are associated with the beliefs and values of these individuals. Canon basically plays a crucial role in the social, political, and economic roles mainly because of its ideological function. In essence, canon defines the identity of the believing community and the ownership claims of the standardized texts by this community. On the contrary, orthodoxy refers to the accurate, traditional or currently accepted religious beliefs. Throughout the history of the church, several events have occurred and caused the need for orthodoxy of Christians' belief system such as Constantine consolidation of power.
While canonized texts are considered as valuable, canon restricts the reader's possession of and power over the standardized texts
. This implies that the reader does not have the freedom to read the text in any manner that he/she chooses but is bound or limited to the canonical inter-text. Since the early church, the canon of the scriptures is desirable partly as a technique for claiming ownership of the biblical texts. These canonized texts provide the basis for identifying the Christian community and differentiating them from others.
Canonization is not only an issue of reality but also value since it is used to create a meaningful world through choosing some texts and rejecting others. Therefore, canons do not generate communities but communities develop canons for identity and to govern their beliefs and values. Notably, ideologies manifested in canonized texts do not appear in the individual text themselves but in ways through which these texts are put beside each other, juxtaposed with non-canonical texts, and embedded in the interpretive practice of the believing community. The understanding and interpretation of canonized texts and canonical books are considered as acts of choice or free-will.
From a biblical perspective, the ancient criteria for canonization of texts or inclusion of books were usually conservative and even reactionary. In essence, this process was never innovative, particularly in books on apostolicity and orthodoxy. The identity function of these texts or books as used by the early church included text with catholic or universal status. As a result, the books and texts were not understood to be exclusively addressed to restricted communities or interests but were important truths to all readers. Therefore, the canon universalizes the texts and the reading community through which the Church is authorized as God's chosen people.
Major Events and Movements in Recognition of Canonical Books:
Even though the Bible is arguably the most popular book in the history of mankind, it canon was not determined easily. Actually, historical concerns on issues related to the genesis of Old Testament and New Testament canon are extremely complex
. The determination and recognition of the canon of the Bible was a relatively difficult process because questions surrounding the origin of the Bible. Recognition of the canon of the Bible was also affected by the fact that the apostles were operating with the conventional verbal means of transferring the rule of faith before the completion of assemblage of New Testament by the early church. During this period, the apostles also functioned in the method of writing single letters to churches. Despite being the most popular book in human history, the Bible has been surrounded by several questions and concerns by believers and skeptics on why and how there are only 66 books assembled in it
The need for recognition of the canon of the Bible was influenced by several incidents including the fact that many people started writing about religious practices and experiences in the initial...
Furthermore, he believed any attempt to level out these differences are authoritative for Christian thought (Bright and Kelsey 1967). Along with that, it is clear that he believed that the differences are very difficult to figure out, which may explain why his thesis was unclear. We shall never hear the Old Testament's word rightly unless we are willing to hear it all. That is to say, we must hear it
These figures add an important historical dimension to the Bible. Also in the Hebrew Bible are collections of romantic poetry calls psalms. The psalms and also the proverbs round out the collection of Biblical literature that is included within the Jewish canon. All the books of the Hebrew Bible are thousands of years old, and were not authored or compiled all at once. The Bible has many different authors writing
The books the researcher would first and foremost include the following books which currently constitute the Old and New Testament of the Bible: Old Testament Pentateuch - 5 books Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy Historical Books - 12 books Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First Samuel, Second Samuel, First Kings, Second Kings, First Chronicles, Second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Poetical - 5 books Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon Prophetical - 17 books Major Prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations,
Orthodoxy and the Canon In order to most effectively examine the pivotal events and movements that took place which influenced the foundation of orthodox Christianity and the formation of its canon, one must first understand the zeitgeist that was prevalent during the first five centuries of the Anno Domini time period in which these events occurred. Christianity had largely spawned as an upstart religion that emerged within the larger context
Introduction While modern biblical researchers such as Bart Ehrman have contended that textual reliability of the New Testament is absent under close historical analysis,[footnoteRef:2] other scholars such as Michael Kruger have resisted the argument and shown that the New Testament contains textual integrity and reliability from start to finish.[footnoteRef:3] This paper argues that those who doubt the textual reliability of the New Testament are doing so from the standpoint of conjecture
Bible To many people The Bible is the word of God and its status as the word of God means that it is infallible and its origins should not be questioned. However, such an approach to the Bible ignores facts that are known about its history and how it is written. A better, more informed approach examines the history of the Bible, when it was written, how it was written,
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