1D Flashcards
(18 cards)
What is the Canon?
The ‘canon’ is an official standardised list of scripture established by the early church
How was the OT canon established ?
1) People of Israel retold stories by oral tradition
2) Widely known this continued until Jewish exile to Babylon in the 6th century BCE
3) The stories were written in Hebrew on clay tablets and later on scrolls
4) These Hebrew scriptures (now Tanakh) existed as collection of Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim
5) When Alexander the great conquered Greek became most common language- so in 3rd century scriptures were translated from Hebrew to Greek- Greek translation= septuagint (latin for 70)
6) RCC OT canon contains 46 books
7) Protestants reject these extra books so Protestant OT contains 39 books- call these extra books ‘apocrypha’ (hidden)
to be considered Canonical in the OT what does it have to be?
To be considered canonical the books need to have:
survived,
support the law given to Moses,
support Jewish faith and practices
What does Luther suggest about the apocrypha in the OT
Luther raised doubts about the Apocrypha being included- viewed Maccabees 12 as giving support to doctrine of purgatory-
undermined justification by faith LINK- apocrypha placed in separate section
How was the NT canon established ?
1) NT Canon contains 27 books (there’s no disagreement)
2) The books were written before 120 CE- however no canonised until end of the 4th century
3) Xtian messages were passed orally through teachings of the apostles
4) Earliest texts written were by Paul between 50-62 CE
5) Acts of the apostles (Luke)- 80-90 CE
6) Gospels 70-100 CE
7) Other letters such as book of revelation
8) By the end of the 2nd century CE there were many collections- most of these contained the 4 gospels and Paul’s letters
9) Many churches in Syria in the 2nd century CE used a harmonisation of the 4 Gospels- this was called the ‘diatessaron’
to be considered Canonical in the NT what does it have to be?
-Supported christian faith and practice
-Written by an apostles of an associate of apostles
-Had to reconcile with OT scriptures
-Conform to christian faith- life death resurrection of Jesus
What does Marcion suggest about the NT canon
church leader Marcion created scriptures and wanted to remove all references to Judaism from his version and he believed the God of Jesus was different form God of hebrew bible- apostolic fathers rejected this
What is the world used for ‘God breathed’ in the NT
‘theopneustos’
What bible quote supports the bible as being God breathed
2 Timothy 3
‘all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching’
define objective and subjective views of the bible
Objective- Bible itself is the inspired word of God
Subjective- the writers of the bible are inspired- so the bible is inspired
what does Athenagorus say about an objective view of the bible
described God as using the prophets ‘as a flautist might blow into a flute’ - it is a divine dictation
what does Origen say about an objective view of the bible
Origen believed that the authors of the bible were fully conscious and were able to express their own views
What does Barth say about a subjective view of the bible
Barth suggested that Jesus and not the Bible is the ‘word of God’- saw the bible as a testimony to Jesus which can be transformed to God’s word through the readers experience
Explain fundamentalism
Funamentalists asserted scientific advancements wouldn’t be at the cost of key Christian doctrines eg the creation of the world in 7 24 hour days
At the heart of fundamentalism was an objective view of revelation- God gave the word of the bible to human writers so there would be no error/falsehood
The logic behind this is that God isn’t associated with error, God has inspired the bible, so there’s no error in the bible
Give a quote that Calvin says to support accommodation
‘God is above and beyond our language’
explain Calvin’s accommodation
Is there a gap between God’s reality and our own, so God is accommodating to speak to humans
Transcendent God chooses to lower himself to become intelligible to our experience
What analogy does Calvin use to support accommodation
Uses the analogy of a nurse making ‘baby talk’ to a young toddler- nurse chooses to communicate in a way that encourages interaction
What is a bible passage that supports Calvin’s accommodation
Genesis 1 makes reference to moon as ‘greater light’ but other planets such as Saturn as brighter
author is not in error but instead adapting truth for common language
