What is the relevance of this book for canon studies? The biblical canon of the Old and New Testament was formed
over centuries. There were many Jewish “scriptures” or sacred writings of inviolable
authority as shown from the MSS from Qumran and the deuterocanonical literature
from Palestine and Alexandria. Even significant works such as the
Didache
or the
Shepherd of Hermas reveal the early impulse for Christian
literary output. Answers vary for how and why the churches settled on the same
core Jewish canon with variation at the edges (N.B. the differences between the
modern HB/OT Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox canons). Furthermore,
the answers differ over the formation of the twenty-seven-book NT canon. These
questions focus on the quantity and the quality of our evidence. Scholars have noted
the variegated nature of the evidence for the biblical canon. What do we learn
from MSS (e.g. Dead Sea Scrolls; Christian codices), citations of religious
literature (e.g. early Christian usage of the
Shepherd), ancient
translations (e.g. Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures), ancient notices
(e.g. “The Law and the Prophets”), and canon lists? Thus, a book on canon lists
will necessarily not tell the whole history of the canon, but we suggest that the
various, early lists provide the most specific information about the ancients’s
canon.
