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Issue 1, 2014

Volume 20, Number 1 · Three articles

Read the contents of this issue, or download the full edition as a PDF.

  1. The Canon of the New Testament F. F. Bruce
  2. The Formation of the New Testament Canon Bruce Metzger
  3. Canon: A Moving Target? G. Thomas Hobson

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In this issue

  1. Scripture

    The Canon of the New Testament

    How did the New Testament come to be a single collection of twenty-seven books, distinct from everything else early Christians read? F. F. Bruce examines what historical research can show about the canon's emergence, alongside the historic Christian belief that the Spirit who inspired the books also gathered them.

    F. F. Bruce12 min read

  2. Scripture

    The Formation of the New Testament Canon

    Metzger walks through the influences that quietly shaped the New Testament canon: which books circulated, which got read aloud in worship, which got cited as Scripture by the Fathers. The story is one of the most important developments in early Christian thought, and history is largely silent about it.

    Bruce Metzger8 min read

  3. Scripture

    Canon: A Moving Target?

    Bart Ehrman and Dan Brown have made the New Testament canon a contested question again, presenting it as a top-down decree imposed on the early church. Hobson goes back to the actual history and shows that councils didn't decide the canon; they recognized what had already become Scripture by use.

    G. Thomas Hobson15 min read
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