Everyone knows that no portion of Esther and Nehemiah were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls . . . until now.
canon
The Law of Moses: Does it Read Like Moses Wrote It?
[Note: In the last post I presumed this post would be about the New Testament; I'm putting that off just a bit. For the first two posts on this topic, see here and here.] In my last post concerning the authorship of the Pentateuch, I listed two observations that led...
"Scriptures" and "Canon"
That's the title of a short piece by Larry Hurtado on his blog today. It's certainly worth a read to catch his distinction.
Secret Mark Meeting Reports
There was recently a conference on "Secret Mark". The Evangelical Textual Criticism blog has provided play-by-play reports here, here, and here. Professor Larry Hurtado has also added a few notes of his own in regard to some of what took place and was said at the...
University of Chicago Analysis: Archaic Mark is a Forgery
Looks like Stephen Carlson was right.[Carlson has also charged that a text known as "Secret Mark" is a forgery - see here.] From this article: The Divinity School’s Margaret M. Mitchell, together with experts in micro-chemical analysis and medieval bookmaking, has...
The Gospel of Thomas: Is it Really Earlier than the Canonical Gospels?
Many scholars think so, especially those trotted out by the Discovery Channel, PBS, etc. A lot of scholars disagree, and for good reasons, but that isn't as media-sexy. Here's a good article on recent re-consideration of the "earliness" of Thomas. It's by Nick Perrin...
New Article on NT Canon
Check out this post over on Evangelical Textual Criticism. The post describes an article in the most recent JETS issue on the NT canon problem. Editor's note: link's content reproduced below,From Evangelical Textual Criticism: Chuck Hill in JETS, originally posted May...
Constantine and the Canon: The Law of Unintended Consequences
I had an interesting discussion a few days ago at work. I've been trying to get one of my co-workers (Vince Setterholm) to guest blog for me on the canon matter since he's done a lot of thinking about that. I think he'll end up contributing. In the meantime, one...
Clarification from John Hobbins on Canonicity
John is apparently following my re-posting (and that of Ros Clarke) of his canonicity discussions, and posted a clarification/answer to my question this morning on his own blog. He says: My wording, "establishing a direction of thought or action," was not meant to set...
John Hobbins’ Fourth Installment on the Canon
John Hobbins' fourth installment is about establishing coherent tests of canonicity. Too often the tests proposed by apologetics textbooks and other works commonly circulated in evangelicalism are simplistic and self-serving, designed to point readers (only) to the...
Hobbins on the Canon, Part 3: An Excerpt
I may post more from John Hobbins' third installment later. I'll keep it here to this one extended excerpt. I think you'll find what John is angling toward interesting: Sooner or later the pluriformity of the tradition that eventually came to be included in a variety...
Excerpts from Part 2 of John Hobbins’ Thoughts on the Canon
In John's second post, he talks about a "dual dynamic" when it comes to the canon. Here's a portion of what he says: On the one hand, the existence of an agreed upon nucleus of authoritative literature in various times and places is undeniable; on the other, the...
Time for More Trouble . . . Let’s Talk About Canonicity
I've decided (maybe against better judgment) that the Bellingham Statement ought to say something about canonicity (at least I think that now). To that end, let's jump in. I've been wanting to personally revisit John Hobbins' posts on the canon, and so that seems a...
Inspiration and Inerrancy: Distinguishing Ends and Means, Process and Product
In the last post, I focused on 2 Tim 3:17 for an answer to the question, "What was the point of the exercise of inspiration?" Paul gives us four purposes in this text, and it seems wise to me to approach the question from that perspective. I also noted that I have no...