| What does the word canon mean? | The word ‘canon’ is Greek for ‘measuring rod’ |
| What are the two different uses of the word canon? | Norm: the standard by which we judge something, or a standardised list |
| What is the Christian claim about the canon? | That the books comprised in the Old and new testament are canon |
| Why is this a striking claim? | because these books span a thousand years in time with a dozen of different writers writing in different languages |
| What is the way in which Christians determined which books compose the Bible called? | canonisation |
| How did they decide which books in the new testament were canonical? | to have been written by or have a strong connection
to an apostle, be recognised as helpful in Christian formation by churches and, affirm the central teaching in the resurrected Jesus as Lord and saviour. |
| What books were seen as key and important to all Christians? | The Hebrew scriptures, the letters of Paul and the four gospels |
| What is key about the Jewish canon? | It is comprised of much more than the old testament, in fact the Jewish do not regard the old testament as old but rather as God's revelation to Israel |
| How did Jews decide which books were canonical? | The book had to survive, we hear mention of the book of Jashar in Joshua 10:13 which we have no record of today and books must be seen as supporting the Torah |
| What three fold division are these books presented in? | The Law (Torah), the prophets, and a diverse set of writings (Kethuvim) |
| What is the Jewish Law? | the five books traditionally thought to be written by Moses |
| What does the prophets division include? | the former prophets and latter prophets, the 12 minor prophets and a |
| What acronym is used to refer to the Hebrew bible? | TNK |
| What does TNK stand for? | Torah, Nevi'im and Kethuvim |
| What do many scholars believe the three parts of the Jewish bible represent? | three successive stages in the formation of the Jewish canon |
| What happened to some of the writings only in Greek? | excluded from the Jewish canon remained in the version adopted by the early church |
| What does the term canon within the canon mean? | the idea that within the canon there are central ideas or themes that strongly influenced the basis on which the writings were chosen |
| Which of the church fathers rejected the added books from the Septuagint as canonical? | Jerome |
| Which of the church fathers accepted the added books from the Septuagint as canonical? | Augustine |
| What books are accepted in the Catholic version of the bible but excluded from the Jewish version? | Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch and additions to Daniel and Esther |
| What term do protestant use to refer to the added books in the catholic version of the bible? | Apocrypha |
| What does apocrypha mean? | "hidden" applied positively as these books were thought to contain hidden wisdom |
| Why did the word apocrypha soon start to mean heretical? | Luther saw 2 Maccabees 12:46 as supporting purgatory, which goes against his view of justification by faith |
| How was the new testament canon formed? | In the early days messages from the apostles and Jesus were delivered orally, then Paul wrote the letters to the churches which were seen as prized possessions and copied and circulated then came the writing of the four gospels |
| What did many churches in Syria use? | A diatessaron - a harmony of the four gospels |
| Which is the oldest new testament canon? | The Muratorian canon |
| How many of the books in the Muratorian canon are still in the latest version today? | 22 out of the 27 |
| What are some of the disagreements about the New testament? | A church leader named Marcion created a bible with only the Gospel of Luke and the letters of Paul which was rejected by the church fathers |
