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Canons (the scriptural variety)

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tariki On September 16, 2012

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#1New Post! Sep 16, 2012 @ 08:23:28
There has been a little bit of discussion regarding the "official" Canon of the Christian scriptures.

For those interested, and basically presenting a cut and paste job.......

Eastern canons

The eastern churches had, in general, a weaker feeling than those in the west for the necessity of making a sharp delineation with regard to the canon. It was more conscious of the gradation of spiritual quality among the books that it accepted (e.g. the classification of Eusebius, see also Antilegomena) and was less often disposed to assert that the books which it rejected possessed no spiritual quality at all. For example, the Trullan Synod of 691-692, which was rejected by Pope Constantine (see also Pentarchy), endorsed the following lists of canonical writings: the Apostolic Canons (c. 385), the Synod of Laodicea (c. 363), the Third Synod of Carthage (c. 397), and the 39th Festal Letter of Athanasius (367). And yet, these lists do not agree. Similarly, the New Testament canons of the national churches of Syria, Armenia, Georgia, Egypt (The Coptic Church), and Ethiopia all have minor differences. The Revelation of John is one of the most uncertain books; it was not translated into Georgian until the 10th century, and it has never been included in the official lectionary of the Greek Church, whether Byzantine or modern.

Canons of various Christian traditions

Full dogmatic articulations of the canons were not made until the Council of Trent of 1546 for Roman Catholicism, the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563 for the Church of England, the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647 for Calvinism, and the Synod of Jerusalem of 1672 for the Greek Orthodox. Other traditions, while also having closed canons, may not be able to point to the exact years in which their respective canons were considered to be complete. The following tables reflect the current state of various Christian canons.

Basically, we have the Western Tradition, divided into the Protestant and the Catholic Canons. Then we have the Eastern Orthodox Traditions, divided into the Greek, Slavonic and Georgian. Then the Oriental Orthodox Traditions, divided into the Armenian Apostolic, Syriac Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox. Finally the Assyrian Eastern Tradition.

A full break-down of the exact Canon of each of these Traditions can be found on Wiki. They all vary.

I would only add that while it is a fact that there is wide agreement in the Western Tradition with respect to most of the books, it can by no means be claimed that there is just ONE Bible.

It needs to be said - at least, I need to say it.... - that the actual "word" of God is the Living Word, which is beyond any text, and can never be reduced to a text. For me, a true spiritual reading of the text as we have it in the Western Tradition actually points to this in various ways. The words found in it seek to point beyond themselves to a Living Word that can never be confined by any one Creed or formulation of "truth".

(Those who would argue that the word of God is one with the Living Word must obviously first settle the vital question of which written word.)
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