CANON

When one keeps in mind the varied and chequered history of the writing of the various books of the early Christian movement; how the individual books were addressed each to a different community at different stages, one needs to ask how it happened that the 27 books that came to comprise the New Testament were collected into an authoritative collection of Scripture: what is meant by calling them the ‘canon’ of the New Testament?

The term canon

The word canon is derived from the Greek word kanoon which, in turn, is derived from the Hebrew word kaneh meaning ‘reed, corn-stalk’ but also in the further sense of ‘measuring reed’, ‘measuring rod’, ‘measuring stick’. It is from this basic meaning that the Church developed the meaning of ‘rule’ and ‘list’ for the word canon. Thus one finds in the early Church that the word canon is also used for ‘rule/canon of truth’, ‘rule/canon of faith’ and ‘rule/canon of the church’. With these terms the early Church gave expression to, and summarised, the doctrinal truth and faith that were taught by the Church. Later the same term canon was also transferred to the writings accepted as authoritative and normative by the Church in which it believed this normative faith to be contained and propounded. From this point, the term was also transferred to the authoritative list of accepted writings in the meaning of ‘list’, hence ‘canon of Scriptures’ or ‘canonical writings’.

Early Christian apocrypha

Although the process of canonisation of Scripture was far advanced by the end of the third century to the middle of the fourth century CE, it was by no means a straightforward and simple process. Some of the writings currently incorporated into the New Testament remained questionable as to their canonical status up to the fourth century and beyond (e g the general epistles and the Letter to the Hebrews as well as the Apocalypse of John). In some circles those that were excluded from the canon were at times considered authoritative (e g the Gospel of Peter, the Apocalypse of Peter and the Shepherd of Hernias).