PLEASE NOTE (N.B.?):
Your final exam study guide includes questions on the canon, on persecution, and on heresy. Eusebius deals with these subjects (particularly the latter two) throughout his Church History, not just in one or two chapters. As you do your readings, be sure to include in your journals any information that will help you do a better job preparing for the above questions. GENERALIZATION:One task facing the early church was to decide what writings would and would not be accepted as authoritative scripture, "canonical." Many have argued that they made a mistake or two in their decisions, but, for the most part, it would be hard to improve on their choices. Comment.
POTENTIAL ID'S:
CANON, TENACH, ECCLESIASTICUS, TOBIT, JUDITH, DEUTEROCANONICALS, APOCRYPHA, PSEUDEPIGRAPHA, ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA, GOSPEL OF THOMAS
I. Introduction: The
II. How the church did not decide on the canon
A. Church councils
1. Ecumenical council of Nicaea (325 A.D.)
2. Council of Hippo (380 A.D.)
B. Scholarly disagreement/misconceptions on canon
III. The Old Testament Canon
A. Jewish disagreements over canon
B. Decision at Jamnia (90 A.D.)
The Tenach:
Torah
Neviim
Kituvim
C. Christians and the Tenach
D. Other Jewish books perhaps worth adding (Apocrypha)
Wisdom of Solomon
Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
Tobit
Judith
Baruch
I/II Maccabees
I/II Esdras (sometimes called III and IV Esdras)
I Enoch
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
E. Value of many of the above
F. Consensus decision of church: three-fold division
A. Tenach
B. Apocrypha
A. Deuterocanonicals
B. Pseudepigrapha
IV. New Testament Canon
A. Eusebius' division
1. Acknowledged books
Four Gospels
Acts
Paul's letters
I John
I Peter
Revelation
2. Disputed books
James
II Peter
II and III John
Jude
3. Spurious books
Acts of Paul and Thecla
Shepherd of Hermas
Barnabas
Didache (Teaching of Twelve in your translation)
Apocalypse of Peter
Revelation
4. Really spurious books
Gospels of Peter, Thomas, Matthias, etc.
Acts of Andrew, John, etc.
B. Eventual decision of the church
1. Authoritative books
2. Useful books
3. Rejected books
V. A point to remember: two separate, but related issues:
the authority of scriptural books/ uniformity of
canon
In the case of most (all?) Biblical books, the "authority" issue
was decided long before the council of Hippo. The books were considered
authoritative
when they were written because they came for authoritative
figures.