How is the bible the bible?

[Stephanos Nikopolis]

Dear Brothers,

Please forgive if this question has been asked before.

Can anyone recommend a scholarly book or article, or even a webpage, written (in English, French, Italian, or Greek) by a trustworthy scholar/cleric, preferably Orthodox, explaining how the Bible came to be the Bible, especially the New Testament?

I would expect it to focus on the Fathers of the Third and especially Fourth Centuries, though not only.

Thank you in advance.

Humbly,

Stephanos

[Father David Moser]

Dear Brothers,

Please forgive if this question has been asked before.

Can anyone recommend a scholarly book or article, or even a webpage, written (in English, French, Italian, or Greek) by a trustworthy scholar/cleric, preferably Orthodox, explaining how the Bible came to be the Bible, especially the New Testament?


Would this webpage (http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/bible_intro_e.htm) be of help?

Fr David Moser

[Stephanos Nikopolis]

Would this webpage (http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/bible_intro_e.htm) be of help?

Fr David Moser

Dear Fr Moser,

Yes, this helps, thank you, for the most part confirming what most of us, I presume, generally know.

" ... The earliest known list of books which apparently were regarded as "scripture" in the Church's history comes from about A.D. 130 and is known as the Muratorian Canon ... It is not until A.D. 369, with St. Athanasius's "Festal Epistle" for that year, that we can find a "table of contents" for the New Testament which corresponds exactly to that which we now accept ... "

I would be looking for some scholarly, but trustworthy (for where is the scholar?) detail especially for the time interval mentioned above. [I would expect it to focus on the Fathers of the Third and especially Fourth Centuries, though not only.]

[Michael Stickles]

Here is a set of links I posted in another thread that might be of some use:


As for the canon of Scripture, there are numerous online resources from multiple points of view. There are links to various pages at Bible Research (http://www.bible-researcher.com/canon.html), various articles like "The Emergence of the New Testament Canon (http://www.orthodox.net/faq/canon.htm)" at orthodox.net, "Holy Scripture in the Orthodox Church (http://www.serfes.org/orthodox/scripturesinthechurch.htm)" on Fr Demetrios Serfes' website, "The Canon of the New Testament (http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_canon_nicole.html)" at BiblicalStudies.org.uk, and "Do Not Add to His Words: Thoughts on the New Testament Canon (http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/ntcanon.aspx)" at orthodoxinfo.com. Nicene Truth (http://www.nicenetruth.com/home/book_review/index.html) also has a page with various articles on this topic. And that's just a very small sampling.

The links didn't show up well in the quotation at first, so I made the link texts bold so they'd be easier to see.

In Christ,
Mike

[Stephanos Nikopolis]

The links didn't show up well in the quotation at first, so I made the link texts bold so they'd be easier to see.

In Christ,
Mike

Thank you, Mike, the highlighting is indeed very helpful. I'm sure they will keep me busy for a while. Hopefully some of the articles will have notes for their sources in case I want to delve further.

Blessings