RCIA Oct 8, 2020

Right of Christian Initiation for Adults

Intro into the – Continued

Canonicity of the Bible

How did the church come up with the order of the Bible?

What is the Canon?

Derived from the Greek and Hebrew words for a reed or a cane hence it denoted something straight or to be measured with.

The word canon came to be applied to scripture to denote the authoritative rule of faith and practice, the standard of doctrine and duty.

How did the come up with the current canon of the bible? St. Jerome committed himself to translating scripture

The catholic church finished their canon before the Jewish faith

What is Scripture = the word of God - Inspired by god and committed once and for all to writing, they impart the word of god himself without change and make the voice of the holy spirit resound in the words of the prophets and apostles.

The church divided all the writings into 4 categories – terms not used until the 16th century

1. Protocanonical – is a conventional word denoting those sacred writings which have been always received by Christendom without dispute. 59 books. Books of the correspond with those of the Bible of the Hebrews, and the old testament received by Protestants. 2. Deuterocanonical – Second – Are the scriptural character that have been contested through out history but had long ago gained a secure footing in the Catholic Church. 14 Books. 7 Old Testament, Wisdom , Tobit, Judith, Baruch, 1st and 2nd Maccabees. 7 , Hebrews, James, Jude, 2nd Peter, 2nd and 3rd John, Revelation. 3. – Greek Meeting Hidden things. Writings similar to the Bible but not judged to possess canonical authority. St Jerome refer to them as “muddy water vs. clear spring”. There are no articles of faith founded in these type of writings 4. Pseudepigraphical – the false writings. Refers technically to texts with a false attribution of authorship though the collection has come to include several anonymous texts as well. Generally, the collection contains at a minimum pseudonymous Jewish extrabiblical writings from about 200BCE to 200CE.

How did we get the bible? The church - she wrote it

01 Christ giving the teachings (30-33)

02 Passing on the teachings orally (33-53)

03 Finally they begin to write it down (53-150)

The church organized it… Over many years and Councils. Though most of the books of the bible were being used by the earliest Christians there was no canon by any other religion to refer to.

The council of Hippo in the year 150 created a list of the books of the canon.

Year 393 the list is officially proclaimed

1517 Protestant reformation - need to define the cannon.

• Martin Luther, John Calvin, 1648 Westminster Confessions

1545 solidifies the Canon.

1563 Church declares the Canon official

The Church -She commissioned it.

• The earliest list, the canonwe have today first appeared in 150 • This same list was finalized at the Council of Hippo in 393 • It remains unchallenged unit 1517

The church did not all at once have a set canon. Earliest list we have comes from around 150., First council to recognize the canon we know today was most likely the of Hippo in 393. Council of Trent 1546 issued formal decree “De Canonicis Scripturis”.