other Works by F. E Bruce THE BOOKS AND THE PARCHMENTS THE SPREADING FLAME TRADITION OLD AND NEW NEW’ TESTAMENT HISTORY PAUL: APOSTLE OF THE HEART SET FREE JESLJS AND CHRISTIAN ORIGINS OUTSIDE THE NEW TESTAMENT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT DOCUMENTS THE HARD SAYINGS OF JESUS ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS JESUS: LORD 8s SAVIOR SCR EEBRUCE hTERh'hRSITY PRESS DO~E~GROVE.IUINOlS60515 http://old-criticism.blogspot.com/ TO THE DEPARTMENTS OF HUMANITY AND GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN @1988F F Bruce FOUNDED 1497 Published in the United States of America b InterVarsity Press, Downers &we, Illinois, with AXED 1987 permission from Chapter House Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland WITH GRATITUDE FOR THE PAST AU rights resened No part of this kook may be reproduced in any form without u&ten permission from lnterVars@ Press, P.O. Bwr 14W, Downers Grove, U 60515. AND WITH HOPE InterVarsity Press is the book-publishing ditiion of InterVa&y Christian FeUowsbzp, a student OF THEIR EARLY AND VIGOROUS RESURRECTION motfement active on campus at hundreds of uniwrsi~ieq coUeges and schools of nursing. For in- formation about local and regional actim’tiq write Public Rekztiolls Dqt., InterVarsity Chstian Fellow&b, 6400 Schroeder Rd., I? 0. Bar 7895, Madison, WI 53707 7895. Dlsh-ibuted in Canaah through InterVarxity Prw 860 Denison St., Unit 3, Markham, Ontario L3R 4H1, Canada. The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the ReuFted Standard Version of tbe Bible, copvri@ed 1946, 1952, 1971 @the Ditiion of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A and used bypermission. All ngh& reserued Cowr iihcrhation: Jerry TiritiUi ISBN 0 8308 12588-X Printed in the United States of America 17 IO 15 I4 /.I I /I IO 0 x 7 0 5 4 I _I ‘)‘I ox ‘)7 ‘)O 05 04 0. I ‘)-’ ‘)I 00 so http://old-criticism.blogspot.com/ - CONTENTS Preface 9 Abbreviations 11 PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 15 1 HOLY SCRIPTURE 17 PART TWO: OLD TESTAMENT 25 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS 27 THE GREEK OLD TESTAMENT 43 THE OLD TESTAMENT BECOMES A NEW BOOK 55 THE CHRISTIAN CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT: A. IN THE EAST 68 6 THE CHRISTIAN CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT: B. IN THE LATIN WEST 83 7 BEFORE AND AFTER THE REFORMATION 98 PART THREE: NEW TESTAMENT 115 8 WRITINGS OF THE NEW ERA 117 9 MARCION 134 10 VALENTINUS AND HIS SCHOOL 145 11 THE CATHOLIC RESPONSE 150 http://old-criticism.blogspot.com/ 12 THE MURATORIAN FRAGMENT 158 13 IRENAEUS, HIPPOLYTUS, NOVATIAN 170 14 TERTULLIAN, CYPRIAN AND OTHERS 180 15 THE ALEXANDRIAN FATHERS 186 16 EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA 197 17 ATHANASIUS AND AFTER 208 18 THE WEST IN THE FOURTH CENTURY TO JEROME 216 19 AUGUSTINE TO THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES 230 20 THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON IN THE AGE OF PRINTING 241 PART FOUR: CONCLUSION 253 21 CRITERIA OF CANONICITY 255 22 A CANON WITHIN THE CANON? 270 PREFACE 23 CANON, CRITICISM AND INTERPRETATION 284 Appendix 1 THE ‘SECRET’ GOSPEL OF MARK 298 Appendix 2 PRIMARY SENSE AND PLENARY SENSE 316 When I taught in the University of Manchester I lectured in alternate Bibliography 335 years on the Text and Canon of the Old Testament and the Text and Index 339 Canon of the New Testament. My lectures on the text, I hope, served the needs of the students who listened to them, but they do not call for further publication. The subject-matter of my lectures on the canon, however, has continued to engage my attention, as regards both its historical aspect and its relevance today. It will be plain in what follows that I am more concerned about the New Testament canon than about the Old Testament canon. The collapse of the century-old consensus on the Old Testament canon- namely, that the process of canonization is indicated by the traditional threefold division of books in the Hebrew Bible-has been underlined in two important works of recent date: Roger Beckwith’s The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church andJohn Barton’s Oracles of God. Attacks have been made on the consensus on the New Testament canon-namely, that its main structure was substantially fixed by the end of the second century. It continues to stand, however, because it is supported by weighty evidence, as is shown in Bruce Metzger’s magnificent work on The Canon oftbe New Testament. When a consensus is attacked, it has to be carefully reassessed, and that is all to the good: rhere is no point in pretending that we know more than we do. With works like those mentioned now available, it may be asked, 9 http://old-criticism.blogspot.com/ _ ‘___.~ __“,,,___,“________ . .____,.___ _,_,____“_l_~_-__“,_.__-‘-..- ._... ~.“~~_~1_I_““_____I_----.~~-I.I”.-”----”.”--~----“.“X P REFACE what need is there for this book? Perhaps the author needs to get it out of his system, but it may justify its appearance as an attempt to communicate the present state of knowledge to a wider public. I am most grateful to the University of London for permission to reproduce my Ethel M. Wood Lecture (1974) as Appendix 1, and to the Eporth Review and its editor, the Revd John Stacey, for permission to reproduce my A. S. Peake Memorial Lecture (1976) as Appendix 2. My first introduction to this subject was effected through the original edition of The Text and Canon of the New Testament, by my revered teacher Alexander Souter, Regius Professor of Humanity in the University of Aberdeen. My indebtedness to him and to the Department over which he presided with high distinction, together with its sister Department ofGreek, is acknowledged in the dedication. F.F.B. ABBREVIATIONS GENERAL ANF The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Eerdmans) AV/KJV Authorized/King James Version (I6 11) BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands (Unizlersity) Library CSQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CHB Cambridge HiJtoty of the Bible, I-III (Cambridge, 1963-70) Cod(d). Codex (Codices) CSEL Corpus Scriptorurn Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna) I1B Dictionary ofthe Bible, I-IV, ed. W. Smith (London, ‘1893) IXB Dictionary of Christian Biography, I-IV, ed. W. Smith and H. Wace (London, 1877-87) EQ Ezjangelical Quarterly E.T. English translation FGNTK Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I-IX, ed. T. Zahn (Leipzig, 188 I- 1929) Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller (Berlin) EAejiastical History (Eusebius, !&omen) Haward Theological Re~ieu~ Journal of Bib&al Literature Jonmal of Bible and Religion jwrnal o~Thn,lo~zl-al Studie., Septuagint (pre-Chris< ian Greek version of OT) Martyn /,/Pale.rtim (Eusebius) manuscript(s) I 1 IO http://old-criticism.blogspot.com/ THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE ABBREVIATIONS MT Masoretic text (of Hebrew Bible) P= Rylands Library papyrus fragment of John 18 NCB New Century Bible P 72 Bodmer papyrus codex of 1 and 2 Peter and Jude NEB New English Bible (1961, 1970) P’5 Bodmer papyrus codex of Luke and John NIGTC New International Greek Testament Commentary P. Fouad 266 Cairo papyrus fragment ofDeut. 3 1-32 (LXX) NIV New International Version (1978) P. oxy. Oxyrhynchus Papyri NovT Sup Supplement(s) to Nouum Testamenturn P. Ryl. 458 Rylands Libary papyrus fragment of Deut. 23-28 (LXX) NPNF Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (Eerdmans) Q Qumran: a number preceding Q indicates the numbered n.s. new series cave in which the MS was found NT New Testament 4Qflorilegium Biblical anthology from Qumran Cave 4 NTS Nruj Testament Studies ~QLXX Lva Fragment of Leviticus (LXX) from Qumran Cave 4 OT Old Testament ~QLXX Lvb Another fragment of Leviticus (LXX) from Qumran Cave 4 PG Patmhgia Gvaeca (ed. J.-P. Migne) ~QLXX Num Fragment of Numbers (LXX) from Qumran Cave 4 PL Patrologia Latina (ed. J.-P. Migne) ~QLXX Ex Fragment of Exodus (LXX) from Qumran Cave 7 RSV Revised Standard Version (1952, 197 1) ~QLXX Ep Jer Fragment of Letter of Jeremiah from Qumran Cave 7 Stlvnf. Stromateis (Miscellanies), by Clement of Alexandria CD Book of the Covenant of Damascus (two main MSS in sup. Supplement(s) Cairo; some fragments from Qumran Cave 4) 9.1’. II& rwahuh = ‘under the word’ 8Ijev XII gr MS of Minor Prophets in Greek from Wadi Ijever TB Babylonian Talmud TDNT Tbeolo~ical Dictionary nfthe New Testament, I-X, ed. G. Kittel and G. Friedrich, E. T. by G. W. Bromiley (Eerdmans, 1964-76) TNTC Tyndale New Testament Commentaries TS Texts and Studies (Cambridge University Press) TU Texte und Untersuchuqen UCCF Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship VTSup Supplement(s) to Vrtns Testamentum ZNW Zeitschrift fiir die neutestamentkhe Wissensrbaft ZTK Zeitscbrift fi;r Tbenlogie und Kircbe MANUSCRIPTS A Codex Alexandrinus (in British Museum, London) Aleph Codex Sinaiticus (in British Museum, London) B Codex Vaticanus (in Vatican Library, Rome) Codex Bezae (in Cambridge University Library) $ Codex Claromontanus (in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris) G” Codex Boernerianus (in Sgchsische Landesbibliothek, Chester Bcarty papyrus codex of Gospels and Acts <Ihester Bcatty papyrus codex of Pauline epistles and Hebrews <Ilester Bcatry papyrus codcx of Revelation I.? http://old-criticism.blogspot.com/ PART ONE INTRODUCTION http://old-criticism.blogspot.com/ CHAPTER ONE HOLY SCRIPTURE THE WORD ‘CANON’ When we speak of the canon of scripture, the word ‘canon’ has a simple meaning. It means the list of books contained in scripture, the list of books recognized as worthy to be included in the sacred writings of a worshipping community. In a Christian context, we might define the word as ‘the list of the writings acknowledged by the Church as documents of the divine revelation.” In this sense the word appears to have been first used by Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, in a letter circulated in AD 367.’ The word ‘canon’ has come into our language (through Latin) from the Greek word kancn.