OT Bruce: when the Xian Church broke loose from Judaism, she did not at the same time

break loose from the Jewish Scriptures Jesus= Jews carried out ministry among Jewish people OT always at heart of Xian faith J regarded himself as fulfilment of OT prophecy Lk: Jesus opens his ministry in the synagogue in Nazareth by reading from Isaiah & stating he has fulfilled the scripture- Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Pauline Epistles Letters of Paul: some of very earliest specifically Xian writings Ministry of Paul= mostly oral but on some occasions it made sense to put things in writing e.g. Paul visiting Ephesus & heard of problem in Church in Corinth he dispatched a letter (1 Cor) in hope of sorting it out as quickly as possible Bruce: by the sixties of the first century, then, there were several letters from Paulin the possession of various churches and individuals Letters considered to be authoritative because Paul= apostle commissioned in his work by the risen Lord 2 Peter puts the letters of Paul on a par w/ other scriptures (OT) These documents= scattered around various churches not thought of as a canon of scripture towards end of C1st evidence at least some being gathered together to form a corpus Paulinum 95AD: Clement of Rome writes to Church in Corinth & seems to be familiar w/ no. of Pauls letters Bruce: by this time Churches in general seem to have copies of at least 10 of Pauls letters Gospels Late C1st 4 Gospels became est. as the only authoritative accounts of life/ministry of J Early C2nd: letters to church at Smyrna- Igantius combats Judaizers by referring to the Gospel as being of equal authority to the Prophets Mid/late C2nd: Irenaeus compares the 4 gospels to the 4 winds/4 corners of the earth can be no fewer/more only these 4 have authority emphasises in light of Gnostic gospels circulating at the time. Also 1st to use phrase New testament evidence of fixing a canon of scripture underway Bruce: from the second century onwards we find the Catholic Church using all 4 of these gospels and no other Towards a fixed Canon 1st draft canon= Marcion Gospel & Apostle- contained Gospel of Lk & letters of Paul all heavily edited Bruce: the compilation of this canon was a challenge and incentive to the church of Romelet them shows what the true one really was Harnack: credits Marcion w/ being the originator of the Catholic canon// Kelly: this is an extravagant point of view- the Church was already well on the way 150AD: Justin describes Xian worship in Apologia 1- readings from the Gospels took place in the weekly service HOWEVER Marcion forced Church to close its canon Kelly: emergence of Montanism added more urgency claimed their prophetic utterances added to the scriptures Muratorian Canon (170AD)

 A list of NT books- probably represents the canon accepted at Rome towards end of C2nd 4 Gospels/Acts/13 Pauline Epistles/Jude/2 Epistles of John/Revelation & also Shepherd of Hermas for eg MISSING= Hebrews/1&2 Peter/James Bruce: reaction to Marcions canon BUT creation of final/fixed canon= gradual process Books on the Fringe Kelly: certain books which hovered for a long time on the fringe Certain churches had slightly different canonical lists for some considerable time Irenaeus- refers to Shepherd of Hermas as scripture but doesnt add it to his list of apostolic writings Origen- almost same list of books as Irenaeus but that Shepherd of Hermas/Didache= disputed by some Finally 367AD- Athanasius of Alexandria lists the 27 books as we find them today on his Easter Letter Kelly: but the process was not everywhere complete until at least a century and a half later Criterion for Entry Kelly: unless a book could be shown to come from the pen of an apostle, or at least have the authority of an apostle behind it, it was peremptorily rejected Many of books on the fringes probably finally rejected because they failed to meet this criterion Bruce: Church leaders may have sacrificed some of fringe texts during Great persecution- 1st edict (303AD) demanded Xian Scriptures be confiscated Roman authorities wouldnt have known whether books handed over were genuine sacred texts by handing over non-apostolic texts Church may have been able to keep their scriptures no evidence