Corpus-Paul

[George Goolde <goolde AT mtnempire.net>]

Thanks Chris and Sheila and others of you who responded to my not so clear
statement about the canon.  I agree heartily  with some of your responses -
I'm sorry I did not make that clear in my postings.

1.      I believe we are the discoverers of canon, not the establishers of 
canon.

2.      I understand that there IS a canon, established by God, which
constitutes the Word of God, as to its  quality theopneustos in the
autographs.  It is clear that not all scholars agree with what the canon      
  IS.

3.      I agree that the contents of a writing should be examined to determine
whether or not they contradict  other teachings of Scripture.

4.      When I referred to my understanding of the canon, I did not mean to
suggest that I established it, but      only that I recognized it - and yes, I
do hold to the "traditional" 66 books as being canonical.

5.      I don't think that I - or any scholar - ought to discard a writing
because we do not like what it says.    That is what I tried to communicate
when I said I  recognize canonicity before I do exegesis.  Once I
understand that the PE are canonical, and  it may be that I have taken this
by faith, then I accept         what they say - that Paul is the author.

6.      I do employ a literal, historical, grammatical i.e. "normal"
hermeneutic, which IMHO does not allow for      pseudapigraphy.  I think Paul
means Paul, not a disciple of Paul, with or without intent to deceive.

7.      The bottom line for me is that I recognize 27 canonical books in the 
NT.
 When I open my Bible to study I        concentrate on what does the text say 
and
what should I do about it, rather than picking out pieces       with which I
struggle and finding someway to question their authenticity.  I already
"bought-in"  when I     accepted the 27 books as canonical.

I apologize for notstating my view more clearly.  I admit I was using my
own conclusions when I asked why someone would study a book if they did not
believe it to be canon.  I was basing this on my own conviction (see #7 
above.)

George

George A. Goolde
Professor, Bible & Theology
Southern California Bible College & Seminary


>---
>You are currently subscribed to corpus-paul as: goolde AT mtnempire.net
>To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>$subst('Email.Unsub')
>

George

George A. Goolde
Professor, Bible & Theology
Southern California Bible College & Seminary