Corpus-Paul

[MillerJimE AT aol.com]

Dave Inglis writes:
<< A canon is simply a list of books, and our New Testament canon consists of
 27 books.  This particular canon evolved over several centuries, starting
 (it is generally thought) with a collection of books put together by
 Marcion in Rome around 130 AD.  >>

    Sorry to be picky, but a canon -- in reference to Scripture -- is not a 
list.  It is the contents mentioned in the list.  A canon is a measuring 
stick, a cane, a standard by which other things are measured.  The idea of a 
canon as merely a list is a modern one.  So the items in this list, the books 
of the New Testament, were the works recognized as church standards by that 
portion of the early church which survived its rivals, etc.  They are the 
ones, for instance, who decided that the Pastoral Epistles should be 
included, even though they don't seem quite genuine Pauline epistles.
    And Marcion represented one of the types of church which did not survive, 
though it seems to have had some revivals in history.  It is not a sure thing 
that he put together the first list of canonical texts for the church, but if 
he was, his canon was rejected for one which included an unbowlderized gospel 
of Luke, not to mention other texts early adopted over a wide geographic 
region.
Jim Miller