Abstract
This small collection of papers was presented at a conference entitled ‘Power, Authority and Canon’ held at New College, University of Edinburgh, on May 6, 2015 and focuses largely on the biblical and theological hermeneutic that gave rise to the formation of the Hebrew Bible.
Lim’s opening chapter argues there is no list of criteria that fully accounts for the books that comprise the biblical canon. He prefers instead, using Wittgenstein’s family resemblances, to establish the canonical books that tell the story of Israel, but he acknowledges that other nonbiblical books often do the same. Oeming argues from the ‘Nondeviation Formula’ (NDF) in Deuteronomy–2 Kings 25, i.e., not turning to the right or left, as evidence of pre-canonization activity going on in ancient Israel even before 586 bce. His emphasis on an early canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures (HB) depends on the notion of canon as authority rather than as a fixed collection.
Collins highlights the dominance that Torah had in late second temple Judaism and rightly recognizes the difficulty in distinguishing books included in the biblical canon from those that were not (e.g., Temple Scroll, Rewritten Pentateuch, Jubilees). Satlow asks why the book of Daniel, with its failed prophecies, was included and concludes its inclusion was revived during the Roman occupation of Palestine. Barton contends that content and form are not distinctly canon formation issues and disagrees with Steinberg and Stone for trying to impose arbitrary distinctions, such as order and shape of books, in the biblical canon.
Evans adds an important feature of canon formation, namely, that Jesus made use of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of the Jewish Scriptures that led his early followers to set forth Christian faith and their Scriptures in Hebrew-Aramaic, Greek, and other venues. Moberly concludes the volume with a perceptive evaluation of Hal Tausig’s A New New Testament. He asks rightly why the Old Testament is strangely omitted from Tausig’s new ‘Bible’ and challenges his inclusion of writings excluded from the NT.
The above scholars are not uniform in their conclusions, but their questions examined in search of a hermeneutic for understanding the formation of the biblical canon are helpful and well informed. Their questions are not usually considered in canon inquiry or yet fully resolved fully here, but they clearly advance our understanding of several highly complex and important issues both for Judaism and the Church. This small volume will undoubtedly be cited often in future canon publications.