Canonical Lists (Introduction)
I might informally define attestation as answering the question of which later authors knew which earlier texts. Canonical lists can be useful in that they generally name each text explicitly; we do not have to rely on faint allusions or unclear paraphrases. They are also useful in that they are designed to be exhaustive; if a particular text does not make the list, then the list compiler probably did not regard it as authoritative. In many such cases we can even tell why the text in question was not regarded as authoritative; frequently it comes down to considering the text pseudonymous, or written by someone other than the alleged author.
What I propose to do in upcoming posts is to present a number of canonical lists, both in the original language and in English translation, and then comment on the points of interest in each list. Several of these lists have not yet, to my knowledge, been published on the internet in their original language. I may take the time as this series goes on to include a digression or two on related topics as they pop up.
While I will not refrain from drawing certain conclusions as the series progresses, my main intent is to present these lists (and certain related passages from other texts) in their original languages, conveniently, in a series of easily consulted weblog posts. I hope you enjoy it.
Nor am I entirely certain how long the series will last; suffice it to say that I have at least ten different canonical lists in mind so far, and I plan to present about one list per post.
My sincere thanks to Chris Weimer for the invitation to join Thoughts on Antiquity as a team blogger.
[…] Posted in blogs and blogging at 2:52 pm by Chris Weimer Ben C. Smith, author of TextExcavation., is also joining Thoughts on Antiquity. He makes his first post planning out a series of Canonical Lists. […]
August 16th, 2006 at 2:52 pmThe evolution of the canon of the NT isn’t really my thing either. I did once attempt to determine how precisely the canon that we now have came to be general, and which general council voted that it should be so; and the answer seemed to be “none.” I suspect that all the real evidence is missing. Nevertheless any formal canons (and what they were issued for) would be interesting.
I suppose the other thing to consider is that, even now, the canon of the OT isn’t agreed between Protestants and Catholics, at least in theory, because of the apocrypha. But I never heard of that being a substantive doctrinal difference between the two. Perhaps that should inform our thoughts on the period in the 4th century when things were not entirely harmonised?
August 16th, 2006 at 3:47 pm[…] Posted in early christianity at 12:59 pm by Ben C. Smith I probably should have mentioned in the introduction to this series that the canonical lists I intend to post are New Testament only. That said, let us dive right in with the canon of scripture as Marcion would have it. […]
August 25th, 2006 at 12:59 pm[…] Posted in miscellaneous news at 10:03 am by Ben C. Smith This is part 2 (not counting the introduction) in a series on ancient Christian canonical lists. Part 1 was on the Marcionite canon. My humble thanks to Stephen Carlson for including that post in Biblical Studies Carnival IX, hosted on his weblog. […]
September 10th, 2006 at 10:03 am[…] Posted in early christianity, miscellaneous news at 6:16 pm by Ben C. Smith Well, I tried to keep this post brief, but to no avail. I have therefore decided to divide this third installment into two sections. This will be part 3a (not counting the introduction) in my series on ancient Christian canonical lists. Part 1 was on the Marcionite canon. Part 2 was on the Muratorian canon. […]
September 24th, 2006 at 6:16 pm[…] Lists: Over on Thoughts on Antiquity, Ben C. Smith has a series of useful posts on early Christian canonical lists, including an introduction regarding the importance of these lists of early Christian works and discussions of the Marcionite canon, the Muratorian canon, and Origen’s discussion of what that church father considers valuable Christian writings. […]
October 1st, 2006 at 2:54 pm[…] Posted in early christianity, miscellaneous news at 9:51 pm by Ben C. Smith This post is part 4a of my series on ancient canonical lists, and was longer in the making than I had anticipated. Job and family matters have unfortunately been pressing on my blogging time. […]
November 14th, 2006 at 9:51 pm[…] Posted in early christianity, nt canon at 10:20 pm by Ben C. Smith This post is part 5 of my series on ancient canonical lists. […]
March 10th, 2007 at 10:20 pmDo you have any background information on the Cheltenham Canon? I. E. how did a fourth century list originating in North Africa come to tenth century England? Does Mommsen comment on that?
March 16th, 2007 at 4:33 pmYou might want to offer the comment here, too, where the main post for the Cheltenham Canon is placed.
March 16th, 2007 at 5:22 pm[…] This post is part 6 of my series on ancient canonical lists. […]
May 9th, 2007 at 9:27 am[…] This post is part 7 of my series on ancient canonical lists. […]
June 23rd, 2007 at 10:30 am[…] This post is part 8 of my series on ancient canonical lists. […]
July 18th, 2007 at 12:05 pm[…] Ben C. Smith of Thoughts on Antiquity continues his look at ancient canonical lists: “Canonical Lists, Part 8: The Canon of Athanasius.” You can read the introduction here. […]
July 19th, 2007 at 1:20 am[…] This post is part 8 of my series on ancient canonical lists. […]
August 10th, 2007 at 1:23 pm[…] post is part 10 of my series on ancient canonical lists.Canons 59-60 of the Laodicean synod (year […]
October 2nd, 2007 at 8:42 am[…] This post is part 11 of my series on ancient canonical lists. […]
June 16th, 2008 at 6:40 pm[…] lists that various ante-Nicene Christian groups. Ben C. Smith, at Thoughts on Antiquity has a great series on canonical lists, which I recommend reading though. In order to find the other posts in the series, scroll […]
June 17th, 2008 at 1:24 pm[…] post is part 12 of my series on ancient canonical lists.Codex Claromontanus, whose siglon in the standard critical texts of the New Testament is the letter […]
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:24 pm[…] post is part 13 of my series on ancient canonical lists. It is also the last part that I intend to post, with the exception of a brief conclusion to the […]
January 20th, 2009 at 10:31 am[…] this post I intend to do only two things. First, here is an index to all the posts in this series: Introduction. Marcionite canon. Muratorian canon. Origenic canon, part 1. Origenic canon, part 2. Eusebian […]
March 17th, 2009 at 9:38 am