Religion and Theology

The Biblical Canon Its Origin, Transmission, and Authority is the third edition of Lee Martin McDonalds The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon which was first published in 1988. Despite the change of its title, the book still focuses on the origins and canonical progress of the Christian Bible.  This review will focus on the ability of the author to support his arguments. This review will also evaluate the entire book through its strengths and weaknesses.  

Divided into three sections, the book is made with more recent bibliography and addresses contemporary issues. The first part of the book focuses on the basic and relevant questions about the scripture and canonical development. The second part discusses these basic questions in relation with the Old Testament while the last part answers the basic question in accordance with the New Testament. Some of McDonalds opinions have changed but the main conclusion of the book still remains true and parallel with the previous two editions.

On pages 1-12, some basic questions about how the Bible become the Bible that we know is introduced. Among these questions are How was this literature produced How and why did it become part of the authoritative collection of sacred texts McDonald has also included some questions that are rarely tackled in canonical studies. Among these questions are which parts of the bible are more related or that represents earliest Christian faith, and what are the appropriate canonical text for current Christian worship and studies. With this style of writing which frames his study through dealing with these questions, McDonald is able to set a rigorous academic study of the Biblical canon.

McDonald defines the terms canon and scriptures and outlines their origins in chapters two and three. Using past studies, McDonald argues that a single writing was to be considered as a scripture if it was acknowledged by a religious community to be divinely inspired and authoritative. With regards to this, any particular writing is considered as scripture first before the emergence of any collection of Scripture. Indeed, McDonald is able to show the wide variation of early Christian communities with respect to which books were considered as scriptures and not. McDonald also argues that the Christian canon (both Old and New Testaments) was not considered closed until the fourth and sixth century A.D. Moreover, by simply citing of scriptural books in the early church does not prove their scriptural status.

The discussion of McDonald about the origins of the idea of a canon in Christianity and early Judaism is the most innovative part of the book. According to him, the Greco-Roman context shows the best setting for the ancient Jewish and Christian turn to canonization.

One of McDonalds utmost strength showed in the book is his capability to frame the key questions in the modern study of canon. The book also includes a fairly inclusive compilation of translated primary sources. Among these collections is An Outline of Canon Research Primary Sources and Questions. which is considered to be one of the helpful summary aspects of the book.

However, the book still commits some deficiencies. McDonald was not able to update some sections and thus it reflects the state of scholarship at the time of the earlier editions. For example, his discussion of the possible evidence for the tripartite canon on pages 90-93 contains no reference to updated scholarship.

Nevertheless, despite some deficiencies, this book is still commendable for its undeniably triumphant framing of questions that the biblical scholars and students should continue to contemplate.