The Canon of the Early Church

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Updated:
09:03 pm, 7 Jul 2008

Primary Sources: Old Testament Canon

	Athanasius, Festal Letter 39.
	Augustine, On Christian Doctrine 2.13.
	Council of Hippo, Canon 36.
	Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 35.
	Epiphanius, Panarion 1.1.8; On Weights & Measures 4.
	Gregory of Nazianzus, Carmina 1.12.5; 2.2.8.
	Hilary of Pontiers, Commentary on Psalms prol. 15.
	Jerome, Letters 53.8.
	Jerome, Preface to Books of Samuel.
	Laodicea, Canon 60.
	Melito in Eusebius, Church History 6.26.14.
	Origen in Eusebius, Church History 6.25.2ff.
	Rufinus, Commentary on the Apostles Creed 36-37.

Primary Sources: New Testament Canon

	Athanasius, Festal Letter 38.
	Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 4.36.
	Eusebius, Church History 3.25.
	J.B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers. London: Macmillan, 1890.
	Loadicea, Canon 60.
	Muratorian Canon.
	J. Stevenson, A New Eusebius. London: SPCK, 1957.
	Daniel J. Theron, The Evidence of Tradition. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980. Pbk. ISBN: 0801088496. {Amazon.com}

Secondary Sources

	Peter R. Ackroyd, "The Old Testament in the Making," P.R. Ackroyd & C.F. Evans, eds. The Cambridge History of the Bible, Vol. 1. From Beginnings to Jerome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Hbk. ISBN: 0521074185. pp.67-112. {Amazon.com}
	Craig D. Allert, "The State of the New Testament Canon in the Second Century: Putting Tatian's Diatessaron in Perspective," Bulletin for Biblical Research 9 (1999): 1-18.
	G.W. Anderson, "Canonical and Non-Canonical," P.R. Ackroyd & C.F. Evans, eds. The Cambridge History of the Bible, Vol. 1. From Beginnings to Jerome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Hbk. ISBN: 0521074185. pp.113-158. {Amazon.com}
	Roger T. Beckwith, The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church. Grand Rapids / London: Eerdmans / SPCK, 1986. Hbk. ISBN: 0281041555. pp.542. {Amazon.com}
	James A. Brooks, "Clement of Alexandria as a Witness to the Development of the New Testament Canon," Second Century 9.1 (1992): 41-55.
	F.F. Bruce, "The Canon of Scripture," Inter-Varsity (Autumn 1954): 19-22.
	F.F. Bruce, "New Light on the Origins of the New Testament Canon," Richard N Longenecker & Merrill C. Tenney, eds. New Dimensions in New Testament Study. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974. pp.3-18.
	F.F. Bruce, "New Light on the Origin of the New Testament," Faith and Thought 101.2 (1974): 158-162. This is a brief summary of the above article.
	F.F. Bruce, "Some Thoughts on the Beginning of the New Testament Canon," Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 65, No. 2 (1983): 37-60.
	F.F. Bruce, The Canon Of Scripture. Chapter House, 1988. Pbk. ISBN: 0948643056. pp.349. {Amazon.com}
	Hans von Campenhausen, The Formation of the Christian Bible. Philadelphia / London: Fortress / Adam & Charles Black, 1997. Pbk. ISBN: ISBN: 1888961023. pp.342. {Amazon.com}
	Duane L. Christensen, "Josephus and the Twenty-Two-Book Canon of Sacred Scripture," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 29.1 (1986): 37-46.
	F.L. Cross, The Early Christian Fathers. Studies in Theology 1. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd., 1960. Hbk. pp.59-70.
	Kenneth L. Carroll, "Toward a Commonly Received New Testament," Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 44 (1962): 327-349.
	C.F. Evans, "The New Testament in the Making," P.R. Ackroyd & C.F. Evans, eds. The Cambridge History of the Bible, Vol. 1. From Beginnings to Jerome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Hbk. ISBN: 0521074185. pp.232-283.
	Ernst Käsemann, "The Canon of the New Testament and the Unity of the Church," in Essays on New Testament Themes, translated by W.J. Montague. Studies in Biblical Theology 41. London: SCM Press, 1964. pp.95-177.
	Brevard S. Childs, The New Testament as Canon: An Introduction. Trinity Press International, 1994. Pbk. ISBN: 1563380897 pp.608. {CBD} {Amazon.com}
	The Development of the Canon of the New Testament (Glenn Davis)
	Earl E. Ellis, "The Old Testament in the Early Church," M.J. Mulder, editor. Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988. Hbk. ISBN: 0800606043. pp.653-690. {Amazon.com}
	William R. Farmer & D. Farkasfalvy, The Formation of the New Testament Canon, H. Attridge, editor. New York: Paulist, 1983. Pbk. ISBN: 0809124955. pp.182. {Amazon.com}
	Everett Ferguson, "Canon Muratori: Date and Provenance," Studia Patrstica, Vol. 18 (1982): 677-683.
	Lewis Foster, "The Earliest Collection Of Paul's Epistles," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society, 10.1 (1967): 44-53.
	Henry Y. Gamble, The New Testament Canon: In Making and Meaning. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985. Pbk. ISBN: 0800604709. {Amazon.com}
	Robert M. Grant, The Formation of the New Testament. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.
	Robert M. Grant, "The New Testament Canon," P.R. Ackroyd & C.F. Evans, eds. The Cambridge History of the Bible, Vol. 1. From Beginnings to Jerome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Hbk. ISBN: 0521074185. pp.284-307. {Amazon.com}
	Dennis E. Groh, "Hans von Campenhausen on Canon," Interpretation 28 (1974): 331-343.
	Geoffrey Mark Hahneman, The Muratorian Fragment and the Development of the Canon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. Hbk. ISBN: 0198263414. pp.248. {Amazon.com}
	C.E. Hill, "The Debate Over the Muratorian Fragment and the Development of the Canon," Westminster Theological Journal 57.2 (1995): 437-452.
	William Horbury, "The Wisdom of Solomon in the Muratorian Fragment," Journal of Theological Studies 45.1 (1994): 149-159.
	P. Katz, "The Johannine Epistles in the Muratorian Canon," Journal of Theological Studies 8 (1957): 273-274.
	The Muratorian Canon (Peter Kirby)
	J.N. Lighthouse, "The Formation of the Biblical Canon in Judaism of Late Antiquity: Prolegomenon to a General Reassessment," Studies in Religion, Vol. 8 (1978): 135-142.
	Lee M. McDonald, The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon. Peabody, Mass,: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995. Pbk. ISBN: 1565630521. pp.340. {CBD} {Amazon.com}
	Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development and Significance. Oxford: Clarendon, 1987. Pbk. ISBN: 0198269544. pp.336. {CBD} {Amazon.com}
	Were the Apostolic Fathers Unable to Distinguish Between Authentic and Unauthentic Books? (Glenn Miller)
	John W. Miller, The Origins of the Bible: Rethinking Canon History. Paulist Press, 1995. Pbk. ISBN: 0809135221. pp.250 {CBD} {Amazon.com}
	G.F. Moore, "The Definition of the Jewish Canon and the Repudiation of Christian Scriptures," Sid Z. Leiman, ed., The Canon and Masorah of the Hebrew Bible: An Introductory Reader. The Library of Biblical Studies. New York: KTAV, 1974. {Amazon.com}
	Robert C. Newman, "Council of Jamnia and the Old Testament canon," Westminster Theological Journal 38.4 (Spring 1976): 319-349.
	Colin Henderson Roberts & T.C. Skeat, The Birth of the Codex. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983. Hbk. ISBN: 0197260241. pp.76. {Amazon.com}
	Carmel Sant, "Eusebius of Caesarea's Views on the Canon of the Holy Scriptures and the Text Used in His Works," Monuments ecclesiae liturugica 23.1-2 (1972): 23-33.
	Samuel J. Schultz, "Augustine and the Old Testament Canon," Bibliotheca Sacra 112: 447 (1955): 225-234.
	Gary Steven Shogren, "Christian Prophecy and Canon in the Second Century: A Response to B. B. Warfield," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40.4 (1997): 609-626.
	T.C. Skeat, "Irenaeus and the Four-Gospel Canon," Novum Testamentum 34.2 (1992): 194-199.
	A.C. Sundburg, The Old Testament of the Early Church. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964. Hbk. ISBN: 0527010200. {Amazon.com}
	A.C. Sundburg, "Canon Muratori: A Fourth Century List," Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 66 (1973): 1-41.
	Merrill C. Tenney, "The Canon Of The Gospels," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society, 10.1 (1967): 36-43.
	Prideaux Tregelles Tregelles, Canon Muratorianus: the Earliest Catalogue of the Books of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1867. pp. viii + 112.
	C.H. Turner, "Latin Lists of the Canonical Books," Journal of Theological Studies, Vol. 1 (1900): 554-560.
	J.C. Turro & R.E. Brown, "Canonicity," R.E. Brown, ed. Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968.
	Brooke F. Westcott, A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament, 6th edn. Macmillan, 1899. Reprint Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980. Pbk. ISBN: 0801096405. pp.593. {Amazon.com}
	The Early Canon Process of the New Testament (James White)
	J. Stafford Wright, "The Canon of Scripture," The Evangelical Quarterly 19 (1947): 93-109.