Pastor in the Hat Podcast
Fearlessly tackling tough questions about faith from a progressive Christian perspective. This production of First Presbyterian Church Concord, CA We dive deep into the doubts and uncertainties that many listeners face, offering thoughtful insights to help navigate the complexities of each one’s own spiritual journey. Hosted by Darryl McCollum Commissioned Pastor, PCUSA and author of “In All Things Grace”.
Pastor in the Hat Podcast
The Making of the Bible: A Journey with Pastor in the Hat
How was the Bible actually compiled, and what debates shaped its formation? Join us on the Pastors in the Hat podcast as we promise a deep dive into the intricate and captivating history of the Bible’s canonization. From the authoritative formation of the Hebrew Bible’s Torah around the 5th century BCE to the final solidification of the Tanakh after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, we uncover the meticulous process and the fervent discussions among early Jewish scholars. We explore the Torah, the prophets, and the writings, shedding light on how these texts became central to the Jewish faith.
Transitioning into the early Christian era, we unravel the complex journey of the New Testament's canonization. Discover how first-century Christian communities circulated Paul’s letters and the Gospels without a unified agreement, leading to significant contributions from early church leaders like Marcion. This episode navigates through the ensuing centuries of debates, evolving lists, and pivotal moments that finally defined the New Testament canon by the 4th century CE. Tune in to understand the complexities and key turning points that shaped the Bible we know today.
The Pastor in the Hat Podcast is a production of First Presbyterian Church Concord, CA
God is calling. Are you quiet? Can you hear God is calling? We're here to hear. Welcome to today's episode of the Pastors in the Hat podcast, which is brought to you by First Presbyterian Church of Concord, california, where we believe that in Christ we are all one family, imperfect, messy and beautiful. We invite you to find your place here.
Speaker 1:Well, last Friday, at the Bible study for beginners, someone asked a question. They said how was the Bible written? Well, I explained to them that it was actually more compiled than written, and it is a fascinating topic. So we're going to get into it today and talk about how the canonization of scripture made it an official sacred text. But what is canonization, you're asking right? Well, canonization is the selection and recognition of certain books as authoritative and inspired.
Speaker 1:Now, this process was gradual and pretty complex. It took place over several hundred years. It involved discussions, debates, negotiations among early Christians, their communities and their religious leaders. The first part of canonization happened with the Hebrew Bible. We talked about the Hebrew Bible a little bit last week.
Speaker 1:You may remember that the Hebrew Bible was called the Tanakh from our discussion last time. And the Tanakh is broken into three separate writings. You've got the Torah, which is the law and you've got the books that comprise the prophets and the books that comprise the writings In the law Genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, deuteronomy. Those are the earliest and most sacred part of the Hebrew Bible and by the 5th century BCE or so, the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, these five books had achieved pretty much their final and authoritative form. There were some edits, I'm sure scholars believe, during the post-exilic period, but pretty much the Torah was fairly set. Then you've got the prophets, including books like Joshua, isaiah, jeremiah, and these were likely canonized around the second century BCE and they're central to conveying the history and the prophetic messages that are crucial to Jewish faith. The writings are a more diverse collection. They include the Psalms, proverbs, daniel, books like Ruth, esther, and these discussions you know were probably clear until the first century CE, before those were canonized and added into the entire Tanakh as a group. The final canon of the Hebrew Bible was likely solidified after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and this period of course marked a significant reflection and reorganization within Judaism because without a temple it was unclear how they would properly worship God.
Speaker 1:The Council of Jemiah in the late 1st century CE is often mentioned as a pivotal moment for the canonization of the Tanakh. But you know, exact details are still debated among scholars, so that's just a sort of a swag. You know, a scientific guess the canonization of the New Testament can be traced back to the first century. That was the beginning of it, and during this time various writings, including the letters of Paul, the Gospels and other texts, were circulating among different Christian communities, but there wasn't any consensus. No one agreed on what should be considered part of scripture. In the second century there were a lot of church leaders who got together, theologians of all ilks, and they discussed the need for canonization, a standardization of the sacred texts. One significant figure in this process was Marcion, a Christian leader who proposed his own canon of scriptures, but it was just a few books, it was like Luke's gospel and some of Paul's letters, and that wasn't enough for other Christian leaders. So they got together, debated all these things and they felt like they needed to define which books should be authoritative and which ones should be rejected. These debates went on for a long time and they really all they did was create a bunch of different lists of books that were considered sacred by different Christian communities. So that was not super helpful. Around the end of the second century, a list popped up that included the four gospels, acts, paul's letters and some other writings, but it didn't include Hebrews, james or Peter's letters, so that wasn't all that helpful either.
Speaker 1:As the centuries passed, the process of canonization continued to evolve. The process of canonization continued to evolve. In the 4th century CE, there were discussions and debates surrounding the canon again, and they reached a crucial turning point. There was this key guy named Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, who in 367 wrote a letter called the Easter Letter, in which he listed his idea of what should be considered authoritative. Now this list closely resembles the New Testament canon recognized by most denominations today, but when I say closely, that's because it wasn't exact. Now, when Augustine later came along, he came up with his own list in the 4th and 5th centuries and it expressed his views on the canon and what writings he was advocating for inclusion and which ones he was advocating to exclude from the canon. So, as you can see, this was a back and forth thing that happened over centuries. Different church leaders over hundreds of years had their input into this process, and it wasn't until the late fourth century in the process of canonization where a significant milestone was reached.
Speaker 1:At the Synod of Hippo in 393, a local council in North Africa produced a list of books that were accepted as authoritative and it formed the basis of the Western Christian canon. The basis of the Western Christian canon, and this closely resembles what we have today in the Catholic Church. Now the Protestants, of course, as we talked about last time, have a different set of books. So the canonization has been continuing to evolve over not just centuries but thousands of years, and it's it's never been universally agreed upon by every Christian community. As we mentioned in the last podcast, different groups have different numbers of books. They're slightly different. Now the core of the faith is in all of them, right. So I don't know. In summary, we can just kind of say the process of canonization was gradual and complex and it took place over centuries. And who knows, it might still be evolving today.
Speaker 1:We don't know that, but there are debates and negotiations among all kinds of christians on on how to interpret the scriptures that we've got. You know, hey, what do we do with those things that were found, the Gnostic Gospels found over in Egypt in the 40s, right? Do any of those belong? There's going to be discussions forever. As long as we keep discovering new texts and new writings, somebody in their mind is going to think that they should belong in the Bible. Let's just start with this what we have is pretty darn good. If you have other books that you want to read beyond the Bible, that's fine, but just remember that's fine, but just remember the Bible as we have it right now. The authoritative texts that we agree upon, hey, those are pretty significant and if you can get your mind around them, let me know, because it's a tough, tough thing to understand sometimes.
Speaker 1:Well, this concludes our discussion on the creation of the Bible as canon. The process was a fascinating topic to me when I was researching it and we could have gotten a lot deeper if we wanted to, because it's a complex thing. But I just want to give this overview, this 30,000 foot, you know view, of how it came to be. I hope you enjoyed listening to our exploration of the canonization process and as we continue our journey to explore the question is the Bible true? I hope to see you in our future episodes as we delve into other intriguing topics. Thanks for joining us again on this episode of Pastor in a Hat. Remember, be blessed, stay safe, keep well, bye all.
