The Biblical Canon: Its Origin, Transmission, and Authority (review)

Anyone with an interest in the development of the Christian biblical canon is familiar with the work of Lee M. McDonald. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the subject, the most well known of which include Early Christianity and Its Sacred Literature (co-authored by Stanley Porter and published in 2000), and The Canon Debate (co-edited with James A. Sanders and published in 2002). The text currently under review is a thoroughly revised and expanded edition of The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon (1995), which was itself a revised and expanded edition of a book by the same name published by Abingdon Press in 1988. Needless to say, the magisterial sweep of the current edition represents the culmination of a lifetime of investigative work on the historical production of the Christian Bible. More than that, it is a sensitive exploration of the manifold hermeneutical and theological concerns such an investigation inevitably raises for people of faith. For both the scholarly wisdom and pastoral insight evident in this current book, we are in the author's debt.

This volume attempts to offer a thorough summary of the origin of both testaments of the Christian Bible. The first part identifies the issues at stake in such an exploration, and establishes the working difference between "scripture" and "canon" presumed throughout the book. The second part explores the origins of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Canon, including a helpful survey of the differing collections of scripture maintained by various Jewish communities in the first century B.C., as well as a consideration of the scriptures used by Jesus and earliest Christianity, and (in an excursus by R. Timothy McLay of St. Stephen's University) the use of the Septuagint in the New Testament. The third and final section of the book turns to the New Testament Canon, tracing the process by which early apostolic writings were received, first as authoritative documents, then as scripture, and finally as canonical texts in their own right. The book concludes with nearly a hundred pages of useful appendices identifying primary sources and questions in canon research, ancient catalogues of canonical collections, citations of and allusions to apocryphal and pseudepigraphal writings, and ending with a final essay on the work of Brevard Childs.

The unavoidable risk of such a wide-ranging introductory examination, of course, is the need to resort on occasion to unsupported (and therefore potentially inaccurate) summarizing. Despite his stated concern to carefully avoid assumptions that could not be backed up by primary evidence (p. xvi), one often finds that issues of ongoing scholarly debate are summed up in ways that may lead the reader to conclude the matter is settled. To cite but one example, on page 395 one encounters the largely unsubstantiated claim that the letter of James was cited or alluded to by nearly every major early to mid-second-century patristic source, including Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, and the authors of The Didache, the Letter of Barnabas, and the Shepherd of Hermas. While many contemporary James scholars support the possibility that 1 Clement or Hermas is dependent on James, very few would consider the others real possibilities.

Given the introductory scope of the work, McDonald is to be forgiven if specialists find particular gaps in what is ultimately a very useful survey. The book is highly recommended for students and scholars alike as an excellent introduction to the central issues at stake in the formation and reception of Christian scripture.