New Testament History and Literature with Dale B. Martin - 2. From Stories to Canon

Introduction to New Testament (RLST 152) The Christian faith is based upon a canon of texts considered to be holy scripture. How did this canon come to be? Different factors, such as competing schools of doctrine, growing consensus, and the invention of the codex, helped shape the canon of the New Testament. Reasons for inclusion in or exclusion from the canon included apostolic authority, general acceptance, and theological appropriateness for "proto-orthodox" Christianity. 00:00 - Chapter 1. Canon vs. Scripture 16:17 - Chapter 2. The Forming of Canons 27:04 - Chapter 3. The Invention of the Codex 32:50 - Chapter 4. A Slowly Developing (and Incomplete) Consensus 42:02 - Chapter 5. The Reasons for Canonical Inclusion and Exclusion Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses This course was recorded in Spring 2009.