Five Views on the New Testament Canon

Author: Stanley E. Porter & Benjamin P. Laird

What historical, political, and ecclesial realities drove the canonization of the New Testament?

How are the doctrines of Early Christianity related to the formation of the New Testament?

Should the New Testament differ in authority from other early Christian texts?

As these questions demonstrate, the enduring influence of the New Testament does not lessen the dispute over the events and factors leading to its adoption. Five Views on the New Testament Canon presents five distinct ways of understanding how the New Testament came to be:

A Conservative Evangelical Perspective -- Darian R. Lockett
A Progressive Evangelical Perspective -- David R. Nienhuis
A Liberal Protestant Perspective -- Jason David BeDuhn
A Roman Catholic Perspective -- Ian Boxall
An Orthodox Perspective -- George L. Parsenios

Each contributor addresses historical, theological, and hermeneutical questions related to the New Testament canon, such as what factors precipitated the establishment and recognition of the New Testament canon; the basis of any authority the New Testament has; and what the canon means for reading and interpreting the New Testament. Contributors also include a chapter each responding to the other views presented in the volume. The result is a lively exchange suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students seeking to grasp the best canon scholarship in biblical studies.

Author:

Stanley E. Porter (PhD, University of Sheffield) is president, dean, professor of New Testament, and Roy A. Hope Chair in Christian Worldview at McMaster Divinity College. Porter is the editor of more than eighty volumes and author of twenty-eight books on various topics in New Testament and related subjects, including How We Got the New Testament: Text, Transmission, Translation and The Gospel of John in Modern Interpretation. Porter has published more than three hundred articles, chapters, and related writings, and he speaks regularly at major conferences and other venues globally. Visit his blog at domainthirtythree.com.

Benjamin P. Laird (PhD, University of Aberdeen) serves as Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity, Liberty University. He is the author of the volume Creating the Canon: Composition, Controversy and the Authority of the New Testament.

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