This book offers a fresh, cross-disciplinary approach to the current discussion on the Christian canon formation process. By carefully integrating historical, hermeneutical, and theological aspects to account for the emergence of the canon, Bokedal seeks to offer a more comprehensive picture of the canon development than has previously been achieved. The formation and continuous usage of the Christian biblical canon is here viewed as an act of literary preservation and actualization of the church’s apostolic normative tradition. The study focuses on four aspects of canon: the linguistic and effective-historical, the textual and material, the performative, and the ideational. Attention is given to the scribal convention of using nomina sacra, the codex format, oral and written Gospel, early Christian liturgical praxis, and the Rule of Faith.