The Formation and Significance of the Christian Biblical Canon: A Study in Text, Ritual, and Interpretation

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, Thomas 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.

Bokedal argues that the canon was formed in a process, with its own particular intention, history, and direction. By using a Gadamerian hermeneutics of tradition, the reader’s attention is directed to historical dimensions of the canon and its interpretative possibilities for our time. The notion of effective history (Wirkungsgeschichte), as well as the interaction between text, community, and reader are crucial to the argument. The canonical text as text, its interpretation, and ritual contextualization are highlighted as unifying elements for the communities being addressed.

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