The Bible: The Holy Canon of Scripture Review

INTRODUCTION

The Bible: The Holy Canon of Scripture is an essay by J. Hampton Keathley, III that aims to justify the canonicity of the Bible. Keathley first defines canonicity as a word used to describe books that are recognized as inspired by God and then gives a brief history of the term. In essence, the word can be derived from Greek, Hebrew, and Akkadian words denoting a standard of straightness and was used first to describe accepted doctrines of the Church before it became widely used as a description for the list of sacred books that fit the modern definition. The article then addresses the need of a canon and justifies the canonicity of the Old and New Testaments.

SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE

Keathley divides his article into three distinct sections, the meaning, importance, and implications of canonicity; proving the canonicity of the Old Testament by its painstaking preservation, historical consistency, justifying the differences in divisions between the Masoretic text and Protestant Bible, tests of canonicity and evidences from history, itself, and the New Testament; and proving the canonicity of the New Testament by the factors that caused consideration, the process of recognition, the tests of canonicity, and it reliability.

In the first section, the aforementioned definition and context of canonicity is first given and followed by an explanation of the logical need for a canon. Keathley argues that a belief in an almighty God necessitates that He would reveal Himself to man, who would need it in the form of text, due to his depravity. He then gives “evidences” to show that the Bible is unique and authored by God by quoting scripture from the Bible and asks a question that essentially claims that God would divinely...

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...arney gives for the logical necessity of a canon leaves much to interpretation and assumption; he states that since God would reveal Himself, due to man’s sinful nature, making a book was the only logical step, but gives little reasoning to make the that conclusion. He then goes on to say that the only reason we can know that the Bible is from God is because the Bible says as much, which, in the eyes of a skeptic, would not make any logical sense. In the section about important considerations, the author asserts that there were debates over which books would be included in the canon and that the occurrence of these debates doesn’t affect the authenticity of the canon, but gives no reasoning or justification. Aside from the aforementioned issues, the author did a good job of compiling the historical facts and dates, which make good evidence of the Bible’s consistency.