Is the Canon Closed?

[Suudy]

I was in a discussion with an agnostic/atheist the other night. We were discussing the history of the Bible and how books were selected for inclusion in the canon. I told him that through the discernment of the Holy Spirit, the Church was led to declare the canon of the Bible as we have it today. We didn’t address the issue of the deuterocanonical books, but that wasn’t the issue.

He brought up a point I though worthy of discussion here. With the advancement of science and archaeology, we are better able to find, preserve, and analyze ancient items. His argument is that with these advances, some excavation could find a set of manuscripts, a la the Dead Sea scrolls, that has additional (but not necessarily contradictory) content. For example, what if we were to find manuscripts claiming to be written by Jesus himself? Or Mary?

The question then becomes is the Church open to examining these documents and discerning if they should become part of the canon? Or is the canon closed, no matter what is found?

 

[thistle]

I was in a discussion with an agnostic/atheist the other night. We were discussing the history of the Bible and how books were selected for inclusion in the canon. I told him that through the discernment of the Holy Spirit, the Church was led to declare the canon of the Bible as we have it today. We didn’t address the issue of the deuterocanonical books, but that wasn’t the issue.

He brought up a point I though worthy of discussion here. With the advancement of science and archaeology, we are better able to find, preserve, and analyze ancient items. His argument is that with these advances, some excavation could find a set of manuscripts, a la the Dead Sea scrolls, that has additional (but not necessarily contradictory) content. For example, what if we were to find manuscripts claiming to be written by Jesus himself? Or Mary?

The question then becomes is the Church open to examining these documents and discerning if they should become part of the canon? Or is the canon closed, no matter what is found?

The Canon is closed.

 

[dancny]

The cannon is closed, but the magesterium is not. There is no more revelation to be had. The bible, as it stands is complete. However, as more eveidence is found and discovered, as new works come to light the church will evaluate them and give their ruling on them and they may add to our understanding of the time and place of certain events, but they will not add to the revelation of God.

 

[Stillkickin]

The Canon is closed. I believe it was officially pronounced as closed at the Council of Trent.

 

[jblake]

Suudy;:

we are better able to find, preserve, and analyze ancient items.

I’m not sure the ability to find new documents is any better now, than it was a millennium ago. What has improved is the ability to recover text that has been over written, decayed, and otherwise mutilated.

Preservation of the extent texts has become a major issue. (The dirty little secret is that most of the Cuneiform tablets that were found more than a century ago, have disintegrated into dust, because of poor preservation methods.)

The analysis of ancient manuscripts has improved tremendously over the last century. However, that is incredibly painstaking work. Latex gloves, tweezers, cameras, and computers are essential for making sense of what one is looking at.

and discerning if they should become part of the canon?

“New age pseudo-christians” might adopt them.

Considering that Ecclesia Gnostica hasn’t bothered making The Gospel of Mary of Magdala canonical, I doubt any religious organization would make them canonical. (Well, in the 1990’s there was that renegade “congregation” within Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica that tried making The Gospel of Jude of Keiroth canonical for the entire organization. Reasons for that failure are obvious.)

Secret Mark and The Gospel of Thomas are two “mainstream” texts that some have agitated for inclusion in the Bible. (Eclesia Gnostica hasn’t officially made either canonical, even though they are used in their lectionary.)

Or is the canon closed,

For Protestant Christianity, they would fail the first requirement to be canonical — “were they used by the Early Church?”

For Orthodox Christianity, since they haven’t been traditionally used, there is very little chance of them becoming Canonical. However, they might be given the same status as The Philokalia.

For Catholic Christianity, it would mean overturning The Council of Trent. For a number of reasons, I doubt that anybody in the Magisterium wants to even hint that such a thing is possible.

no matter what is found?

AFAIK, the only Christian Canon that is not closed, is The Ethiopian Canon of Eighty One (Broader Canon).

You might be able to persuade His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, His Holiness Abune Antonios (3rd Patriarch of Eritrea),His Holiness Abune Dioskoros (4th Patriarch of Eritrea), His Holiness Abune Paulos (5th patriarch of Ethiopia), or His Holiness Abune Merkorios (4th patriarch of Ethiopia) to include such texts in that Canon.

Given the recent history of those patriarchs, I suspect you’d be told that they have more important things to worry about, than whether or not new texts should be added to a Canon that hasn’t been published in over a century.