Protestants - Please participate in this Poll on the Canon.

[JRKH]

an individual, by definition, cannot establish or create a “canon”, so the wording of the question presumes the answer (I did not answer the poll).

Thank you - even though you did not vote, you did indeed answer the poll. The individual “typical protestant” is not free to pick and choose.

This poll is written in what I take to be very Catholic language: You either allow any/all individuals total free choice (no canon possible, no sense of authority) or you accept that God chose the canon.

Catholic language? hmmmm.
Did you read the netire OP? The poll qustion is directly from a statement made by a poster named “radical” who claims to be protestant and claims that the “typical protestant” has the right to accept or reject books as he or she sees fit.
The purpose of my poll is to determine if the “typical protestant” agrees with this statement. Perhaps the Choices were a bit too narrow, but the voting and the comments seem to indicate that the “typical protestant” does NOT agree that the individual can set their own canon.

My Protestant upbringing taught me something in between: inspired by faith in God, religious leaders combine their intelligence and wisdom and determine a “canon.” This, then, is promoted down through the denomination hierarchy with varying degrees of authority and rigidity, depending on the denomination. I imagine that there are very few denominations that simply state that an individual can pick their own canon–besides, as I said, that is a contradiction in terms.

“canon”
can·on 1 (knn)
n.

1. An ecclesiastical law or code of laws established by a church council.
2. A secular law, rule, or code of law.

a. An established principle: the canons of polite society.
b. A basis for judgment; a standard or criterion.
4. The books of the Bible officially accepted as Holy Scripture.
5.
a. A group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field: “the durable canon of American short fiction” (William Styron).
b. The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic: the entire Shakespeare canon.

Thank you.

Peace
James

 

[Izdaari]

Like several other posters, I’m not really happy with the way the question is posed. But since the main point of your question seems to be whether an individual can decide to reject parts of the Canon, I answered “no.” But I believe that God has “fixed” the Canon only in the sense that God guided the Church through a long process of discussion and consensus, which did not reach completely assured results with regard to the OT. So the OT canon is not, in my opinion, fixed to this day. I don’t think that Protestants who reject the deuterocanonicals, or Catholics who accept them as fully canonical, are going against divine revelation. Each has good reasons for their position. As an Anglican, I take that annoying “via media” approach and side with many Christians scholars throughout the centuries in saying that the deuteros should be read liturgically (and devotionally) by Christians but should not be regarded as a source for doctrine in the way that the undisputed books are. But I don’t claim that this is anything more than a reasonable attempt to do justice to all the evidence.

Edwin

This is my position as well.

(My church is Assemblies of God, but doctrinally I’m at least 1/3 Anglican.)

 

[larkin31]

Thank you - even though you did not vote, you did indeed answer the poll. The individual “typical protestant” is not free to pick and choose.

That is not what I wrote. I wrote that individuals cannot, by definition, determine a “canon.” Any individual of any faith is “free” to pick and choose whatever works of a cannon he or she wishes to care about. But this choice cannot, by definition, result in a “canon.” This was my point about how the original post was worded.

Catholic language? hmmmm.
Did you read the netire OP? The poll qustion is directly from a statement made by a poster named “radical” who claims to be protestant and claims that the “typical protestant” has the right to accept or reject books as he or she sees fit

Yes. And this is true. But then your wording turns “choosing” into a statement about “canon,” which belies the Catholic bias to things. All readers of the Bible are free to pick and choose which parts to care about. And this choosing has nothing to do with determining a “canon.”

The purpose of my poll is to determine if the “typical protestant” agrees with this statement. Perhaps the Choices were a bit too narrow, but the voting and the comments seem to indicate that the “typical protestant” does NOT agree that the individual can set their own canon.

True, but the individual “choice” has nothing to do with determining a “canon.”