>From: "Steven M Smith" <smsmith@usgs.gov>
> I wonder ... is that canonization process really completed or do we still
> have more work to do? To answer my own question, I would lean toward the
> view that we are still in the midst of the process. Now I'm not advocating
> the addition or extraction of anything from the Bible nor am I advocating
> that we ignore the traditions, thoughts, and theologies of the past
> generations. It simply comes down to this: If the Canon isn't made
> relevant to each generation and to the insights brought on by new knowledge
> then it becomes moribund.
With a canon as large, diverse and subject to all manner of interpretation
as the Bible is, perhaps the canonization process now occurring is more a
matter of selecting and designating a subset of the whole to be "what really
counts," or designating some particular interpretation to be "what the text
really means."
Furthermore, each of numerous subsets of the Christian community are doing
this for their own portion of the larger community and judging (sometimes
quite harshly) other portions for doing it differently. The Christian
"community" is remarkably diverse and often fragmented. I often wonder if
the word "community" should be replaced by a term that more accurately
reflects this diversity and fragmentation.
Howard Van Till
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 14 2002 - 18:02:31 EST