Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books

by Michael J. Kruger

Publisher:

Crossway

, 2012

Overview

Given the popular-level conversations on phenomena like the Gospel of Thomas and Bart Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus, as well as the current gap in evangelical scholarship on the origins of the New Testament, Michael Kruger’s Canon Revisited meets a significant need for an up-to-date work on canon by addressing recent developments in the field. He presents an academically rigorous yet accessible study of the New Testament canon that looks deeper than the traditional surveys of councils and creeds, mining the text itself for direction in understanding what the original authors and audiences believed the canon to be.

Canon Revisited provides an evangelical introduction to the New Testament canon that can be used in seminary and college classrooms, and read by pastors and educated lay leaders alike. In contrast to the prior volumes on canon, this volume distinguishes itself by placing a substantial focus on the theology of canon as the context within which the historical evidence is evaluated and assessed. Rather than simply discussing the history of canon—rehashing the Patristic data yet again—Kruger develops a strong theological framework for affirming and authenticating the canon as authoritative. In effect, this work successfully unites both the theology and the historical development of the canon, ultimately serving as a practical defense for the authority of the New Testament books.

Contents

Top Highlights

“That being said, however, the fundamental problem with the historical-critical model is not its affirmation that the church played a role, but rather its insistence that the church played the determinative and decisive role. Quickly swept aside are any claims that these books contain any intrinsic authority that might have been a factor in their reception.” (Pages 34–35)

“If we are to be balanced, it seems we need three aspects to our definition of canon: canon as reception (exclusive), canon as use (functional), and canon as divinely given (ontological).” (Pages 58–59)

“The problem, then, is not that the church plays a role in identifying canonical books (Protestants would agree with this), but the Catholic insistence that it plays the only and definitive role.” (Page 44)

“The various canonical models will be divided into two large categories, community determined and historically determined” (Page 29)

“The New Testament canon is the collection of apostolic writings that is regarded as Scripture by the corporate church” (Page 120)

Product Details

• Title: Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books
• Author: Michael J. Kruger
• Publisher: Crossway
• Print Publication Date: 2012
• Logos Release Date: 2016
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Bible. N.T. › Canon
• ISBNs: 9781433530814, 9781433505003, 9781433530791, 9781433530807, 1433530813, 1433505002, 1433530791, 1433530805
• Resource ID: LLS:CNNRVSTDTSTMBKS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-05-20T07:28:56Z

About Michael J. Kruger

Dr. Michael Kruger serves as the President and Samuel C. Patterson Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the Charlotte campus of Reformed Theological Seminary. He earned his Ph.D. under one of the world’s leading text-critical scholars, Larry W. Hurtado, at the University of Edinburgh, where he researched a parchment fragment of an apocryphal gospel, P.Oxy. 840. He graduated summa cum laude with a M.Div. from Westminster Seminary California, and received his B.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests center upon Christian Origins, particularly the development of the New Testament canon within the context of the early church.

Prior to joining the RTS faculty, Dr. Kruger served in the pastorate for several years at Church of the Redeemer in Phoenix, AZ. There he developed a passion for preaching and ministry which he passes on to his students in the classroom. Dr. Kruger has been a member of ETS for 18 years serving on the editorial board of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, as well as vice-president in 2017 and president in 2019. He is the co-founder and co-chair of the ETS study group, “NT Canon, Textual Criticism and Apocryphal Literature.” In addition to his faculty duties, he currently serves part-time as the Pastor of Discipleship Training at Uptown Christ Covenant Church in downtown Charlotte.

He is the author of thirteen books, including Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church (Zondervan, 2022, Book of the Year” award from The Gospel Coalition, ministry category). His book Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College (Crossway, 2021, “Book of the Year”, Southwestern Baptist Journal of Theology, Worldview/Apologetics category), and Christianity at the Crossroads: How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church (SPCK, 2017; IVP Academic, 2018, “Book of the Year”, The Gospel Coalition, history and biography category).

Dr. Kruger regularly speaks, lectures, and teaches throughout the United States and the world—including conferences such as The Gospel Coalition and the Ligonier Conference. In addition to his academic publications, his popular-level articles have appeared in places like Modern Reformation, Tabletalk Magazine, The Gospel Coalition, and the Wall Street Journal. He also blogs regularly on his own website, Canon Fodder.

Dr. Kruger and his wife Melissa B. Kruger have been married for almost 25 years and have three children. 

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