The Muratorian Fragment and the Development of the Canon
Overview
The Muratorian Fragment, traditionally dated at the end of the second century, is by far the earliest known list of books of the New Testament. It is therefore an important milestone in understanding the formation of the Christian canon of Scriptures. The traditional date of the fragment, however, was questioned in 1973 by Albert C. Sundberg Jr., in an article of the Harvard Theological Review that has since been generally ignored or dismissed. In this book, Hahneman re-examines the traditional dating of the fragment in a complete and extensive study that concurs with Sundberg’s findings. Arguing for a later placing of the fragment, Hahneman shows that the entire history of the Christian Bible must be recast as a much longer and more gradual process. As a result, the decisive period of canonical history moves from the end of the second century into the midst of the fourth. As a decisive contribution to our understanding of the development of the New Testament canon, this book will be of considerable importance and interest to New Testament scholars and historians of the early Church.
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- Analyzes the Muratorian Fragment’s traditional dating
- Examines the fragment’s place in the history of the New Testament canon
- Sketches a development of the Christian Bible
- Background of the Muratorian Fragment
- The Shepherd of Hermas
- The Formation of the Canon
- Fourth-Century Catalogues
- Peculiarities in the Fragment
- Redating the Fragment
A thorough discussion of the Muratorian fragment; it is also a discussion of the formation of both testaments of the biblical cannon.
—Theology Digest
A superlative example of scholarly research and writing. Well organized, clearly written, and thorough, it deals patiently with all the relevant evidence and converses with a wide range of scholarship. This thoroughness makes the book both persuasive to other scholars and a bit tedious to non-specialists.
—Bible Books
[An] interesting discussion . . . it is good to have the question of the canon opened up afresh.
—The Expository Times
Here is a book that does just what its title promises.
—Church History
- Title: The Muratorian Fragment and the Development of the Canon
- Author: Geoffrey Mark Hahneman
- Series: Oxford Theological Monographs
- Publisher: Oxford University Press
- Publication Date: 1992
- Pages: 256