Bruce, F.F. The Canon of Scripture, Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1988.

The Canon of Scripture by F .F . Bruce

Introduction

Typical of F .F . Bruce 's books , The Canon of Scripture is scholarly , yet not boring but stimulating . It informs the mind , as well as feed the soul of the reader as all of the facts contained therein only reinforce the long held Judeo-Christian faith . Fundamental questions such as which books , and how did these books made their way into the canon , are successfully and succinctly answered by the author using pertinent historical and archeological details , plus internal evidences from the canonized

scriptures . While all evidences presented in the book are strongly supported with facts , it is not difficult to sense that Bruce 's arguments all throughout are coming from a believer 's presupposition . He believes , and therefore he presupposes the need for authority . And this is where the theme of the book revolves - the authority of the Bible

Elaborations Pertaining to the Canon

As can be expected , F .F . Bruce delved deeply into helpful details , from the most basic terminologies to the almost tiresome ones , he left no stone unturned . For example , he went into the details of the etymology of the word canon ' and traced its roots through Latin to its Greek origin which means primarily rod ' or reed ' And by the way , this was how the ancient people would measure things . They would use reeds ' as their measuring stick since this kind of plant - its stem - was straight and long . Canon , as it was applied to the complete collection of books which modern people call the Bible , means authoritative manuscripts ' which have become the rule of faith for Christians . This is what early Christian scholars - such as Origen and Athanasius - meant by the word (Bruce , 1988 . Bruce proceeded to say that the Canon of Scripture refers to that complete list of books and letters which were in fact records of God 's disclosure /revelation of Himself and His plan to mankind . All these manuscripts /writings although written by ordinary men , were nevertheless inspired by God God 's revelation of Himself culminated in the person of Jesus Christ who is the focal point of the whole message of the entire Bible . In The Canon Of Scripture , the author dealt with the Old Testament canon and the New Testament canon separately . He elaborated on such fundamental questions such as Why is the Hebrew Bible arrangement of their Old Testament different from the Christian Bible 's of the Old Testament books ' and Why the difference in number (Hebrew Bible : 24 books , Christian Old Testament : 39 books ' Bruce clarified that some books in the Christian Old Testament , like First and Second Kings , and Ezra and Nehemiah , though counted separately as four books , in the Hebrew Bible , First and Second Kings are just one book and Ezra and Nehemiah are also reckoned as one book . Reasons for Apocryphal books exclusion from the Protestant Canon were also explained . At the dawn of the second century , there were two bodies /collections of writings authoritative...