12-12-2003, 12:40 AM
Martin Luther:
"In the Revelation of John much is wanting to let me deem it either prophetic or apostolical" (Preface to N.T., 1524)
Contrary to what many believe the Reformation leaders were not diehard adherents of a 27 book canon. Ironically, it was only as a reaction to statements like the above that the Council of Trent finally set in stone the exact Roman Catholic position on the composition and level of authority of the canon:
"Henceforth the books of the OT [45] and the NT [27], protocanonical and deuterocanonical alike, in their entirety and with all their parts, comprise the canon and are held to be of equal authority."
Protestants gradually accepted this definition of the NT, even though it had come about as an (over) reaction to their own founders, because with a battecry like <i>Sola Scriptura</i> it was simply easier to pretend that the NT had always been 27 books of equally universal acceptance and pedigree.
Shlama, Craig
"In the Revelation of John much is wanting to let me deem it either prophetic or apostolical" (Preface to N.T., 1524)
Contrary to what many believe the Reformation leaders were not diehard adherents of a 27 book canon. Ironically, it was only as a reaction to statements like the above that the Council of Trent finally set in stone the exact Roman Catholic position on the composition and level of authority of the canon:
"Henceforth the books of the OT [45] and the NT [27], protocanonical and deuterocanonical alike, in their entirety and with all their parts, comprise the canon and are held to be of equal authority."
Protestants gradually accepted this definition of the NT, even though it had come about as an (over) reaction to their own founders, because with a battecry like <i>Sola Scriptura</i> it was simply easier to pretend that the NT had always been 27 books of equally universal acceptance and pedigree.
Shlama, Craig