As early as the second century, patristic theologians and historians began to debate the shape of a New Testament collection. Chief among the criteria for a work's inclusion was authentic attribution to a recognized apostolic figure. But neither the process of arbitrating a work's authenticity nor of determining the boundary of this developing authoritative collection were linear or straightforward. For one thing, the elasticity and permeability of tradition surrounding figures from the scriptural past -- that is, both illustrative scriptural exempla and apostolic authorial figures -- often clash with the rhetoric of strict vigilance over scriptural authenticity and intracanonical fidelity between the Christian Old and New Testaments.
The Catholic Epistles -- seven letters attributed to the apostles James, Peter, John, and Jude -- played a much larger role in the canonical process than their diminutive size and oft-neglected status would suggest. Though they were perhaps the latest subcollection recognized to be among the New Testament (after the fourfold Gospel and the Pauline corpus), they were not its crowning feature but a wrench in the canonical gears. How did these apostolic letters, most of whose authorship was widely questioned by ancient ecclesiastical writers, eventually come to be accepted as authoritative works?
Through the Catholic Epistles' attributed apostolic authors and use of illustrative exempla from the Jewish scriptural past, this book explores the relationship between the intertwined phenomena of canonical authority, pseudepigraphy, and exemplarity. The suspicion of apostolic pseudepigraphy and the broad range of scriptural links represented by the scriptural figures present throughout the Catholic Epistles prevented their unhesitating inclusion among the New Testament. And yet their apostolic association and substantive ties to Jewish and Christian scriptural tradition also underwrote their reception as authoritative scriptures. In the Catholic Epistles, exemplarity and canonicity are intertwined: scripture receives scripture; scripture begets scripture.
Acknowledgements
I. Introduction
a. Sacred Figures and Sacred Texts
b. The Catholic Epistles as the Fringes of the New Testament Canon
c. Recent Approaches to the Catholic Epistles as a Collection
d. Chapters
e. Conclusion
II. Chapter One: Exemplarity and the Catholic Epistle Collection
a. Signed, Sealed, Delivered
b. Exemplarity and Pauline Intertextuality
i. Key terminology
ii. Selection of Exempla
iii. Function of Exempla
c. Exemplarity and Ancient Rhetoric
d. Exemplarity and the Manuscript Tradition
e. Exemplarity and Pseudepigraphy
f. Conclusion: Exemplarity and its Impact on Canonicity
III. Chapter Two: Exemplarity and the Construct of Apostolic Authorship
a. James the Just, Brother of the Lord
b. Peter, Preacher and Chief Apostle
c. John, Eyewitness, Author, and Beloved Disciple
d. Jude, Brother of James and Jesus
e. Conclusion: Apostolic Authorship and its Impact on Canonicity
IV. Chapter Three: Antecedents to the Catholic Epistle Collection
a. The Muratorian Fragment
i. Contents
ii. The Muratorian Fragment as an Antecedent to the Catholic Epistle Collection
b. The Earliest Papyri of the Catholic Epistles
i. The Earliest Papyri of James, 1 Peter, John, and Jude
ii. "B72" and the "Proto-canonical" Problem
c. Catholic Epistles Prior to Eusebius
d. Conclusion
V. Chapter Four: The Catholic Epistles and the Dynamic New Testament
a. Eusebius: Constructing the "Entestamented" Boundary
i. Eusebius n the Authorship of the Catholic Epistles
ii. The Catholic Epistles and Eusebius's New Testament Collection
iii. The Catholic Epistles and Scriptural Authority in the Historia ecclesiastica
iv. Curious Outliers: Hebrews, 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and Barnabas
b. Athanasius and the Illusion of a Stable New Testament
i. The Exile and Return of a Bishop-Scholar
ii. Canonical Authority and a Fixed Ecclesiastical Canon in the Epistula festalis 39
c. Canonical Pluralism in the Fourth Century and Beyond
i. Other Fourth-century New Testament Lists
ii. Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Alexandrinus
iii. The Reception of the Catholic Epistles in the Syrian Church in the Fifth Century and on
iv. The Claromontanus Stichometry: A Sixth-century Alternative New Testament List
d. Ancient Christian Echtheitskritik
i. Clement of Alexandria and Origen: Hebrews and Apostolic Permission
ii. Dionysius of Alexandria on Johannine Authorship
iii. Conceiving Apostolicity in Eusebius, Athanasius, and Jerome
e. Conclusion: Pseudonymity and the Construction of the New Testament Collection
VI. Chapter Five: Positive Scriptural Exempla in the Catholic Epistles
a. Enoch
b. Noah
c. Abraham
d. Sarah
e. Lot
f. Michael the Archangel
g. Rahab
h. Job
i. The Prophets
j. Elijah
k. Jesus, the Isaianic Suffering Servant
l. Conclusion
VII. Chapter Six: Negative Scriptural Exempla in the Catholic Epistles
a. Sinful Angels/Spirits in Prison
b. Cain
c. Korah
d. Balaam
e. Sodom and Gomorrah
f. The Wilderness Generation
g. False Prophets
h. Conclusion
VIII. Conclusion
a. Summary
b. Canons, Judaisms, Christianities
c. Exemplarity and Canonicity in the Catholic Epistle Collection
Bibliography
Index of Ancient Sources
Index of Modern Authors
Index of Subjects
Height:
Width:
Spine:
Weight:0.00