Conclusion
Indeed
there is still disagreement on what belongs in the Old Testament in the church
today. Christian denominations have settled
on what is clearly canonical and what
is not, but the church as a whole is in disagreement and reasons for canonical
certainty become confused with group identification and blind adherence to convention.
Today we may live in a fractured church, but the past is no ideal to strive
back to. Augustine and Jerome had their own challenges and contexts to consider
and they also lived with canonical confusions in their own time some of which
can be thought of as obvious mistakes only today.
The aim of this paper, after being clear on
what is meant by canonical, was to examine
Augustine and Jerome in their disagreement over which books were to be
considered part of the Old Testament canon and then to consider their reasons
and influences before deciding which was closer to something the church today
should accept.
Throughout this
study it has become evident that Jerome’s approach is to be preferred. Context
is everything and it is easy to get so locked into ones own denomination and
era that questions and circumstances unique to the era in question are filtered
out. Jerome did a better job at becoming acquainted with the people charged
with the divine oracles from the old covenant, including the Old Testament and
the period of time closer to the apostles. Both Augustine and Jerome believed in apostolic authority,
which is something the church today should also take as authoritative since the
apostles are the key witnesses to Christ. When the question of accepting the additional
books comes into view, the apostles themselves should be listened to and it has
been found that the apostolic testimony seems to favor going back to the Jewish
source and it was concluded that the relevant Jewish group did probably have a
limited canon much like the Hebrew and Protestant canon today. Not all
questions were resolved though such as the book of Enoch being used
authoritatively and lingering questions surrounding the book of Esther might
still remain. However, as new evidence and insight become evident it is up to
the church to look at the evidence charitably and honestly and be willing to
challenge preconceived notions that get in the way of a better understanding of
God’s revealed Word.
Bibliography
Augustine.
"Christian Doctrine." Edited by Philip Schaff. In A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church
Series I Vol II. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1993.
______________.
“City of God.” Edited by Philip Schaff. In A
Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers of the Christian Church Series I Vol.II. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993.
______________.
“Reply to Faustus the Manichaean.” Edited by Philip Schaff. In A Select Library
of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church Series I Vol.
IV. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993.
Beckwith,
Roger. The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church: and its
Background in Early Judaism. Oregon:
Wipf and Stock Pub, 1985.
Bruce, F.F., The
Canon of Scripture. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1988.
Cain,
Andrew. The Letters of Jerome:
Asceticism, Biblical Exegesis, and the Construction of Christian Authority in Late Antiquity. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2009.
Charles,
Canon. The Apocalypse of Baruch and the Assumption of Moses. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1929.
Ellis,
Earle. The Old Testament in Early Christianity. Tubingen: J.C. B. Mohr,
1991.
Harkas,
Stanley. Orthodox Christian Beliefs About the Bible. Minneapolis: Light
and Life Publishing Company, 2003.
Hengel,
Martin, The Septuagint As Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the
Problem of its Canon. Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Academic, 2002.
Jerome.
“Jerome’s Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus.” Edited by Philip
Schaff. In A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian
Church Series II Vol 3. Grand Rapids,
MI: Eerdmans, 1993.
_________.
“Preface to the Book of Hebrew Questions” Edited by Philip Schaff. In A Select Library
of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church Series II
Vol. 6 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1993).
Jobes,
Karen; Silva, Moises. Invitation
to the Septuagint (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005),
McDonald,
Lee. The Biblical Canon: Its Origin, Transmission, and Authority (Peabody:
Hendrickson Pub Inc, 2007), 38.
White,
Caroline. The Correspondance (394-419)
Between Jerome and Augustine of Hippo. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press,
1990.
Williams,
Megan. The Monk and the Book: Jerome and the Making of Christian Scholarship.
Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2006.
