Canon and Criterion in Christian Theology

From the Fathers to Feminism

By: William J. Abraham

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Paperback | 1 February 2002

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528 Pages

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21.6 x 14.3 x 3.2

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Canon and Criterion in Christian Theology provides an original and important narrative on the significance of canon in the Christian tradition. Standard accounts of canon reduce canon to scripture and treat scripture as a criterion of truth. Scripture is then related in positive or negative ways to tradition, reason, and experience. Such projects involve a misreading of the meaning and content of canon --- they locate the canonical heritage of the church within epistemology --- and Abraham charts the fatal consequences of this move, from the Fathers to modern feminist theology. In the process he shows that the central epistemological concerns of the Enlightenment have Christian origins and echoes. He also shows that the crucial developments of theology from the Reformation onwards involve extraordinary efforts to fix the foundations of faith. This trajectory is now exhausted theologically and spiritually. Hence, the door is opened for a recovery of the full canonical heritage of the early church and for fresh work on the epistemology of theology.

Industry Reviews

`Review from previous edition This book has a single idea, and a very good one. It is that Christians ought not treat their ecclesial canons as if they were epistemic criteria.' Paul J. Griffiths, (Blackwell Publishers, 2000). `The great virtue of Abraham's book lies not, I think, in its discussions of particular thinkers (interesting and challenging though these always are) so much as in its clear analysis of what it is to epistemize the canon and of the deleterious effects of doing so. For this alone the book ought to be widely read and used by theologians as a tool for intellectual self-examination.' Paul J. Griffiths, (Blackwell Publishers, 2000). `While this book is aimed primarily at his fellow philosophers and theologians, it deserves a wider readership as well. It is elegantly written and marked by numerous memorable lines and striking turns of phrase.' Jerry L Walls, Theology Today, January 2000 `This is an unusually ambitious book ... a considerable achievement. It raises important issues, and affords many valuable insights in the course of its historical reflections.' Maurice Wiles, Journal of Theological Studies `Every issue and thinker is expounded clearly and concisely, with attention always drawn to strengths as well as weaknesses. To this non-specialist the argument was always accessible and regularly persuasive.' The Expository Times

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