Constantine's Canon

Review of David L Dungan, Constantine's Bible: Politics and the Making of the New Testament, SCM, (2006). ISBN: 0334041058.

Constantine's Bible is at the same time a history of the development of scripture and of the canon. Of course, these two histories are normally seen to be identical; in other words, canon and scripture are synonyms. Early on Dungan explains something of his rationale for this separation of commonly entwined concepts:

We lose sight of something truly important if we use the term canon as a synonym for any and every conglomeration of scripture. In what follows, I will demonstrate that the legal imposition of a kanon (Latin: regula, a rule, regulation) upon Christian scripture along with a kanon of the correct summary of doctrine (the creed), and the enforcement of both with the full power of the Roman government, was a phenomenon unique to fourth - and fifth - century Christianity (p. 8).

In the first chapter "What a 'Canon' of Scripture is - and is not" Dungan elucidates the distinct concepts of scripture and canon by means of a study of the concepts in other religions. In his comparative religious study Dungan concludes that while a great many religions have the concept of scripture understood as as a set of "semidurable, semifluid, slowly evolving conglomeration of sacred texts ... in use by members of a religious tradition" over a prolonged period (p. 2). A canon however is different and is taken to be the resulting collection of texts "when someone seeks to impose a strict boundary around a smaller subset of writings or teachings" (p. 3). Chapters two through to offer historical overviews of the two trends in Christian history. In particular, Dungan locates the appeal to the canon as a legacy of Greek philosophy, especially the concern for accuracy that accompanied the Polis. With it there arose a concern for uniformity across the Christian Churches glimpses of which can be found in the New Testament emphasis on the proper construction of the ekklesia, as demonstrated in the Pastoral Epistles. In in the highlight of the book Dungan examines the tests of authenticity used in Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History; which, quite apart from the role in plays in Dungan's argument is a superb read. While the debate over the content of holy scripture had died down in decades following Marcion's challenge the Christian church had a broadly agreed scripture, it did not however have a canon. This came under the directian of the emporer Constantine had he launched into the political and theological debates that raged throughout the Christian world. One of Constantine's early actions was to order from Eusebius 50 bibles to place in his new state-sponsored church building endeavour. The effect, says Dungan was to creat a Christian canon for the first time:

After Constantine's Bible had been produced, and in the tense atmosphere that followed the Council of Nicaea, what bishop would dare use a bible in his cathedral that differed in content from the ones used by the bishops in Constaninople? He would likely be informed upon and investigated. He could lose his office or worse! (p. 122.).

Hence from this point on, canon=law, where before the language of discussion concerning the authenticity of the New Testament documents had been made with vocabulary such as genuine, spurious, or disputed texts the language was now between canonical (legal) texts and non-canonical (illegal) ones. And, as my previous quotation of Dungan's made clear, the integrity of the church was damaged as a result.