Canon Shapes Community

Walter Bauer’s (d. 1960) discussion of canon in the last century has led many scholars to believe that the early church created the canon by choosing the books that should be included in it.  This is a popular theory today, but it’s not one without holes.  Michael Kruger and Andreas Kostenberger argue well against Bauer’s …

A Closed Canon

   In 1934, Walter Bauer argued that there was no clear line between heresy and orthodoxy in the early church, but since the orthodox were stronger, their views eventually prevailed in what we now call the New Testament (a sort of survival of the fittest).  Bart Ehrman has taken this thesis and run with it.  …

Christianity or Christianities?

Though our readers might not know who Walter Bauer is, I’m sure many of you have heard of Bart Ehrman.  Ehrman has written scores of books, including Misquoting Jesus, Lost Christianities, Lost Scriptures, and The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture (among others).  One major part of Ehrman’s writing is his revival of Bauer’s 100-year-old thesis.  What …