Banned Questions About the Bible

Q.

Why haven’t any new books been added?

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closed. There are still differences among religious groups on exactly what is

and is not canon, but there is no possibility of any new books being added.

The books that are in the Bible were chosen because they were used consis-

tently by many church communities and were largely universally considered

as relevant and authoritative.

Although the canon was not ratifi ed until the late fourth century, there

were many proposals of a canon prior to that point. In most of them, the books

mentioned as deserving of consideration as scripture are often very close, if

not identical, to the books that we now view as the Bible. So even though there

were some books that some groups felt should be included yet were not, and

some books that groups felt shouldn’t be included that were, for the most part

the Bible we have now has been used for most of the last two thousand years.

Because of this shared history of communities viewing these books as

scripture, nothing added now would have the same historical importance to

the church as the books in the Bible. While other Christian writings can and

do gain importance for various communities, recognition as actual scripture

requires a tradition of acceptance throughout the history of the church as a

component and that is something that no new book can have.

Scriptural References

Jeremiah 31:32–34; Romans 15:4; 2 Timothy 3:14–17; Revelation 22:18–19

Suggested Additional Sources for Reading

• Craig D. Allert, A High View of Scripture? The Authority of the Bible and the
  Formation of the New Testament Canon (Baker Academic, 2007).


• Karen Armstrong, The Bible: A Biography (Grove, 2008).


• Luke Timothy Johnson, The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation
  (Fortress Press, 2002), especially the epilogue.


• Lee Martin McDonald, The Biblical Canon: Its Origin, Transmission, and
  Authority (Hendrickson, 2007).


• Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, eds., Oxford Guide to the Bible
  (Oxford Univ. Press, 2004), especially “Canon” by Andrie B. du Toit.


• Jaroslav Pelikan, Whose Bible Is It? A Short History of the Scriptures
  (Penguin, 2005).

Suggested Questions for Further Discussion/Thought

1. Do you think the Bible is open or closed for additions? Why?


2. If you believe the Bible is open, what criteria should be used to determine
   whether a book is “scripture worthy”?

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