the-bible-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls

CHAPTER EIGHT
4QSAM a (= 4Q51), THE CANON, AND THE COMMUNITY
OF LAY READERS
Donald W. Parry
INTRODUCTION
The topic of the biblical “canon” is complex and enigmatic. Sometimes
in a puzzling manner, scholars and theologians use a variety of expressions
to describe aspects of the canon, including scripture, authoritative text,
sacred book, canonical criticism, canonical process, open/closed canon, and canonical
text. Scholars do not always agree on the definition of canon, 1 its historical
and sociopolitical framework, its original composition, or its meaning
to different religious sects. 2 Other puzzling items connected to the canon
pertain to our uncertainty as to what rules fixed the canon, what authorities
or council(s) established it, who was authorized to include/exclude
texts, which variant versions were considered, or how the content of the
collection was determined. None of the texts of the Bible speak directly
about the establishment of a canon, none of the prophets revealed guidelines,
and the Torah itself is silent on the subject. The canonization
occurred centuries after the texts of the canon were created, perhaps in
the last literary stages of the various texts. Also, as is well known, canon
is a Greek term used by Christian theologians for a Christian collection
of sacred works. There is no equivalent term in the Hebrew Bible or
early Jewish literature—Jewish authorities refer to scriptural books as
works that “defile the hands” (m. Yad. 3.5; 4.6).
1. On the problems with the definition of canon, see Thomas A. Hoffman,
“Inspiration, Normativeness, Canonicity, and the Unique Sacred Character of the
Bible,” CBQ 44 (1982): 463–65 and the bibliography in nn48-49. See also Eugene C.
Ulrich, “The Canonical Process, Textual Criticism, and Latter Stages in the Composition
of the Bible,” in Sha(arei Talmon: Studies in the Bible, Qumran, and the Ancient Near
East Presented to Shemaryahu Talmon (ed. M. A. Fishbane, E. Tov, and W. W. Fields;
Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1992), 269–70.
2. See James A. Sanders, “Biblical Criticism and the Bible as Canon,” USQR 32
(Fall 1976): 157–65, esp. 160–62.
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