The Integrity of the Biblical Canon in Light of Its Historical ...

MCDONALD: The Integrity of the Biblical Canon 131
of one harmonious text, how can we today take seriously a biblical
canon that has so much diversity in it? Is this not the root of much of
the current diversity within the Church, as Ernest Käsemann and Kurt
Aland have claimed? Is it more appropriate to try to reconcile all the
divergent texts, as some Christians are prone to do, or can we find a
way to listen to their individual messages in a manner that confronts
the Church with its true identity and clarifies its mission?
And what are we to do with those texts that no longer seem relevant
to the Christian community? Do we have the same right as the
churches in the fourth through the sixth century to accept or reject
that which is generally considered no longer useful? What, for
instance, are we to do with the purification laws of the OT, including
the laws in Leviticus dealing with a woman's menstrual cycle, or what
about those texts that seem to offend our sense of justice, such as
when ancient Israelite armies are called upon to slay men, women,
and children as well as the animals of those whom they conquered?
Other examples also include the slaughter of thousands of Israelites
because God, it was believed, commanded justice over the rape and
death of the woman in Judg 19:22-30 and also the rape of the women
(virgins) in Judg 21:15-24 that allowed for the preservation of the
tribe of Benjamin. 88 And what of the fairness of the subordinate role
of women in the Church today or the hateful and vengeful attitudes
in the imprecatory Psalms (Psalms 58, 83, 109, etc.) compared to Jesus'
call to love one's enemies (Matt 5:43-48)? Why are such texts in the
Bible, and how can they continue to address us as Word of God today?
These are questions that continue to plague the canonical discussion.
Our study has argued that the first Christians were not so much
interested in biblical canons as they were in the Lord of the Church
who called them into existence as a community of faith. The writings
that best communicated that call to obedience were employed in the
Church in its faith and mission. In the later process of determining
what literature best reflected the Church's true identity, many writings
that had earlier appealed to some Christians did not continue as
such in subsequent generations. There was never a time when the
Church as a whole concluded that these writings and no others could
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in several of the church fathers, but generally speaking, the leaders of the church recognized
the differences and allowed them to exist side by side. Eusebius does not hesitate
to try to reconcile difficulties when he found them (see Hist. eccl. 1.7.1-17 on the
two genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke), but this does not take away from my
point.
88. The taking of women to be wives while they were on their way to the yearly
festival at Shiloh according to the Book of Judges is essentially rape and abduction
since the women had no choice in the matter.