Monday, April 28, 2008

Scoring the books of the canon: the Marcionite prologues

This post builds on the previous ones outlining a system for evaluating early Christian writings and an initial evaluation of the canon lists I will be reviewing. This post begins the first review of an actual canon list according to the system outlined: a review of the Marcionite prologues. As mentioned before, the Marcionite prologues are dated somewhere between 100-199 A.D., which gives a raw weight of 3.0 to a list. However, the Marcionite prologues show less interest in history than in whether a writing conforms to certain theological preconceptions, and accordingly has a lower weight than the base value for its date of origin. The adjusted weight for the Marcionite prologues is 1.50, which will be used as the multiplier in the final column below to determine each book's weighted score for this particular canon list.
Early Christian writingClassification in current listRaw scoreList weighted score
MatthewNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
MarkNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
LukeAccepted without reservation55 x 1.50 = 7.50
JohnNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
ActsNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
RomansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.50 = 7.50
1 CorinthiansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.50 = 7.50
2 CorinthiansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.50 = 7.50
GalatiansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.50 = 7.50
Ephesians*Accepted without reservation55 x 1.50 = 7.50
PhilippiansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.50 = 7.50
ColossiansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.50 = 7.50
1 ThessaloniansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.50 = 7.50
2 ThessaloniansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.50 = 7.50
1 TimothyNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
2 TimothyNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
TitusNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
PhilemonAccepted without reservation55 x 1.50 = 7.50
HebrewsNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
JamesNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
1 PeterNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
2 PeterNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
JudeNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
1 JohnNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
2 JohnNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
3 JohnNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
RevelationNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
Acts of PaulNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
Acts of PeterNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
Apocalpyse of PeterNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
Epistle of BarnabasNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
Letter to the AlexandrinesNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
Letter to the Laodiceans*Not mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
Shepherd of HermasNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00
Teachings of the ApostlesNot mentioned00 x 1.50 = 0.00

* Ephesians: If F.F. Bruce's judgment is correct that what we know as Paul's letter to the Ephesians was, in this list, mistakenly identified as being to the Laodiceans. Anyone interested can re-run the evaluations in question with the appropriate score being moved from the letter to the Ephesians and placed instead on the letter to the Laodiceans.



A quick note on the list of books: the list here contains all of the books named on any of the five canon lists I am reviewing in this series, regardless of whether the mention is positive or negative. The order of the books is for the convenience of the reader: since the books are listed in different orders on the various lists, the books are listed here in common canonical order for the canonical books, followed by an alphabetical listing of the non-canonical books mentioned.

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