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Book Review: The Bible, the Church, and Authority: The Canon of the Christian Bible in History and Theology

THIS SMALL BUT USEFUL BOOK explores the origins of the Christian Bible and the meaning of that process for Christian faith today. Lienhard summarizes for his readers—mainly college students and lay persons—the process of the formation of the biblical canon. He guides his readers through several complex issues of canon formation and the implications of that inquiry for modern theology and Christian faith (Chaps. 1, 6, 7). After describing the Christian adoption of the Old Testament (Chap. 2)—what he calls the "biggest corporate takeover in history," he concludes that Christians took as their first scriptures the not yet completed biblical canon that existed in first century Judaism before the Christians separated from the synagogue. He claims that the third part of the Old Testament canon was still in a state of flux in Judaism until some time in the second century, but that the Law and Prophets were already settled before the time of Jesus. He believes that the Prophets were essentially settled by 200 BC, but does not answer why they were not included in the Septuagint until much later. In this matter he merely states his position, but does not support it sufficiently with evidence. He rightly observes that early Christians interpreted the Old Testament primarily in prophetic and christological categories.