Lutheran Essentials meets in the undercroft of the church on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. You can reach the undercroft by going around to the back parking lot of the church and descending the staircase to the kitchen. Knock on the door if it is closed and some one will let you in. Our current study is on the Canon of Scripture. The book we are using is F. F. Bruce’s “The Canon of Scripture”. If you do not have a copy we are providing them for free. We are also continuing to provide the Book of Concord for free.
The Psalm for this session is Psalm 13. The Small Catechism lesson is the Sixth Commandment.
This week we will continue our study on the New Testament canon with the sixteenth chapter The New Testament: Eusebius of Caesarea. We will read the section on Acknowledge, Disputed and Spurious Books (pg. 198-200) and the Rejected Gospels and Acts (pg. 200-203) during which we will discuss what books Eusebius considered to be canon or not from his perspective as a historian of the church. We will then read the section Constantine’s Fifty Bibles (pg. 203-205) and talk about how this generous donation set the standard for all following Bibles. Finally we will read the section on The Early Uncials (pg. 205-207) and see what the oldest complete Bibles we have include for their New Testament. We will finish this chapter by singing the hymn “For All the Saints” (LSB 677).
We will then read the seventeenth chapter The New Testament: Athanasius and After. We will read the section on Athanasius on the New Testament (pg. 208-210) and see what he included. We will also read the section on St. John Chryosotom (pg. 214) and see what his opinions are as well. We will skip the other sections in this chapter. We will finish this chapter by singing “All Glory be to God Alone” (LSB 948).
We will then read the eighteenth chapter The New Testament: The West in the Fourth Century to Jerome. We will read the section on the Attack on the Christian Scriptures (pg. 216-217), where we will look at what impact the persecutions of the Roman emperors impacted the canon. We will then read Athanasius Visits Rome (pg. 221) to discuss how the Epistle of Hebrews became associated with St. Paul in the western church. We will then read the section on Jerome (pg. 225-229) and look at his view on Scripture. We will skip the other sections in this chapter. We will finish by singing “Lord Jesus Christ, You Have Prepared” (LSB 622).
If we have time we will read the nineteenth chapter The New Testament: Augustine to the End of the Middle Ages. We will read the section on Augustine (pg. 230-232) and see his thoughts on the canon. We will skip the other sections in this chapter. We will finish by singing “God Has Spoken by His Prophets” (LSB 583).
Finally we will finish out our discussion of the New Testament by reading The New Testament: The New Testament Canon in the Age of Printing. We will read the section Before Luther (pg. 241-243) to see how Luther’s contemporaries regarded the canon. We will then read Luther’s New Testament (pg. 243-245) and get his thoughts on the New Testament canon. We will skip the other sections in this chapter. We will finish this chapter by singing “Salvation Unto Us Has Come” (LSB 555)
As always new people are always welcome to this study at any point during the class. Please talk to the Pastor, Elders or Paul Edmon if you have any questions.
