Book Report on Canon Revisited by Michael J. Kruger

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Book Report

The book entitled Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books written by Michael J. Kruger explains the canonical model by which the books of the New Testament were selected as the right word of God. The correctness of the canon has always troubled Christians; they have always wanted to know that the twenty-seven books of the New Testament are the rights ones. In his book, Kruger answers many typical questions asked by people in relation to the New Testament, its structure and its authenticity as God’s word. For example, he shows what all of the selected books have in common and why any of the existing apocryphal books is not in the Bible. The book Canon Revisited is for Christians who want to know what the canon is, what defines the canon, how its model is applicable to the New Testament books and in what way believers can be sure that the New Testament books are inspired by God Himself and are not the product of the human mind.
In the first part of his book, Michael J. Kruger offers the grounds on which the canon was established. He explains the historical determinants of the canon, giving various explanations of the factors, which influenced people’s understanding of what had to be accepted as canonical and what needed to be excluded from the canonical model. Kruger particularly mentions the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has its own understanding of the authority of the canon and says that the Bible is not the only authority to the Roman Catholic Church, since its main authority is “the pope and his bishops”. He explains that traditions are also extremely important to the Catholics and that they are an indispensable part of their canonical model, which is constructed ...

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...’s entire explanation of the nature of the canon is the combination of all the existing statements on the matter and his own ideas about the canon rather than the statements from the Bible.
Consequently, the book Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books is an extremely enlightening source of information related to the canon and its development in history. In his argument, Michael J. Kruger basically refers to a number of literary sources, but he hardly ever uses verses from the Bible to prove his point. Nevertheless, the book is very explanatory and logical and develops in readers a completely new understanding of the canon and the church, especially the Roman Catholic Church.

Bibliography
Kruger, Michael. Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament
Books. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012.

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