How was the Christian Bible formed? What criteria did the early Church use to determine which writings should be accepted as authoritative and which should not? How did the idea of a "canon" of sacred scriptures develop?

In this important historical study, Lee Manin McDonald tells the story of how the Christian Church got its Bible, drawing on both modern critical scholarship and ancient sources. This book raises Important questions about the function of the canon in churches today and about the validity of the concept of a closed Christian canon.

"McDonald presents a timely and much needed perspective on the formation and function of the Christian canon. In this sane and perceptive study, he brings together modern perspectives in canoni- cal criticismi with quotations from the ancient sources which are nowhere else so easily accessible. Since the Christian canon is the church's book, it is felicitous to have this in-depth study by a practicing pastor."