Foundation of Canon

Arland Hultgren writes, "He has written that while there is a 'formal' canon-the complete, officially recognized canon-there is in practice for each Christian confession or theological camp an 'effective' canon, which is selective and based on the self-understanding of each confession or theological persuasion, and he calls for all Christians to come to terms again with the whole 'formal' canon and thereby achieve unity of faith and church."

This again goes to the two distinct canons within the Church. There is the formal canon which is Holy Scripture. Then there is an "effective" canon. Here he does not mean the canon which is heard in the Lectionary. But a confessional canon is those texts that support theology and practice of the church. The "effective" canon is made up of selected parts of the "formal" canon.

Thus, if you are going to put a lectionary together you would only use texts from the "effective" canon. These texts help to support the theology of your church body. This would make a firm foundation from which your church could preach. The problem with this is that it would avoid preaching the full counsel of God.

The foundation of the Chruch is ultimately based upon Christ. The preaching and teaching of the Church comes from Holy Scripture. But there needs to be a correlation made between the "formal" canon and "effective" canon. If there is only a limited correlation, then our faith is not founded on Christ nor his Word. Thank you.

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