Irenaeus, the Scriptures, and the Apostolic Writings: Reevaluating the Status of the New Testament Writings at the End of the Second Century(The Library of New Testament Studies)

Kenneth Laing challenges the concept of Irenaeus as the primary witness to the point at which the New Testament achieved scriptural status, and calls into question some of the most basic conclusions and assumptions of New Testament canon formation scholarship. Laing proposes a new interpretation of Irenaeus’ understanding of the nature and basis of authority of the New Testament writings, based on his christocentric theology of revelation. By exploring the texts themselves, the concept of authority, scriptural tradition and the question of inspiration, Laing argues that while the writings possess authority equal to the Jewish scriptures, it is their apostolic origin and the apostles' relationship to Christ – not inspiration – which forms the basis of the unique revelatory authority of the New Testament writings. Laing thus stresses that Irenaeus regards the New Testament writings as a written record of the apostolic tradition and the primary means of accessing its content, rather than as a purely scriptural text.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Part One: Assessing the traditional interpretation Chapter 1: The apostolic writings and graphê Chapter 2: Authoritative texts or authoritative authors? Part Two: Constructing an alternative interpretation Chapter 3: The apostolic writings and the tradition, the rule of truth, and the Jewish scriptures Chapter 4: The question of inspiration Conclusion Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Kenneth Laing is Instructor of Religious Studies at Trinity Western University, Canada.

Review :
Laing’s detailed and clearly written study of Irenaeus includes several astute observations on a number of subjects that have too often been overlooked or treated in a simplistic fashion.