impleri

The end of t he term is nigh and I’m spending the weekend reading books (8 from my collection, 14 from the school library) and writing my paper. Yet, it never fails that when it comes time to write, I am more interested in wasting time (see here). The most ironic part is that I’m actually interested in what I write, but I always get that last minute urge to do something–anything!–else. Anyhow, as this is one of those moments, I felt that I can reclaim it by narrowing what my paper topic is: the role that “tradition” and “orthodoxy” play in the game of interpreting and defining “sacred scriptures” (e.g. the Canon, the Bible, etc). By looking at the way books such as Shepherd of Hermas, Epistle of Barnabas, and 1 & 2 Maccabees have been treated in 1st - 4th century Christianity (and Judaism where appropriate), I think I will find some interesting ideas behind the process of canonization.