|  | Freethought & Rationalism ArchiveThe archives are read only. | 
| 
 | |||||||
|  | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | 
|  10-22-2011, 04:26 PM | #1 | 
| Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa 
					Posts: 9,337
				 |  I Figured Out Why the Muratorian Canon Lists 1 Corinthians First in the Canon 
			
			And I did it while driving home from Target no less.  The answer is quite simple.  All the letters are currently listed in order of length, Romans being the longest so it is first in the 'Pauline letter section' (= Apostolikon).  The Muratorian canon is a Roman letter reflecting the practices and beliefs of the Roman Church.  All evidence points to the early Roman Church only possessing a 14 chapter letter to the Romans (i.e. with chapters 15 and 16 not present).  The only early witnesses for these chapters in Romans are Alexandrians (Clement and Origen).  If the idea was that you had to order letters by length, a fourteen chapter Romans would be shorter than the current 1 Corinthians.  As such the Muratorian canon lists 1 Corinthians before Romans.   I also found some cheap bananas at the Target, in case anyone is interested ... | 
|   | 
|  10-22-2011, 04:34 PM | #2 | |
| Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa 
					Posts: 9,337
				 |   
			
			No apparently I should stick to bargain hunting.  That can't be the explanation.  The order of the epistles there places Romans last which seems to contradict my assumptions: Quote: 
 | |
|   | 
|  10-23-2011, 07:51 AM | #3 | ||
| Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Mondcivitan Republic 
					Posts: 2,550
				 |   
			
			Must be the potassium in them there bananas that saved your thinking processes from certain ruin.  Search out earlier posts that include David Trobisch for analysis of letters based on length. DCH Quote: 
 | ||
|   | 
|  10-26-2011, 05:29 AM | #4 | 
| Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Atlanta 
					Posts: 2,060
				 |   
			
			Just a though. 1 Corinthians was the first Pauliune epistle, and it appeared in the early second century in opposition to the Cerinthians. Jake | 
|   | 
| Thread Tools | Search this Thread | 
| 
 |