The Vitality of Scripture Within and Beyond the “Canon”

Abstract Challenging divisions between canonical and marginal texts, this essay critically evaluates the borrowing of the term “canon” from an Athanasian context and offers alternatives for thinking about the formation of scriptural authority in ancient Judaism. This essay focuses on the vitality of scripture as a corrective to scholarship which emphasizes canon, library, and prophetic cessation. To understand the authority of scripture is to understand scripture’s vitality in Ancient Judaism and, if the term “canon” is used, it should be used in a way that reflects this vitality.