Michael J. Kruger

En la historia del cristianismo, el siglo II tiene cada vez más importancia. No solo es el eslabón que conecta el nacimiento de la Iglesia y su institucionalización en los siglos III y IV, sino que anticipa los rasgos de su fisonomia futura.Una de las claves de este periodo, a menudo olvidado, es el incremento de los creyentes venidos de la gentilidad y su paulatina visibilidad en la sociedad grecorromana, que los convertira en una amenaza para el modo de vida imperante.En el interior de la Iglesia, se inicia el cambio de las estructuras y del liderazgo para salvaguardar el equilibrio entre la rica pluralidad de los distintos grupos y la unidad que ofrece una regla de fe compartida. Por otra parte, la estima de los cristianos por los libros y la escritura hace que se asemejen mas a una filosofia de vida que a una religion. En esta linea, desarrollaran una literatura apologetica para defenderse y fijaran el canon de los textos que se consideran Palabra de Dios.Cuando el siglo II llegue a su fin, el cristianismo ya habra provocado en la sociedad algunos cambios que anuncian el comienzo de una nueva epoca.Michael J. Kruger es profesor de Nuevo Testamento y origenes del cristianismo en el Reformed Theological Seminary de Charlotte (Carolina del Norte).

"I cant imagine a college studentskeptic, doubter, Christian, strugglerwho wouldnt benefit from this book." Kevin DeYoungFor many young adults, the college years are an exciting period of selfdiscovery full of new relationships, new independence, and new experiences. Yet college can also be a time of personal testing and intense questioning especially for Christian students confronted with various challenges to Christianity and the Bible for the first time.Drawing on years of experience as a biblical scholar, Michael Kruger addresses common objections to the Christian faiththe exclusivity of Christianity, Christian intolerance, homosexuality, hell, the problem of evil, science, miracles, and the reliability of the Bible.If youre a student dealing with doubt or wrestling with objections to Christianity from fellow students and professors alike, this book will equip you to engage secular challenges with intellectual honesty, compassion, and confidenceand ultimately graduate college with your faith intact.

Given the popular-level conversations on phenomena like the Gospel of Thomas and Bart Ehrmans Misquoting Jesus, as well as the current gap in evangelical scholarship on the origins of the New Testament, Michael Krugers Canon Revisited meets a significant need for an up-to-date work on canon by addressing recent developments in the field. He presents an academically rigorous yet accessible study of the New Testament canon that looks deeper than the traditional surveys of councils and creeds, mining the text itself for direction in understanding what the original authors and audiences believed the canon to be.Canon Revisited provides an evangelical introduction to the New Testament canon that can be used in seminary and college classrooms, and read by pastors and educated lay leaders alike. In contrast to the prior volumes on canon, this volume distinguishes itself by placing a substantial focus on the theology of canon as the context within which the historical evidence is evaluated and assessed. Rather than simply discussing the history of canonrehashing the Patristic data yet againKruger develops a strong theological framework for affirming and authenticating the canon as authoritative. In effect, this work successfully unites both the theology and the historical development of the canon, ultimately serving as a practical defense for the authority of the New Testament books.

Beginning with Walter Bauer in 1934, the denial of clear orthodoxy in early Christianity has shaped and largely defined modern New Testament criticism, recently given new life through the work of spokesmen like Bart Ehrman. Spreading from academia into mainstream media, the suggestion that diversity of doctrine in the early church led to many competing orthodoxies is indicative of todays postmodern relativism. Authors Kostenberger and Kruger engage Ehrman and others in this polemic against a dogged adherence to popular ideals of diversity.Kostenberger and Krugers accessible and careful scholarship not only counters the "Bauer Thesis" using its own terms, but also engages overlooked evidence from the New Testament. Their conclusions are drawn from analysis of the evidence of unity in the New Testament, the formation and closing of the canon, and the methodology and integrity of the recording and distribution of religious texts within the early church.