Canonizing the Christian Bible: A Simulation

Every couple of years I teach a class called “How the Bible Became Holy” (and no, I do not assign my book).  The past few times I have taught it I have concluded with a simulation exercise – a game, really – in which different Christian groups (and the rabbis!) meet to settle on a canon.  Each time I run it I tweak it a bit so the rules are never quite the same as they were previously.

This year the class will be divided into two groups and each will run the simulation simultaneously.  My teaching assistant for the course, Noah Tetenbaum, will lead one section and I will lead the other.  The simulation will take place on Tuesday, May 1, beginning at 2:30 PM EDT (and going until around 5:30 PM).  We will each live tweet the proceedings under the hashtags #bibsim1 and #bibsim2.  I encourage you to join us (for part or whole) and chime in – students will watch the tweet stream live as the simulation progresses.

Below is a description of the exercise (modified a bit for public consumption):

Canonizing Scripture

BACKGROUND

We are sometime in the fourth century CE in Constantinople.  The Roman emperor, a devout Christian (and also a practical ruler), spurred by the bishops in his court and concerned about both growing Christian diversity and his own eternal salvation, has recently convened a series of synods to hash out “orthodox” Christian theology.  They have not gone particularly well.  While some bishops were able to develop creeds that they could live with, other participants left angry and alienated.  Chastened by the limited success of these synods, he has decided to address an issue that he hopes will be significantly easier to resolve: the confusing state of “scripture” within the Church.  Does the Church need a canon, and if so, what should be in it?  Primarily of interest to the bishops is whether, should it be decided that a canon is desirable, any parts of the Hebrew Bible should be included.

You have been summoned to participate in this Synod.  Representatives of the competing parties will attend; the emperor expects you all to arrive at an agreement.  Representatives of the Jewish community have also been invited to participate.

[N.B.  This Synod is a historical fantasy.  There was no Synod convened at this time to canonize the Christian Bible.  If there was, Jews would not have been invited and some of the other participants would have been long dead.   This is pretend.]

PARTICIPANTS

The Emperor [the instructor, naturally!]

The Bishops within the Royal Court

Marcionites

Montanists

Gnostics

Rabbis

PROCEDURE AND SCHEDULE

Prior to class on April 26:

1. Everybody should read the following: Eusebius, Church History, 3.24-25; Athanasius, Selection from Letter 39; Harry Gamble, “The Canon of the New Testament”
2. Due to the size of the class, we will play this simulation in two groups, simultaneously. You will each be assigned to one of these two groups (1 or 2) and a role (A-E).
3. At the end of this sheet you will see resources to get you started so that you understand your group and your position. Prior to April 26 you must do some research on your group.  It would also be very helpful for you to research some of the other groups so that you understand their positions and motivations.

April 26

Much of this class will be spent in your groups.  By the end of class you should have formulated your “victory objectives.”  This should be a list of three to five goals (outcomes of the Synod) that align with your role.  Each objective should be assigned points; the sum of all the points should be 100.  At the end of the Synod the groups will be scored based on these objectives in order to determine who won.

April 30, 11:59 PM: Paper due.  This is the opening speech that you, in character, would deliver at the Synod.  This is individual, not group, work, and your group presentation might well differ.  It should run about five pages.

THE SYNOD

 Our simulation will take place on May 1, 2:30-5:30 PM.  The locations will be announced.

Procedure

1. Each group will denote a representative to deliver its opening statement. The statement should run 5-7 minutes, no less.  Each statement will be followed by about 5 minutes of questioning;
2. After the opening statements, groups will meet/negotiate for about 30 minutes;
3. A second round of statements (which can be shorter than the first), each followed by Q&A period;
4. A shorter round of negotiations (10 minutes);
5. A vote to determine if the Rabbis will get to vote (the Rabbis themselves do not vote);
6. Each group or “team” of groups gets to make a proposal;
7. Vote on the proposals (following the rules in [5]; whether Rabbis vote or not depends on the outcome at that stage);
8. Calculation of winner, followed by general discussion.

FOLLOW-UP

Please submit an assessment of the simulation: how did it go?  What did you learn from it?

Simulation Resources 

The resources listed here are meant to serve as a starting point.  You should try to look at as many of these as you can for your role (and may want to split up opposition research).  They each contain extensive bibliographies that you should use to continue your research.  If you go outside of this web of resources (e.g., just start googling) be careful – there is a lot of material of dubious quality and you are not yet in a position to discern between the better and worse resources.

To understand the position of the emperor, you might want to take a look at the following books.  They all discuss Constantine, who serves as something of a model, and his relationship to the emerging “Orthodox” church.

1. D. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius
2. A. Drake, Constantine and the Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance
3. Potter, Constantine: The Emperor

The Bishops

These are those who would come to define “orthodoxy” in the Church and who worked (sometimes in tension) with the imperial court.

1. Rapp: Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity: The Nature of Christian Leadership in an Age of Transition
2. Harries, Law and Empire in Late Antiquity
3. L. Noethlichs, “Revolution from the Top? ‘Orthodoxy’ and the Persecution of Heretics in Imperial Legislation from Constantine to Justinian,” in Religion and Law in Classical and Christian Rome (ed. Ando and Rüpke), pp. 115-125

Marcionites

1. Barton, Holy Writings, Sacred Text: The Canon in Early Christianity, chapters 1 and 2
2. Quispel, “Marcion and the Text of the New Testament,” in Vigiliae Christianae 52 (1998): 349-360
3. Lieu, Marcion and the Making of a Heretic: God and Scripture in the Second Century
4. Vinzent, Marcion and the Dating of the Synoptic Gospels

Montanists

1. De Soyres, Montanism and the Primitive Church: A Study in the Ecclesiastical History of the Second Century
2. Trevett, Montanism: Gender, Authority, and the New Prophecy
3. Denzey, “What did the Montanists Read?,” Harvard Theological Review 94 (2001): 427-448

Gnostics

1. Painchaud, “The Use of Scripture in Gnostic Literature,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 4 (1996): 129-146
2. King, What is Gnosticism?
3. Perkins, “Gnosticism and the Christian Bible,” in The Canon Debate (ed. L. M. McDonald), chapter 21

Rabbis

1. M. McDonald, ed., The Canon Debate, chapters 3, 10, 15, 16
2. Satlow, How the Bible Became Holy, chapter 15