in several ways in the late 1970s and 1980s, but no scholarly consensus emerged. Scholarly opinion remains divided over the origins and history of the canon. There are, however, two basic positions with variations on the theme. Sid Leiman and Roger Beckwith argue that the canon was closed by the second century BCE, whereas Albert Sundberg and John Barton maintain that it remained open well into the first centuries of the Common Era. These views have their detractors and supporters, and neither side