the canon. They say that the Bible alone cannot be our authority because the Bible does not tell us what books are in the Bible. They argue that the church must tell us what books are in the Bible. When they say the church must tell us, they mean that popes and councils must tell us. This implies that we did not have a Bible until Pope Damasus offered a list of the canon in 382, or, perhaps, until 1546, when the Council of Trent became the first “ecumenical” council to define the canon. But the people
Page 11