An Indicative Definition of the Canon

One cannot explain why one book is chosen over another book by a set of standards or norms. One must avoid the terminology of “criteria” and its connotation of an external standard. The canonical process was multifaceted and complex, both in the way that each community formulated its own understanding of authoritative scriptures and the rationale implied in the selection. We need to apply a different kind of logic to understand how the process worked in defining the canon by drawing on the conceptual resources of analytical philosophy on blurred definitions. The result of this process, the definition of the canon, is explained by indicative logic.