Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 24:3 (Fall 2020)
Article: What Do James, Peter, John, And Jude Have In Common? Arguing For The Canonical Collection Of The Catholic Epistles
Author: Darian R. Lockett

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What Do James, Peter, John, And Jude Have In Common? Arguing For The Canonical Collection Of The Catholic Epistles

Darian R. Lockett

Darian R. Lockett is Professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, La Mirada, California. He earned his MDiv from Midwestern Seminary and his PhD in New Testament Studies from the University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland. Dr. Lockett is the author of Understanding Biblical Theology (with Edward Klink, Zondervan, 2012); An Introduction to the Catholic Epistles (T&T Clark, 2012); Purity and Worldview in the Epistle of James (LNTS, 2008); Letters from the Pillar Apostles: The Formation of the Catholic Epistles as a Canonical Collection (Pickwick, 2016); Letters for the Church: Reading James, 1–2 Peter, 1–3 John, and Jude as Canon (IVP Academic, 2021). He has edited Reading the Epistle of James: A Resource for Students (SBL Press, 2020); The Catholic Epistles: Critical Readings (T&T Clark, 2021); Canon Formation: Tracing the Role of Sub-Collections in the Biblical Canon (forthcoming, T&T Clark). He is currently writing or revising commentaries on Jude/2 Peter and James. In addition, Dr. Lockett serves on the Translation Oversight Committee for the Christian Standard Bible, co-chairs sections within the Society of Biblical Literature and Institute for Biblical Research, and is a member of SNTS (Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas). When he is not reading history or theology Dr. Lockett enjoys hiking, playing the banjo, and watching the Kansas Jayhawks play basketball or Tottenham FC. He lives in Brea, California with his wife Nicole and has three children: Madeleine, Evan, and Aidan.

The historical development of the New Testament (NT) canon was characterized by the formation of sub-collections such that Harry Gamble argues

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we should understand the NT canon as “a collection of collections.”1 In other words, it is not the case that individual books came into the NT canon on their own (Revelation, perhaps, is the exception). Jens Schröter notes that whereas the “two most important collections, which stand at the beginning of the emergence of the NT [are] the four gospels and the Letters of Paul,” and at a later time “Acts and the Catholic Letters,” eventually developed as a third collection.2 Though perhaps the least recognized canonical sub-collection of the NT, there is a growing body of literature arguing for James, 1–2 Peter, 1–3 John, and Jude as a coherent letter collection which formed toward the latter part of the canonical proc...