Jesus: The apex of biblical canons

, Jesus’ authority empowers the ministers to significantly impact their audiences.


Introduction
An apex crowns the mountain and embodies other parts such as the base, the slope, the ridge and the face. Weather permitting, when the inhabitants of Kagaba village (part of Blue Mountains in Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo) see the snow-white peak of Mount Ruwenzori, they salute it with joy while shouting ɨ̀mblɨ̀ kàku [Ndrŭna words meaning literally 'its teeth are shining']. Among the Ndrŭna speakers, these words eventually became the second name of the Ruwenzori Mountain. The peak allows people to recognise a Mount from afar even if other parts might remain invisible to the sight. Besides, those who live at the foot of a mount can still view some parts of it with the possibility of not seeing the peak itself.
Metaphorically, Jesus is the apex of the biblical canons that those closer to or far from him can identify as such, faith permitting. Indeed, faith communities play a crucial role in determining biblical canons. Jesus is the authoritative Word of God from whom derives the authority of each canonical book, the entire Bible and related texts, including African religions in the same way as the level of the peak provides authority to the status of a mountain. The word of the same unique God already known in African religions and Judaism is now entirely disclosed in Jesus through his incarnation, public ministry and Easter event, which constitutes the basis of the Church mission (cf. Loba Mkole 2021).
The term apex is used as a conceptual metaphor to express the authoritative position that the Christian communities attribute to Jesus for establishing the intrinsic sacredness of their Canonical Scriptures. Such metaphorical category may be new in the biblical canon debate, yet 'our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature' (Lakoff and Johnson 1980:3). In addition, 'metaphor is an integral part of our ordinary everyday thought and language' (Lakoff & Turner 1989), and it 'allows us to understand ourselves and our world in ways that no other modes of thought can' (Lakoff & Turner 1989:xi; for more details see Hermanson 2006:46). Canonical criticism has emerged not only as an autonomous discipline but also as an integral part of biblical exegesis that champions, among other things, the reading of the Bible as a whole of which different books form the chapters (Childs 1974(Childs , 1979(Childs , 1980(Childs , 1984(Childs , 1985(Childs , 1992(Childs /2011(Childs , 2011Sanders 1972Sanders , 1984Sanders , 1987. Canonical studies of recent years have recorded four outstanding publications (eds. Auwers & De Jonge 2003;Loba Mkole 2016a;McDonald 2017;eds. McDonald & Sanders 2008) from which at least one contribution has shown the vital role that Jesus and the New Testament writings played in the formation of Christian biblical canons.
Niebuhr in Auwers and De Jonge (eds. 2003:257, 261, 581) argued that the canonicity of the New Testament entails not only a historical process but also a theological construction. He shows how the canonicity of the New Testament literature hangs on the person of Jesus who constitutes the centre of its different parts (cf. The Synod of Carthage III order in 397: Gospels, Acts of Apostles, Pauline Corpus, Catholic Epistles and Revelation). The New Testament mediates and establishes the historicity of Jesus while it also points out his eschatological manifestation.
For many years, two sets of criteria have dominated the canonical study of the biblical books. The first one relates to the Jewish Bible and Old Testament for which the ultimate authority is God. The second set pertains to the New Testament for which Jesus is regarded as the ultimate authority. Furthermore, criteria regarding the New Testament books include apostolicity, age, historical likelihood of the content, orthodoxy, agreement with the Old Testament, edifying nature of the document, catholicity, clarity and meaningfulness, spirituality of the contents, acceptance by the Church at large and use for public lessons of the Church (Aedsuwers & De Jonge 2003:313). Jesus is neither mentioned among those criteria that are based on historical-critical research nor do they dismiss him as the ultimate authority. Yet, those criteria remain important, even if they have been established a posteriori; they still explain why not every Scripture that recognises Jesus' authority becomes ipso facto canonical.
From a perspective of canonical criticism, Jesus stands as the earliest 'regula' (canon or authority) for the Christian community (Mt 28:19, Rm 10:9, 1 Cor 7:10-12) (McDonald (2017:6). Nevertheless, his authority, which is revealed in the Scriptures and recognised by the faith community, also embraces the whole life of the Church and the present cultures that receive and pass it over to the next generations. Thus, the intercultural canonical criticism with its triple frame of reference (original biblical cultures, church cultures and contemporary target cultures) appears more suitable for tackling the topic under study.
This article aims at expanding the view that considers Jesus as the canon for Christian communities, and it portrays him as the apex of biblical canons, that is, the authority that grants the status of sacredness to biblical books. Traditionally, canon and its derivative adjective canonical refer to the rule of faith and conduct and a list of authoritative books. Positioning Jesus as the apex of biblical canons presupposes the same classical understanding. This study uses an intercultural approach involving three cultural frames of reference whereby the Protestant Church leadership in current Africa will represent contemporary culture, while the Roman Catholic Church stands for traditional church culture, and Jesus' authority reflects an original biblical culture. Consequently, the article consists of three parts: the impact of Jesus' authority in the contemporary Protestant Church in Africa, the authority of biblical canon in the Roman Catholic Church and Jesus' authority in an original biblical culture. Original biblical cultures, church cultures and contemporary target cultures are not unrelated but constitute reference frames for intercultural biblical exegesis, including intercultural canonical criticism (Loba-Mkole 2016a, 2016b, 2019, 2021. Each frame of reference covers different disciplines from which the interpreter may select the ones deemed most appropriate for the subject matter. Consequently, intercultural biblical method is interdisciplinary by nature.

The impact of Jesus' authority in the contemporary Protestant Church in Africa
In current African Protestant churches, gospel ministry is a synonym of preaching Jesus, the living Word of God. The person of Jesus constitutes the underlying canon (rule of faith and conduct) for the entire Bible, as defined by the faith community. The present section shows how the authoritative Word of God in the person of Jesus has transformed the lives of some Christians in Africa, turning them into influential leaders whose preaching and life testimonies impact the intended audiences.
The case study at hand involved three African countries (i.e. Angola, Central Africa Republic and Kenya) and focused on the realities, opportunities and impact of Christian leadership. The following are the 16 lessons learned: (1) pastors are very influential (e.g. they are the most influential persons in the life of 35.3% of interviewed Angolans, 50.2% of interviewed Central Africans and 55.8% of interviewed Kenyans), (2) nonclergy leaders also play strategic roles in a wide variety of arena, (3) women are strategic to the strength of the church but are often under-acknowledged and under-supported, (4) African-led parachurch Christian organisation are central to evangelism, discipleship and social engagements, (5) the Bible as the word of God is vital in the lives of African Christians, (6) many Africans read motivational books that help readers to achieve success, (7) there is a strong need for local Christian authors, (8) African Christian leaders achieve success through relational networks, (9) African Christian leaders minister within ethnic and inter-ethnic settings that require intercultural skills and commitments, (10) African Christian leaders are increasingly part of a connected world, (11) initiatives that focus on youth are strategic, (12) mentoring is central to leadership development in Africa, (13) formal education is clearly a central part of leadership development, (14) many African leaders are ambivalent about politics but often engage the political arena on behalf of the common good, (15) some Christian churches, organisations and leaders are doing an impressive job regarding the relation with Muslims and (16) better support structures for Christian institutions and leaders exist in Kenya than in Angola or the Central African Republic (CAR) and it is much more difficult to acquire knowledge about leadership realities in Francophone and Lusophone Africa (eds. Priest & Barine 2017:231-238). Ngaruiya (2017:29-48) is the first to document findings on clergy and non-clergy leaders who have the most influence or impact. They include Pastor Dinis Eurico (Angola), Dr David Koudougueret (CAR) and Bishop John Bosco (Kenya). The respondents rated each leader on a Likert scale based on the following: (1) skill at work, (2) wisdom and knowledge of the local context, (3) ethical integrity, (4) love and service, (5) positive reputation, (6) inspiring teamwork and community mobilisation, (7) efficiency in the use of resources and (8) training other leaders (Ngaruiya 2017:29-30). The assessment of these qualities revolved around three areas: effective leadership, impact and training. Qualities of effective Christian leadership mirrored church commitment, vocational excellence, community connectedness, cultural flexibility, endurance under hardship, lifelong learning, empowering mentorship, openness to technology and passion for civic engagement (Ngaruiya 2017:33-38). Areas of impact covered drug abuse prevention, children and youth education, sex education, fighting against human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), entrepreneurship, music and church leadership development (Ngaruiya 2017:38-41). Lastly, the survey on the training of African Christian leaders captured the amount of knowledge acquired from their childhood homes, educational backgrounds, travels and seminars (Ngaruiya 2017:41-44).

The authority of the biblical canon in the Roman Catholic Church
In the Roman Catholic Church, biblical canons derive from the listening and response to Jesus through liturgical celebrations, catechetical and theological expansions, synodal or council decrees and the canon law.
It is noteworthy that the vision of the book of Revelation on the eschatological city or state suggests that all material forms of the biblical, liturgical and judiciary canons would cease in that city and give way to the purest, most whole and unmediated communion with God and Jesus Christ: And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day -and there will be no night there…No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.  Before that immediate and complete bliss in the presence of God, believers still need to be guided by the Holy Spirit and the literary forms of biblical, liturgical and judiciary canons, as well as by their ethical codes and hermeneutical frameworks or paradigms.
Even if they are distinct, the biblical, liturgical and judiciary meanings are dialectically interrelated. The Christian liturgy celebrates the deeper meanings of biblical canonical books and provides profound insights and comfort for canonical discipline. However, a fully-fledged liturgy feeds itself upon the reading of biblical canonical books and integrates within its offerings (Eucharistic canons) the joys and pains of the people of God, constituted according to the canon law. The canon law delineates the contours of practical implications of biblical canonical books and defines the validity of liturgical canons. The Eucharist unifies all the biblical, juridical and liturgical meanings. It is during this unique celebration that people of God (see canons 204-207) get together to listen to the Word of God from the reading of the canonical books and offer the Eucharistic canons (anaphoras) to God for his glory and the salvation of the humankind and the creation. Furthermore, the Eucharistic liturgy has precedence over biblical canon books and judiciary canons because it more effectively celebrates the memory of the person behind the Christian canonical books and the Christian discipline of life. The Code of the Canon Law (especially Canon 897) states the following about the sacrament of the Eucharistic Jesus: The most venerable sacrament is the blessed Eucharist, in which Christ the Lord himself is contained, offered, and received, and by which the Church continually lives and grows. The Eucharistic Sacrifice, the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the Sacrifice of the cross is forever perpetuated, is the summit and the source of all worship and Christian life. By means of it the unity of God' people is signified and brought about, and the building up of the body of Christ is perfected. The other sacraments and all the ecclesiastical works of the apostolate are bound up with, and directed to, the blessed Eucharist (The Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1983:165) Christianity or Jesus tradition as lived in the Roman Catholic Church (John Paull II 1983) or elsewhere is about an operative remembrance (see already Stuhlmacher 1997:285). This remembrance coupled with the worship of the real presence of Christ wholly occurs during a Eucharistic celebration, which constitutes the compendium of the Christian symbolic world where through the mediation of an ordained Priest, Jesus recapitulates and reconciles everything with himself (past-present-future beyond all liturgical, biblical and juridical canons) and offers it to God the Father on behalf of the assembly. The Eucharist constitutes 'the privileged setting in which God speaks to us… who hear and respond. Every liturgical action by its very nature steeped in sacred Scriptures' (Benedict XVI 2010:69).
As a result, Scripture interpretation can hardly -if not vainlybe separated from ecclesiastical traditions. As Karavidopoulos (1997;see also Stuhlmacher 1997:11) puts it: … it is generally accepted, beyond the individual differentiations of the researchers, that the ecclesiastical community and its tradition take chronological precedence, as far as time is concerned, in comparison to the recording of the Gospels, and, of course, of the rest of the books of the New Testament. It is therefore not right to over-emphasize the superiority of the Bible against the Church, nor, on the other hand, does emphasis on the absolute power of the Church against the Bible find any justification. (p. 258) The canon law is linked to the Scripture because it stipulates practical ways of living Christian mysteries and emulates the fulfilment of Law and Prophets achieved in Jesus Christ (cf. Mt 5:17, Lk 24:27). It maintains discipline within the ecclesiastical society. The Christian believers have found themselves in the necessity of establishing norms based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the appreciation of the realities that the believers experience in the world (cf. Paralieu 1985:11). As Jean Paul II (1983) puts it: … it is necessary to remind ourselves of that distant heritage of law contained in the books of the Old and New Testaments. It is from this, as from its first source, that the whole juridical and legislative tradition of the Church derives. (p. xiii) Regarding the hot debate about the justification by law or grace, Jean Paul II (1983) provides a clear and moderate answer in the following terms: Although St Paul in expounding the mystery of salvation teaches that justification is not obtained through works of the law but trough faith (cf. Rm 3:28, Gl 2:16), nonetheless he does not exclude the binding force of the Decalogue (cf. Rm 13:8-10, Gl 5:13-25; 6:2), nor does he deny the importance of discipline in the Church (cf. 1 Cor 5 and 6). Thus the writings of the New Testament allow us to perceive more clearly the great importance of this discipline and to understand better the bonds which link it ever more closely with the salvific character of the Gospel message. (p. xiii) The close link between the gospel message and the canon law derives further from the purpose of the code that consists of not replacing faith, grace, charisms and, above all, charity, but http://www.hts.org.za Open Access to facilitate an orderly development in both ecclesiastical and individual persons, while attributing a primacy to love, grace and charisms (John Paul II 1983:xiii).
From the fourth century onwards, the Roman Catholic Church in which subsists the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church (Lumen Gentium # 8) maintains the list of 73 canonical books, as attested in the early synodal biblical canons. Collins (1983) showed that the: [D]ecisions of some local councils -Laodicea (363) in the East, Hippo (393) and Carthage (397)  Moreover, Jesus is greater than Jonas or Salomon (Mt 12:38-42). Whoever sees him sees God (Jn 14:9); whoever welcomes him receives God (Mt 10:40); whoever is touched or healed by him is being set free for the glory of God (Mk 2:10); whoever lives and dies for him will be rewarded by God (cf. Mt 5:12). Although Jesus did refer to the written Word of God in his preaching of God's reign while quoting Moses, Prophets or Psalms (Lk 24:27, 44), Jesus remains the medium, the message and the canon par excellence that interacts with its audiences through audiovisual, written and life experiences. He is the apex of the Word of God because he embodies the totality of God's revelation (cf . Col 1:19).
The normativity of the Christian Bible derives from the person of Jesus viewed from three unique aspects of his mystery: exousia (authority), proximity with God and divine filiation (Schmitt 1982:143-152 In short, the authority of Jesus in preaching the Word of God (Moses, Prophets and Psalms), his proximity with God, his divine filiation, the fulfilment of the Scriptures in his words and deeds, the handing over of his own life and not a set of canonical books and his commissioning of the disciples all point to him as the canon or the authoritative Word of God, the Gospel of God. Differently put, he is the apex that gives authority to biblical books and canons.
The earliest Christian Bible in which all the canonical and some non-canonical books feature is what can be called the Alexandrian or Egyptian Bible, which has the support of the following manuscripts: Sinaiticus (4th century CE), Vaticanus (5th century CE) and Alexandrinus (5th Century AD). Vaticanus and Sinaiticus (S for Old Testament and ‫א‬ for New Testament) are the most ancient Bibles preserved in single codices. Steak opines that S/‫א‬ is earlier than B. It originated from the dictation carried out in Caesarea, following an order for a Christian Bible placed by the emperor Constantine to Eusebius of Caesarea while B is a codex copied in Egypt (Steak 1999:605-609 in Bogaert 2003. Two arguments seem to support the Caesarean origin S/‫:א‬ the reading 'antipatrida' instead of 'patrida' in Mt 12:54 and the reading 'samarias' in place of 'kesareas' in Ac 8.5. Both readings in S/‫א‬ more likely point to a Caesarean origin (Steak 1999:617-618 in Bogaert 2003. However, the page layout (three columns in B and four columns in S/‫)א‬ and the book order are different although -if they belong to the same scriptorium -those features could reflect a similar design (the same page layout and the same book order). Besides, B is more economical. Out of one skin, it produces four bi-folio instead of two like in S/‫א‬ (Steak 1999:583-625 in Bogaert 2003. Furthermore, B has fewer blank folios than S/‫,א‬ and it displays a further improvement as long as the making of the codex is concerned (Bogaert 2003:156).
Even if Bogaert (2003:153-176) accepted the improvement of B in terms of codex making, he refutes reasons that led for positing the origin of S/‫א‬ in Caesarea and argues that Vaticanus and Sinaiticus belong to a same scriptorium in Egypt. He agrees with Rahlfs (1899:72-99 in Bogaert 2003 who linked B with the order placed by the emperor Constant 1st to Athanasius. As for the scribal errors pointing to Caesarean origin, the possibility of having produced them elsewhere cannot be ruled out because Hexapla annotations were largely known outside Caesarea in the late fourth century. In addition, as for Old Testament texts, B has none of the characteristics of Origenian or Caesarean text, except the text of Isaiah (which is an exception that confirms the general rule  Brown et al. :1065Brown et al. -1068. The noncanonical gospels can be divided roughly into five categories: (1) fragmentary gospels, (2) infancy gospels, miraculous birth and unusual childhood, (3) sayings and teachings, (4) passion and resurrection and (5) resurrection dialogues (cf. eds. Brown et al. :1065Brown et al. -1068 Brown et al. :1066. The infancy gospels (Protevangelium of James, Infancy Gospel of Thomas) concentrate on the miraculous birth and powers of the child Jesus. They also 'provided popular piety and art with affirmations of the perpetual virginity and "royal" origins of Mary' (eds. Brown et al. :1066 (13). Thomas the Contender reveals the rejection of the body and its lusts as the basis of Jesus' teaching, while the Apocryphon of James is more in tune with the four canonical gospels. Parallel passages concern the following topics: reward of disciples (Ap. Jas 4:22-37, Mk 10:31-37), the necessity of the cross (Ap. Jas 5:31-36:11, Mk 8:31-37), speaking in parables (Ap. Jas 7:1-10, Mk 4:10-12), sowing the Word (Ap. Jas 8:10-27, Mk 4:13-20), woe against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Ap. Jas 9:24-10:6, Mt 3:7-10), seed sown in a field (Ap. Jas 12:20-30, Mk 4:27-29). Besides, Apocryphon of James contains other sayings similar to Johannine tradition and sayings attributed to the risen Lord (8:5-10) and unparalleled parables (e.g. a parable about the date palm, 7:22-35).
Passion/resurrection gospels include Acts of Pilate, Gospel of Peter and Apocalypse of Peter. The Acts of Pilate (Act Pil) is also known as the Gospel of Nicodemus, a combination of the Acts of Pilate and another writing on Christ's descent into hell. It expands the story of Pilate's wife (Mt 27:19), the account of Jesus' death based on Luke and John, while the stories about the guards at the tomb derive from Matthew (28:11-15). The Gospel of Peter (Gos Pt 1-2) has Herod as the one who had ordered the killing of Jesus.
In its turn, the Apocalypse of Peter (Ap. Pt) narrates how Jesus revealed to Peter the events surrounding his crucifixion, such as an immortal Jesus laughing at people who were trying to kill him but failed (Ac. Pt 81:3-83:15).
Finally, resurrection dialogues include the Gospel of Mary (Gos. Mar) and the Epistula Apostolorum (Ep. Apo). The first is a private revelation to Mary (Magdalene) relating to a resurrection dialogue between Jesus and the disciples, a subsequent vision of the ascent of the soul and the commissioning of the disciples to preach. Epistula Apostolorum shares post resurrection revelations parallel to those found in Gos. Mar, but with allusions to all four gospels and some epistles (eds. Brown et al. :1068.
Different genres of the extra-canonical literature examined here include: infancy narratives, miraculous birth and unusual childhood narratives, sayings and teachings, passion and resurrection narratives and resurrection dialogues. They basically share the same topics with the canonical gospels even if their styles and specific contents differ. They also attest an extraordinary authority of Jesus, even if their entire contents did not qualify them to be selected among canonical gospels. They certainly provide some useful information about the faith of the Early Church before the authoritative listing of the Christian biblical canons. In any case, Jesus remains the ultimate rule of faith and conduct for canonical and extracanonical biblical books of early Christianity. However, canonical books serve as authoritative and legal frame in which the faith community recognises and emulates the words, deeds and gestures of Jesus to regulate their Christian lifestyle.

Conclusion
The article has established that the ultimate authority of the Christian Bible remains the person of Jesus in all frames of reference of intercultural canonical criticism, which includes original biblical cultures, church cultures and contemporary target cultures. In the current or contemporary Protestant Church in Africa, Jesus' authority empowers the ministers to significantly impact their audiences. In the Catholic Church, this authority is celebrated in the liturgy, expanded from the canonical biblical books and translated into the canon law. In the biblical cultures, Jesus remains the ultimate rule of faith and conduct for canonical and extra-canonical biblical books of early Christianity. In short, Jesus is the apex that confers the intrinsic authority to each canonical book and the extrinsic authority behind the lists of canonical books recognised either by the Roman Catholic Church or Protestant churches. However, each frame of reference has its own ways of interpreting the authority of Jesus and the canonicity of the Scriptures.