Abstract:

Meerten B. ter Borg argued that canons function as a means of social control. The
success of a canon follows not from the assent or agreement of the populace, but
rather from the embedded quasi-personal relationship that produces a sense of
belonging and identity. The objectified canon takes over this quasi-personal feature,
which guarantees a canon’s sanctity. Calling scripture or law “canonical” thus
transcendentalizes a text and allows it to retain a sacred quality that in turn effects
social control through a shared sense of belonging. This thesis is confirmed and
elaborated through a review of the conceptions of canon operative in the Catholic
Church during the thirteenth, the sixteenth, and the late nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. In all these periods, the Catholic Church modified its conception of the
canonical nature of both its scriptures and its laws in order to strengthen corporate
identity and to establish order and control within and without its perimeter.

Author: George Heyman