Walter Vogels: The Parallel-Chiastic Structure of the Christian BibleTheoforum, 32 (2001) 203-21Biblical studies have for a long time been dominated by diachronic approaches. These more historical studieshave provided exciting insights into the evolution and growth of the biblical texts. Recently synchronicapproaches have suggested that texts, even with a long prehistory, often present a beautiful unity in their finalform. These literary studies have shown that many micro-texts (short individual passages) and macro-texts(longer sections or whole books) are composed in a parallel, chiastic or concentric structure.1 In this study Ipropose a synchronic approach to the great macro-text which is the canon or the Bible as a whole.The word 'canon'2 can refer to a fixed list of sacred books (the structure), which is the concern of the presentstudy; it can also refer to its normative value (the function), which I have presented elsewhere.3 Recently theterm 'canon' has also been used as a hermeneutical principle by scholars such as Childs and Sanders,4 in what issometimes, rightly or wrongly, called "canonical criticism."5 The study of the canon, understood as a list ofnormative books, has followed the trend of biblical studies in general and has thus mainly been diachronic.Many articles and books have been written on the formation and the closure of the canon of the OT and of theNT - why and how some books were included and others excluded, or in other words, how we historically cameto the list we now have.6 These studies generally admit that the final definite answer can not be given and thatthe results remain hypothetical. One thing, however, is certain: Jewish and different Christian traditions follownow fixed lists of books. Consequently, I intend to look at such lists synchronically and from a literaryperspective. Synchronic studies have shown that individual texts with a long prehistory can, in their final form,present a unity; synchronic studies have also tried to und...