Maybe ... it certainly has kept me moving in a circle for many years! It is the inescapable gravity of God's grace displayed there at the center - Golgotha. I constantly turn - like the moon to the earth, my face ever towards my Christ and His Cross - that abysmal Axis that fills me with such horror, hope and wonder! The X marks the spot. It is the mystery of the 22nd letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, Tav, identified in the ancient Rabbinical Tradition as the Seal of Truth, the Seal of God, the Seal of Creation, and known to the Christian as the Cross of Christ. In this way the divine alphabet declares the Holy Gospel -"It is finished!" in Tav (the Cross). This is the Sign that marks the Christian Faith, the Seal of Truth upon every steeple! And this is the Gospel that the Lord God Almighty engraved into the intrinsic geometric structure of His Holy Word. Cf Genesis 22, Psalm 22.
Richard
http://www.BibleWheel.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Jack Haas
To: richard@biblewheel.com ; asa@calvin.edu
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2001 2:28 PM
Subject: Re: Derivation of the 7-fold Canon from 1st Principles
Is this what the mean by 'circular reasoning'?
Jack
----- Original Message -----
From: richard@biblewheel.com
To: asa@calvin.edu
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2001 1:17 PM
Subject: Derivation of the 7-fold Canon from 1st Principles
Object to Model: The traditional Protestant Canon of 66 Books (the Proto-canon of the Catholics)
Model: Construct a Wheel with 22 Spokes and three concentric circles called Cycles. This forms a circular grid of 66 Cells, with three Cells on each Spoke. Place the 66 books sequentially on the Wheel, so that Cycle 1 consists Books 1 - 22, Cycle 2 consists of Books 23 - 44, and Cycle 3 consists of Books 45 - 66.
To derive the Seven-fold Canonical structure of the Holy Bible, impose two initial conditions and construct the minimal Canon that satisfies maximal symmetry constraints as follows:
Definition:
A canonical division is defined as a radial line between Spoke m and m+1 on Cycle c, denoted as CD(m,c).
Definition:
The set of books contained between two canonical divisions CD(m,c) and CD(n,c) is defined as Block(m,n,c), where m denotes the starting division and n the ending division. E.g. The Torah is Block(22,5,1).
Initial Conditions:
History has given us two incontrovertible constraints on any possible canonical structure:
1) There must exist a canonical division between the first five books (The Torah) and the rest of Scripture.
2) There must exist a canonical division between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Maximal Symmetry Constraints:
1) Bilateral symmetry:
The Wheel must look the same when reflected in mirror. This constraint demands that for each CD(m,c) there must exist a CD(n,c) such that m+n = 22.
2) Radial Symmetry:
There must be no conflicting canonical divisions. If two Cycles contain canonical divisions, they must have the same number of divisions and all the divisions must lie on a common set of radii.
Now construct the minimal Canon that satisfies the above constraints:
1) The initial conditions demand that there are two canonical divisions: CD(5,1) between the Torah and the rest of Scripture, and CD(17,2) between the OT and NT. There must also be a canonical division at CD(22,1) to mark the beginning of the Torah, to form Block(22,5,1).
2) Bilateral symmetry demands that there is a CD(17,1) to match CD(5,1) and a CD(5,2) to match CD(17,2).
3) Radial symmetry demands that there is a CD(22,2) to match CD(22,1).
The initial conditions and the symmetry constraints are now satisfied. This is the minimal solution. Mapping these divisions on the Wheel results in the traditional Seven-Fold Canonical division of the Christian Canon:
Cycle 1: 5 Books (The Torah), 12 Books (OT History), 5 Books (Wisdom)
Cycle 2: 5 Books (Maj Proph), 12 Books (Min Proph), 5 Books (NT History)
Cycle 3: 22 Books (NT Epistles)
Note also that Spoke 1 consists of:
Genesis: First book of the Law
Isaiah: First book of the Prophets
Romans: First book of the NT Epistles
Click here http://www.BibleWheel.com/Wheel/Canonwheel_fullsizeBW.asp for a graphic of the result.
Recommended exercises:
1) Read "A Variation on Van Till," posted a few days ago, to see why God has done this.
2) Meditate on the meaning of the Number Seven in Scripture.
God Bless!
Rejoice forevermore!
Richard Amiel McGough
http://www.BibleWheel.com
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