[jallanite]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

jallanite, the term "canon" actually comes from church history and refers to the body of Scripture that was considered cohesive and authoritative.

Yes.

Note that originally the Christian canon included the Greek translation of the Hebrew texts which was then common, one known as the Septuagint and often abbreviated as LXVII. But because of differences between the LXVII and the common Hebrew version of his day, eventually Saint Jerome (c. 347–420) translated the Hebrew text and parts found only in the LXVII into the standard Latin version. Since then, for the so-called Old Testament, it is mostly the Hebrew version which is purportedly authoritative to Christians, though questions arise over which exact version of the Hebrew text is authoritative when there are differences among versions of the Hebrew text. But some Christians prefer instead the exact wording of the King James translation, this particular translation alone being inspired by God in their belief.

In short, the exact wording of the canon sometimes differs from version to version and translation to translation.

It is also arguable that none of the versions of the canon is entirely cohesive. One difference is that the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1 differs from that in Luke 3:23–38 and also disagrees with that in the Hebrew and LXVII Book of Kings. And there are other discrepancies.

What books make up the canon also differ among different branches of Christianity. For example, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church includes the books of Enoch, Jubilees, and I II III Meqabyan in their canon.

Determining exactly what is Christian canon is not simple.

Applied to Tolkien, that could fit Christopher's Silmarillion, as he strove for coherency …

Christopher Tolkien states in his Foreward to The Silmarillion:

A complete consistency (either within the compass of The Silmarillion) itself or between The Silmarillion and other published writings of my father’s) is not to be looked for, and could only be achieved, if at all, at heavy and needless cost.

… and was certainly the only authorized person for a task like posthumous publication of his father's works.

Quite true.

There are numerous arguments for both opinions, pro- and con-canon. It's good to hear both sides, but Tolkien's body of work being what it was, fragmental and developed over decades, there are inconsistencies even between those two major works of Middle-earth published in his lifetime. My personal opinion is that it's close enough...

Close enough for what though? Close enough that Tolkien fans generally accept the Silmarillion as a mostly reasonable version of what J. R. R. Tolkien intended but no more than that. Christopher Tolkien himself indicates by the numerous admitted errors he brings up in the HoME books that his Silmarillion is no more than that.

That is why I prefer not to use the word canon at all, as it is needlessly confusing bringing with it, in fan circles, ideas of fixed continuity which don’t apply when admitted errors are at the point of an argument, or even when they are not.

It seems to me to be clearer if more long-winded to refer to “the published Silmarillion” or to a statement in the HoME series when there are differences. The reason that the word canon is so seldom used in fan forums is, I believe, because it brings with it too many ideas of authority that just don’t work, according more authority to the published Silmarillion than its co-author accords it. Best to not use such a weighted term. Yes the published Silmarillion is “authorized”, but no more so than is indicated by its co-author.

If you want to find out what Tolkien thought about any issue in respect to his legendarium at different times, then look at what is said in The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales and the HoME series and in Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien and in John Rateliff’s The History of The Hobbit, including Christopher Tolkien’s comments, noting that some of it must be erroneous because it disagrees with what is said elsewhere. After all, this is fiction we are investigating.