Stable enough to carry · open enough to change
The Living Canon
Not every page is scripture. Not every useful thought is doctrine. The canon names what carries the identity of the tradition and keeps the record of how that identity changes.
A living canon is not text that changes whenever convenient. It is text whose changes remain visible, whose dissent is preserved, and whose authority comes from continued use rather than declared permanence.
- I
Foundation
The few commitments and symbols necessary to identify the tradition.
- II
Living Canon
Citable texts intended for repeated use, revision, disagreement, and supersession.
- III
Practice
Forms tested by whether people can repeat them and whether anything changes.
- IV
Commentary
Arguments and interpretations that may be valuable without becoming doctrine.
- V
Culture and Form
Symbols, sound, space, and material forms through which the tradition becomes recognizable and repeatable.
How change enters
No silent replacement.
Foundational and canonical texts retain versions. A substantive change records the previous words, the reason for changing them, the strongest unresolved objection, and the people responsible for the decision.
Superseded work remains reachable in the archive. The fact that the tradition was wrong is part of the tradition, not debris to be cleared.
See the current revision record →