Stable enough to carry ยท open enough to change
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.
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How change enters
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Superseded work remains reachable in the archive.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 →