In N.T. Wrights book The New Testament in His World, he writes of the process of canonization stating that “the New Testament canon was shaped and developed, in the first three centuries, because the leaders of the early church were determined to keep alive, and present afresh, the news that in Jesus the one true God was setting up his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.”
It’s a statement that on its face pushes back against liberal attestations that suggest the canon is tied to later politics and highly corruptible processes. And yet, at the same time, the statement arrives with clear push back against certain conservative conceptions about the canon and why it matters. Wright also insists that, in the world that gave rise to the process of canonization, by which he means the world that formed nearly immediately after Jesus’ ascension, “there was openness to a variety of Christian writings” in the “culture of the developing Church. If the diverse set of criteria used to determine the canon, for which despite the varied differences between East and West retain a strong sense of catholic cohesiveness, emerged from the convictions of these centuries, these same centuries reflect both a willingness to use, reference and read beyond the canon we have today as well as reflect a willingness to shape this into confessional liturgy regardless of, or in concert with, much dispute and disagreement.
A key aspect of canon formation that perhaps we have lost side of its adoption.
The Stories of my Life 