precanon

Adjective

precanon (not comparable)

1. Predating the development of a religious canon.
   • The gifts of apostle and prophet were evidently foundation gifts, particularly related to the precanon era of church history (see Ephesians 2:20 and Hebrews 2:4).1980, John Williams, The Holy Spirit: Lord and Life-giver, page 92
   • In one recent review, for instance, a charismatic scholar rather acidly mocks the position of those who want to make a distinction between the way God dispenses his gifts before the completion of the inspired writings and after their completion, accusing them of forcing a dichotomy between a...1995, D. A. Carson, Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14, page 69

   Synonyms:

   precanonical

   Antonyms:

   postcanonical, postcanon

2. (slang) Set before the main or accepted canonical chronology of a fictional universe.
   • “Well, supposedly RoGII: War in the Realms, as you know: But it’s precanon, right? More what I'd call a narrative possibility space bounded by the strategic parameters of the game.”2013, Austin Grossman, You, page 139
   • On the other hand, The Lord of the Rings Wiki classifies some works beyond their defined canon of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Ring, and The Silmarillion as "precanon" or "disputed canon."2022, Kristine Larsen, “Nailing Jell-O to the Wall: Canonicity in Middle-earth”, in Journal of Tolkien Research, volume 15, number 1, page 4

   Antonyms:

   postcanon