My theory, which I will be exploring in these classes, is that destruction and tragedy ultimately leads to a new era in Jewish history which is represented by a new text. But that text is not accepted immediately. Instead, it is gradually refined and accepted. But eventually, the text creates the boundary between epochs, and later generations are no longer permitted to disagree with earlier eras.
This class begins with the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian Exile. Following this tragedy, Ezra and Nehemiah returned to Israel along with the Men of the Great Assembly. They wrote several books of the Bible and canonized the entire text of the Bible, deciding which texts are holy and which are not.
Yet, even hundreds of years later, the Amoraim were arguing the details of which books were included and which not.
However, nowadays, the Bible in its current form is fully accepted and nobody would dare remove or add a book to it.