What I find most troubling is the Roman Catholic argument that scripture is not clear so as to put the magisterium above scripture. The arguments regarding the Canon just don’t make sense when you look at the actual evidence, as you say. It is true that the Canon came together in the context of the church, so in that sense we need the universal church. But the early lists we find are more like recognitions rather than decrees. It is also interesting that the earliest ones seem to come from around the Christian world, many from the east. It is true that there are disputed books around the edges, but the books that are the source of all essential theology are not disputed.