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Old 11-15-2001, 01:06 PM   #1
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Post Seeking information on Revalations...

I read somewhere that revalations didn't become cannon until the 11th century but I can't find anything on the net to confirm this.
Little help?
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Old 11-15-2001, 01:44 PM   #2
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A little help from Google:

Revelation was included in the Canon by some early church fathers, including Origen and Athanasius. However, it remained controversial (a little bit too psychotic), was not universally accepted, and was later rejected by Luther.
http://www.ntcanon.org/Athanasius.shtml

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. . . could not remove the opposition to the Revelation of John. This book only achieved its firm place in the canon of the Greek Church in the 10th century.
Or

The Rejection of Pascal's Wager - A Skeptic's Guide to Christianity

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In fact the first list of all the 27 books of the New Testament to the exclusion of all others appeared in the Festal Letter written by Athanasius (c296-373), Bishop of Alexandria to the Egyptian Churches in AD367. In the letter Athanasius told his bishops that these twenty seven books are to be regarded as canonical. [11] Athanasius' list was confirmed by a council under Pope Damasus in AD382. However many churches in the east continue to disagree with the Athanasian canon. The Book of Revelation, for instance, was not considered divinely inspired until well into the eighth century.
Richard Carrier states

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It was not until 692 A.D. when this decision became anything official. That year the Trullan Synod was comprised of several Eastern bishops convened by Emperor Justinian to settle and organize the authorities for Christian law (just as Justinian had commanded for secular law). This decreed that, for instance, both the Synod of Laodicea and the Epistles of Athanasius were to be considered authoritative, even though they contradicted each other on whether Revelation was to be included. . . .

Their decision gave license for confusion: at least six different lists of canonical texts were still in use in the East by the tenth century (M 217). And to this day, Revelation is not included in the Greek Orthodox Bible.

. . .

Revelation, however, was not accepted into the Armenian Bible until c. 1200 A.D.
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Old 11-15-2001, 01:47 PM   #3
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It depends on whose version of the canon is accepted as authoritative. For example, Martin Luther rejected Revelation, as well as James and Jude IIRC.

Richard Carrier has an in-depth essay on the development of the canon in the Library.
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Old 11-15-2001, 02:57 PM   #4
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Richard Carrier's article on the NT canon is good. However, I'm puzzled by his claim that the Book of Revelation is absent from Greek Orthodox bibles. To my knowledge, the Greek Orthodox Church includes Revelation in its bible, although the book was, and is, controversial within that church.
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Old 11-15-2001, 03:29 PM   #5
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I think Revelation is not considered canonical, but is included as worthy of respect. It is not included in the Syrian canon.

TollHouse - what's your interest in this? What difference does it make whether it is in the canon or not?
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Old 11-15-2001, 03:38 PM   #6
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Thanks for the information guys.

Toto, I'm just having a discussion here. You're post was most helpful.
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