HaysooChreesto!

Last week I was telling my daughter about how the books of the NT were compiled and brought together in the 4th century under the Nicene Council. She was curious about it but didn't believe me. She seems to think that the gosples were written directly by the apostles right after the death of Jesus and that there were no other works.

She doesn't like the idea that there was once a group of men who decided what books went in the NT and what books didn't. And last night she actually said, "prove it then". My heart was warmed.

So last night I went digging through II and searched elsewhere on the internet but only found lengthy accounts that would only bore a 14 year old to death. What I'm looking for is what amounts to Cliffs notes on the Nicene Council and its functions. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Toto

I guess you ruled out The Formation fo the New Testament Cannon as too deep?

I tried googling "cliff notes" and nicene, and this popped up:

a DVD Christianity: the first two thousand years. It gets slammed by a lot of reviewers who think it is too "liberal" so it might be what you want.

gregor

And please don't perpetuate the misunderstanding that the Nicene council considered what documents to canonize. It did no such thing. The major goal was to harmonize the concepts of the trinity and the status of Jesus as equal to or lesser than god the father (a fight between Arianism and the proto-orthodoxy). A minor issue (I believe) was to talk about systematizing the calculation of easter.

I read a great book about the council and the fight about Arianism - but I cannot recall the title.

gregor

I think it was: "When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome
by Richard E. Rubenstein "

Toto

When Jesus Became God

CX

Unfortunately the question you are asking is far more complex and subtle than perhaps you imagine. The canonization of the NT was a lengthy process taking centuries and about which even today different Xian denominations disagree at least with respect to the OT. The Catholics have one canon. The protestants have another and the eastern and syrian churches have yet others. The first recorded canonical list, the Muratorian Canon, is known from a 7th century fragment which is a Latin translation of a presumably Greek orginal and is believed to have been written around 170 CE. It contains both canonical and extracanonical books and mentions books that the author identifies as disputed. One of the first synods, the Synod of Laodicia met to discuss the canon but no canonical list survives from it and it is supposed that no consensus was achieved. Irenaeus of Lyons makes a lengthy argument for the 4 canonical gospels in the 2nd century which clearly demonstrates the controversy at that existed at that time. I recommend reading the artivle referenced above.