KittyKatBlack

A few years ago I heard it mentioned on the History Channel (which I've heard isn't the most accurate of resources) that there were books removed from the Bible because they were considered unimportant or contradicted the views of the Church. I've searched on Google but can't find any independent resources on the subject, only Evangelical Christian websites and something that included UFOs. Could anyone direct me to any websites that confirm or debunk this? Thanks.

Tubby Lardmore

I have heard it said that Martin Luther printed a version of the New Testament that omitted the book of James. Luther could not reconcile the emphasis James puts on works with the emphasis Paul's letters put on faith. I don't know where to send you to find out how likely this story is to be true. And you may be looking more into selection events that took place just two or three centuries after Christ, anyway.

Toto

Search for <formation of the new testament canon> - e.g. The Formation of the New Testament Canon

avi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_apocrypha

Eusebius, at the time of the Council of Nicea, prepared a list of accepted books of the nascent canon. Three decades later, Athanasius codified the official list with this famous letter of 367CE.

avi

mountainman

Between these two dates, some books were left out and some book were included in what is known as The Canon of books to be included. I have found one of the best resource pages in this area to be The Development of the Canon of the New Testament

However this history of this epoch between 325 and 367 CE (which includes the brief rule of Emperor Julian who legislated that the "Christians" be known as "Galilaeans") is particularly contraversial. Very few pagan accounts survive to balance the assertions of the christian accounts which were prepared by the eventual "victors" of orthodoxy.

Therefore, a separate task is to examine the separate history of all the books which are not regarded as "Canonical". These are the non canonical books of the new testament, also known as the new testament apocrypha. Sometimes they are called "The Gnostic Gospels and Acts".

(1) Some books were removed between 325 and 367, and some were added.
(2) Some books were never included, but were the subject of malevolent censorship.

Did the Index Librorum Prohibitorum commence in the fourth century?

Most sources maintain that the "List of Forbidden Books" were published by the Papacy from the fifteenth century, however there are a number of documentary sources which themselves suggest that Constantine and Eusebius already had a catalogue of books which were "forbidden under punishment of death". We find out in the next century that some of these books had been authored by the son of the devil. These needed special treatment by the orthodoxy. You know, a nice big bonfire.

Kapyong

Gday,

Really?
What is the evidence for that?

I note that Constantine's bible from shortly after the CoN was still not like ours, or Athanasius (Hermas and Barnabas still included.)

K.

mountainman

http://www.ntcanon.org/Eusebius.shtml

Very very similar - only a handful of books different out of 20 odd. Many conjecture that the oldest Greek codices are copies of - or one of - the original 50 Constantine Bibles that Constantine instructed Eusebius to order from the trained professional scribes in the scriptorium.

Dutch_labrat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirach is a good example of a bible book not accepted by all christians.

kennyc

But how can humans decide what is and what isn't the "Word of God?"

That's the real question isn't it?

Doug Shaver

What you've heard about the History Channel is correct.

Whether it is true that "there were books removed from the Bible" depends on what you're calling "the Bible." That label ordinarily is applied to the collection of writings that have been considered canonical during most of Christianity's history up to the present time.

It is true that during Christianity's early years, there were candidates for canonization that were eventually rejected, but I think it misleading to equate that rejection with their removal from "the Bible."