Liquidrage

It's really just a straight out question.
Anyone got an answer?

[ October 25, 2002: Message edited by: Liquidrage ]</p>

braces_for_impact

Council of Nicea. (Did I spell it right?)

diana

Richard Carrier has an extensive piece on it, because the answer is anything but simple:

<a href="http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/NTcanon.html" target="_blank">The Formation of the New Testament Canon</a>

d

Liquidrage

Thank you all very much.

I'm using it for fodder in a debate I'm having at another forum I frequent.

-Regards

(PS. I hate when I write "choose" when I meant "chose")

Peter Kirby

None of the ancient documents on the Nicene Council say that the NT canon was deliberated or decided upon at that meeting. Prove me wrong if you can!

The New Testament canon developed over a long period of time, mostly in the second through fourth centuries, in which books that were thought to be widely used, orthodox, or authentic gained greater authority (and became more widely used, shaped orthodoxy, and were declared apostolic—a feedback loop). The earliest named person who slapped together something like a New Testament was Marcion (c. 140 CE), who accepted a Gospel of the Lord and ten epistles of Paul. The earliest known person to declare the four gospels as normative was Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 CE). The earliest canonical list with all and only our 27 New Testament books is in a letter of Athanasius in 367 CE.

best,
Peter Kirby

CX

Incorrect. The Council of Nicaea did not establish the NT canon. Rather it deliberate over Jesus' nature and established the trinity as official church doctrine as well as officially identifying Arianism as a heresy. The establishment of the canon was a much longer and more complex process. I'd suggest reading some of the essays in the II library for a discussion on this.