The books of the Bible were selected in the year 325 at the Council of Nicaea, right? That’s what a lot of Christians seem to think. But is this story true? And, if it isn’t true, how did the tale of a council that created the canon begin in the first place?
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Apologetics: The Earliest Surviving Listing of the New Testament Canon
The claim has been repeated over and over that the first person to list the same twenty-seven books that we find in our New Testament today was Athanasius of Alexandria, in the year 367. When this claim comes from the lips of a skeptical scholar, it’s typically followed by a long leap to the conclusion that […]
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Church History: Who Decided Which Books Belong in My Bible?
Suppose that you became a Christian in the second century A.D. You’ve heard the story of a divine being who died on a cross and rose from the dead. Through baptism, you’ve openly identified yourself with his followers. Now, you want to learn more about this deity. Yet you quickly realize that some people who […]
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Apologetics: Why the Acts of Paul and Gospel of Peter Aren’t On Your Schedule for Reading the Bible in a Year
Perhaps you, like many others, are planning to read through the Bible this year. If you do, you’re likely to ask yourself at some point, “Weren’t there other Gospels and letters that didn’t make it into the Bible? Why am I reading these texts instead of those?” So what about those other Gospels? Well, from […]
[Read More...]Apologetics: Why Some Books Made It Into the New Testament and Others Didn’t
It’s New Year’s Eve! Tomorrow, many of you will begin reading through the Bible in a year. Before you do, I want to plant a question in your mind: Why these books? Why spend the year reading through these ancient texts and not some other documents? What’s so important about these books that owe their […]
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Why No Baptized Lions Or Talking Crosses Made It Into Your Bible
From the first century forward, Christians viewed testimony that could be connected to eyewitnesses of Jesus as uniquely authoritative. The logic of this standard was simple: The people most likely to know the truth about Jesus were either eyewitnesses who had encountered Jesus personally or close associates of these witnesses. So, although Christians wrangled for […]
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