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The Canon
What is it?
 Understanding the Canon and why it kept changing.
 Were the changes political or inspired?Who were the people empowered to make these decisions?By what criteria is a textual reading chosen for canonization? (In the Bible)Why are there only four gospels?What happened to the gospels of Peter, Thomas, Mary and others? Do any of these and other questions ever come to mind when you find
yourself in a discussion about the Bible or perhaps religion in general?
I know that whenever this author is discussing the Bible, it's origin or
religious aspects these questions come to mind.
Maybe you didn't know that there are more than Just the four gospels.
The gospels of Peter were branded as forgeries and placed in the
category of heresy.
The first question that always comes to mind is who were those people
that decided whether or not these 66 books would be the only authoritative
books in the Bible. Why did they leave out the Gospels of Peter, Mary, Thomas and others? By what or who's authority did they make these
decisions. Did they let the political climate of the day influence their judgment?
It would appear that the Canon was influenced to a great degree by the
political environment of the day. We can see this when we look at
LIST -A- below. We can see the various attempts at selecting and
canonizing the New Testament books. Listed also are the years in
which the books were reviewed and under which Church father that
Biblical canon was accepted.
 Note: The listing above has some of the apocryphal books that were
purposed for canonization up until AD 397.
Lists- B - and - C - Shows John the Divine as the author of Revelation.
When I started my research, witness by documentation pointed to the
possibility that John the Apostle and John the Divine were two different
people. I have now come to believe that they are in fact, one in the same
person. John the Apostle.
List - C - shows the approximate date that each book was written.
 Additional church fathers were Origen, 185?-254? AD, who was noted for
his profound interpretation of the Scriptures. It was Origen that attempted
to synthesize the principles of Greek philosophy, with those of
Christianity. Then Athanasius, AD 297 - 373 patriarch of Alexandria
(328-373) Doctor of the Church took part in the debate against the
heresy of Arianism, and continued to defend the Nicene orthodoxy.
Along with these, there was Hilary, Gregory, Nazianzen, Epiphanius
and Jerome. All of these men without question excepted the integrity
and authenticity of the of the O.T. Scripture. However, over the centuries
there were many disagreements as to which of the New Testament books
were conical.
Below are the tests that each book must meet in order for it to become
part of the Biblical Canon.
 Do all of the New Testament books meet this criteria? No! Not by a long
shot. But that does not mean that these are not conical works. It only
means that there was some political and perhaps moral influence imposed
during the period of canonization. The Bishops and Priests, the early
church fathers were only flesh and blood, subject to pain, suffering
and sorrow. They would do almost anything to insure the continuing
life and growth of the church, not unlike they do today.
You will notice that the Old Testament is not covered here, only the new.
However without the Old Testament one can never understand the new.
The Old Testament is covered in detail on the page concerning the Old
Testament and its relationship to the New.
Still, More to Come
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