Christians face an unusual Catch 22 over the Bible in today’s Discovery Channel type world. It revolves around these hidden gospels coming to light after 1700 years in a cave. Predictably some come out in sensationalist form, like the Gospel of Judas. Bookseller headlines like ‘Jesus grave found!’ or ‘the secret they couldn’t hide,’ ensure no churched soul will look any further. I mean, Thing is, there are dozens of these ancient works. Like every publishers slush pile, most didn’t make it into the Bible. Only 66 did. Unless you’re Catholic, then its 75. Sorry, unless you’re Orthodox, then it’s up to 80. Even today, among the three major strands of Christendom, there is division on which books should be included. Shucks, it was only in 1880 that the Protestants finally expelled the Apocrypha, the Catholic and Orthodox extras. Most Evangelicals don’t know that. I reckon they think Jesus left a list behind.
Scholars believe the prophet Ezra organized the Old Testament. Fearing the Jews might get dispersed again after their Babylonian exile, and lose their oral tradition, his ‘Great Assembly’ of learned men put together the Jewish Bible circa BCE 350. In fact it was the only Bible the early Christian movement had. It wasn’t until Christianity was legitimized in the AD 300s that various Councils decided on what letters and gospels should be included in the New Testament.
During this formative and argumentative period, lots of older, and newer, books and letters, didn’t make the cut. Many were burnt. But since the AD 1800s, lots have been rediscovered. And now Christians have a problem. Not all the books are duds.
Take the Gospel of Thomas. It is meant to be a Gnostic gospel. Gnostics got labeled as heretics at some early councils. However if you read why Gnosticism is wrong, then peruse the Gospel of Thomas, you will think you are reading two different stories. You will wonder how they got the heresy of Gnosticism from the reflective, Buddhist like, Gospel of Thomas.
Occasionally I ask a Christian whether they think the current Biblical canon was well chosen. How do I think they should. For a start, I mostly ask this of Protestants. But the deciding councils were all Catholic. All councils have only been Catholic. Neither Protestants nor Orthodox run councils. They started them in the AD 300s, and the last one, Vatican II, was in the 1960s. Most Protestants today still believe Catholics are way off beam, as most Catholics believe the same of the divisive Protestant movement.
However, just maybe back then, prior to Martin Luther, some councils were more spiritual. So I looked up details of the Council of Laodicea, a council that did actually recommend books for both the Old and New Testament (most didn’t have a list) along with a bevy of banned books. Laodicea also commanded the following; banned mathematicians from church, banned women from office in church, banned singing in church unless you were in the choir (actually there might be sense in this one), banned any holder of church office from going to the pub, banned any Christian from bathing with a woman, banned Christians from dancing at weddings, etc, etc. And if anyone broke one of these rules, then ‘let him be anathema.’ (Good name for a law firm).
Houston, we have a problem.
Discovery Channel world will continue to investigate books on a regular basis. Not all at once, because they maximize their revenue stream by stringing them out. Meanwhile the Bible Society of New Zealand informs us church interest in the Bible is dwindling, being replaced by musical entertainment. Protestant churches will deny this of course, but nobody argues congregational Bible knowledge has declined over the past thirty years. Meanwhile the Jesus seminar, and other wicked liberal organizations will merrily look through Thomas, or Enoch, or Jasher, or The books of Adam and Eve.
Here is the final irony, the Catch 22. Some of these books are real stunners. Take Enoch for example. Sadly, my prediction is the mainstream church doesn’t want this debate, as it touches something too deep. Which is a pity. It is a potential conversation with the world at large, and better to be integrated into, than letting the sensationalists misuse the opportunity.
imagine the book ‘Jesus and I started an aromatherapy business in France’, by Mary Magdalene. Will I be ordering a copy? No, but millions sell to an unchurched audience.
they know the best books got in there? Invariably they say they trust those historical decision makers were guided by God. I know what they are really saying. They are telling me they have never researched this question, and have no idea how the Bible got put together. They don’t want to go there. They don’t want to know how those church synods really worked.
I can understand why the Jews didn’t want Enoch’s writings in the Old Testament. After all he wasn’t Jewish, he predated Abraham, and he talked about someone closely resembling Jesus. But the Christians? Enoch was one of only two Old Testament characters to be taken straight to Heaven, yet the Council of Laodicea banned his book.
Mmm. Good point about Enoch
Interesting take on things. Although I would agree with the general stereotype you paste onto the average Christian, we don’t all fit into this view.
The primary reason why so many of these “hidden” texts were left out of the cannon was the lack of ability to prove authenticity. How do we know Enoch actually wrote this text? How do we know Thomas actually wrote that text? The Council of Laodicea was closer to the authorship of any of these text than any of us are now. That is why so many leave it to the Divinity of God that the right books where chosen. We wouldn’t know which ones are authentic and which ones “sound good.” The primary reason why the cannon was created was to try and centralize the teachings – to prevent false teachings within the church.
Sure, they could have chosen Enoch. But how do we know Enoch truly wrote it? It sounds good, but it was supposedly written thousands of years before Moses wrote the Pentateuch? Many people already question whether or not Job should be included. Do we need more reasons for people to question the authenticity of Scripture?
The books that were chosen where basically the “tried and true”. The controversial ones where left out. These were the books everyone agreed on. And the Laodicean Canon wasn’t the first canon to be put together. The fragments we have of the Muratorian Canon are the oldest – potentially as old as 170AD.
People can bicker and argue about the old “potential” books, but I’ll stick with the “tried and true.” Words are powerful things. That is why the church has been so particular about which ones to include. But, then again, I’m no Bible Scholar. I just simply pay attention and think for myself.
On the question of which books to include and which to exclude, may I ask all you readers this question ? ” Where exactly did evil spirits (that is called devils ) come from ? The King James tells us they exist. God certainly did NOT create evil. Satan has NO creative powers. The fallen angles are now prisoners in Tartaras. Who are they and where did they come from ??
The only REAL story we have that explains all this is found in the Book of Enoch.Don’t take MY word for this. Read it for yourself. Is it heavy reading ? YES ! Enoch tells us that the souls of the hybred giants would roam the earth, never finding rest nor peace. They would torment mankind
with temptations, irritations, and trouble, They’re still here. Read it for yourself. djm142@gmail.com
The bigger problem could be not why some of these other books were not included, but why some of the books we have were included. It seems that it is quite likely that books such as the pastoral epistles were not authored by the historical author, yet we apply all kinds of principles derived from these. Growing up in an evangelical background this is a problem, because it makes it hard to decide what is and is not trust worthy.
“The primary reason why so many of these “hidden” texts were left out of the cannon was the lack of ability to prove authenticity.”
Hmm, I would really like to see the Proof of authinticity for all if the books that are in bible today! There are none!