and it's debatable if they were biased or not. certainly Jesus didn't instruct those people.
2006-08-22 15:35:15 · 10 answers · asked by whynotaskthemoron 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Wow --this is a huge question, but a good one.
You are correct that Jesus has nothing to do with the canon--or at least we have no records that he had any interest in this type of effort.
You are getting all kinds of dates and answers --this is because it is probably better not to think of canonicity being "decided" at any one point in time, but to see it as a process that took many years and many people's opinions and is still being discussed today.
When you speak of "Biblical canon," --there are at least three from early on--Jewish, Samartian and Christian. Many will say that the Jewish canon was "set" in 90 AD, but there is evidence that earlier on an understanding of "canon " was already in place.
I looked at the Wikipedia article someone suggested and it's really a good overview -- you might read over that article as a starting point and go from there.
Even today people still question whether the canonicity process ended up with the "right" set of books --so the question you ask is a good one, as it is one that many people are discussing.
2006-08-22 16:32:25 · answer #1 · answered by Ponderingwisdom 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pondering Wisdom pretty much nailed it. One added note though, there were a lot of other texts written by a lot of different groups with different theological viewpoints (Gnostics, Ebionites, Marcionites, Montanists, Docetists, etc.). These people revered different gospels, letters, and apocalypses that are not included in the canon. They weren't included because they were deemed either heretical or nonapostolic. But it was the party in power (what we refer to now as the orthodox party) that basically 'vetoed' these texts and subsequently deemed those who held these texts as authoritative as heretics. Sad really. It is kind of interesting to think about how the world would have been different had one of the other groups won out. The Christian faith would definitely be very, very different. Great Question.
2006-08-22 17:10:00 · answer #2 · answered by Tukiki 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Constantine called the Council of Nicea (which was the first general council of the Christian church, 325 A.D.) primarily because he feared that disputes within the church would cause disorder within the empire. The dispute in mind was Arianism, which was the belief that Jesus was a created being. The famous phrase they were disputing was, "There was when He was not." This was in reference to Jesus and was declared heretical by the council and thus resulted in the following words about Christ in the Nicene Creed: "God from true God…from the Father…not made." It was determined by the council that Christ was homoousia (meaning, one substance with the Father).
2006-08-22 15:56:19 · answer #3 · answered by Grandreal 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
"The Council of Rome was a meeting of Western church officials and theologians, which took place in 382 under the authority of Pope Damasus I." It was at this council that the biblical canon was finalised.
2006-08-22 15:55:38 · answer #4 · answered by the_alliance47 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nobody "decided" which books would belong to the biblical canon.
2006-08-22 15:43:40 · answer #5 · answered by David S 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Uninspired men who saw a chance to pick and choose that which would solidify their power and eliminate competition.
2006-08-22 15:38:09 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Does anyone know how to use Wikipedia?
2006-08-22 15:43:48 · answer #7 · answered by Tish-a-licious 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the Catholics they made a-bunch of things up, and took out in my opinion
2006-08-22 15:39:20 · answer #8 · answered by paper c 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is already decided by church
2006-08-22 15:37:50 · answer #9 · answered by Alfred 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the early church fathers
2006-08-22 15:37:27 · answer #10 · answered by jewel_flower 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋