In 325 A.D. a group of Catholic bishops met at the Nicene Conference in what is now Turkey and codified the New Testament, they chose the four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — but left out other Christian writings. Some of those books, which include the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Truth, the Gospel of the Egyptians and others, were found in the Egyptian desert at Nag Hamadi in 1945.
The most famous excluded gospel is the Gospel of Thomas. It is referred to as a apocryphal gospel, and is said to include a collection of sayings from Jesus. It was considered heretical, and therefore was excluded from the New Testament. Which I find amusing, since in this gospel Jesus appears as a teacher of wisdom and as a bringer of saving knowledge. It talks about how "salvation is present here and now in the words and teaching of Jesus. It cannot be bound to any concrete place or church institution, but it is ultimately an all-penetrating, invisible reality." I guess they did not like the part about not being bound to any church institution.
http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html has a decent site with the Gospels of Thomas.
2007-09-07 14:43:13
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answer #1
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answered by Thor 3
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It is a mistake to think that an "authority" really had much involvement at all in fixing the canon of scripture. The first ecumenical council to do so, the Council of Trent, was convened in the 16th century.
For all practical purposes, the canon of scripture was fixed by consensus. During the 2nd century, a number of theologians put forth their ideas what should constitute a New Testament, most notably Marcion (he of of the Marcion heresy.)
His canon was already close to the modern New Testament canon. Between the 2nd century and 4th, the scrolls that got passed around as the New Testament began to be more and more alike in the particular churches, such that by the time of Jerome's latin translation (4th century) it had become what it was today... without any "authority" having had to say so.
2007-09-07 21:45:45
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answer #2
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answered by evolver 6
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The gospel of Thomas was rejected. I think there was a gospel of Mary that was rejected. The Gnostic gospels were all rejected. You can do a Google search on them if you want to. I don't know why you would trust them more than you would trust the Bible. If you don't trust the Bible because of its religious agenda, why would you trust other books which also have a religious agenda?
2007-09-07 21:40:43
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answer #3
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answered by fuzz 4
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I think you are referring to the Apocrypha. Actually, they aren't as mystical as you think. There were 15 books that were part of the Greek translation of the bible, but not accepted by Protestants because they were not part of the original Hebrew Scriptures.There are the Books of Esdras, the Book of Tobit, the Book of Judith, the rest of the Chapters of the Books of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Book of Enoch. There are more, but these are the only ones I have read.
You can still get bibles with the Apocrypha. Just ask at a Christian book store. Or, you can just buy the books.
2007-09-07 21:49:15
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answer #4
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answered by justanotherone 5
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You're certainly correct;-} there were dozens if not hundreds:
Gospel of the Ebionites - middle of second century.
Gospel according to the Hebrews - 120-130 AD.
Gospel according to the Egyptians - 130-140 AD.
Gospel of the Naassenes - serpent worshippers.
Gospel of Peter - 130AD
Acts of Philip - 4th century gnostic.
Gospel of Thomas - late 4th century gnostic.
2007-09-07 21:52:31
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answer #5
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answered by Robert S 7
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The Church didn't write the Bible. God was the Author and there were Men used of God to put it onto Paper.
The Church had no power over the bible... whatever "writings" they had were... just books or new versions!
The only time a Church was involved was in the Translation to other languages!
And Judas betrayed Jesus... for some petty money!!! Jesus didnt tell him to do that!
2007-09-07 21:48:08
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answer #6
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answered by Reagan's Mommy 3
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The gospel of Judas. Judas just did what Jesus told him to. How was he repaid? Made out to be some monster.
2007-09-07 21:43:24
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answer #7
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answered by punch 7
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I wouldn't call them "Gospels," but there are a lot of early Christian writings from people who either knew the Apostles, or knew people who knew them.
There were probably thousands of people who shook hands with people who shook hands with Jesus. Some of them wrote some of these documents.
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/
Pretty cool, isn't it?
Godspeed you on your journey.
2007-09-07 21:44:17
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answer #8
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answered by jimmeisnerjr 6
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Here is an excellent source.
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/
2007-09-07 21:46:40
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answer #9
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answered by redphish 5
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here are a few websites
2007-09-07 21:46:51
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answer #10
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answered by bmdt07 4
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