"Who Chose the Gospels? Probing the Great Gospel Conspiracy"

  • Thread starter Thread starter patrick457
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
farpinho said:
Not this one, but I read some other books about that matter, including Bruce Metzger and others (all of them basically said the same things). Does this book shed a new light?
Click to expand...
Well, to give a gist of what the author is trying to say (I’m still halfway through it), he is arguing that contrary to what a number of scholars today (like Bart Ehrman or Elaine Pagels) may imply, the four gospels already have had an authoritative, preeminent position in the early Church - the other apocryphal/gnostic ‘gospels’ aren’t even close to being equal rivals to them. So it depends on your particular viewpoint whether this book “sheds a new light” on stuff.
 
patrick457 said:
Well, to give a gist of what the author is trying to say (I’m still halfway through it), he is arguing that contrary to what a number of scholars today (like Bart Ehrman or Elaine Pagels) may imply, the four gospels already have had an authoritative, preeminent position in the early Church - the other apocryphal/gnostic ‘gospels’ aren’t even close to being equal rivals to them. So it depends on your particular viewpoint whether this book “sheds a new light” on stuff.
Click to expand...
To summarize the idea I have about the choice of the books that compose the Canon, Metzger identified three criteria for acceptance of particular writings as sacred, authoritative, and worthy of being read in services of worship. These criteria were generally adopted during the course of the second century, and were never modified thereafter namely, orthodoxy (conformity to the rule of faith), apostolicity, and consensus among the churches.He concludes that, “In the most basic sense neither individuals nor councils created the canon; instead they came to recognize and acknowledge the self-authenticating quality of these writings, which imposed themselves as canonical upon the church.”
Also, reading the works of Ireaneus from as early as the middle of the second century, it seems that the choice of the authoritative books were more or less decided by then.
 
farpinho said:
To summarize the idea I have about the choice of the books that compose the Canon, Metzger identified three criteria for acceptance of particular writings as sacred, authoritative, and worthy of being read in services of worship. These criteria were generally adopted during the course of the second century, and were never modified thereafter namely, orthodoxy (conformity to the rule of faith), apostolicity, and consensus among the churches.He concludes that, “In the most basic sense neither individuals nor councils created the canon; instead they came to recognize and acknowledge the self-authenticating quality of these writings, which imposed themselves as canonical upon the church.”
Also, reading the works of Ireaneus from as early as the middle of the second century, it seems that the choice of the authoritative books were more or less decided by then.
Click to expand...
That is more or less consonant with what Hill is saying. As I mentioned earlier, The author really has in mind types like Ehrman or Pagels (heck, even Dan Brown) who argue that the choice of four gospels were products of the orthodox camp’s ascendance to power under Constantine, when it started eliminating its rival ‘Christianities’.
 
patrick457 said:
That is more or less consonant with what Hill is saying. As I mentioned earlier, The author really has in mind types like Ehrman or Pagels (heck, even Dan Brown) who argue that the choice of four gospels were products of the orthodox camp’s ascendance to power under Constantine, when it started eliminating its rival ‘Christianities’.
Click to expand...
Everybody should read books like Hill’s 😦 We know that everything Ehrman and Pagels (and even Dan Brown) is old news, but they became really popular and the way they write it shocks people who aren’t acquainted to the subject 😦 The sad thing is that books like Ehrman’s and Pagels’ (and Brown’s…) are best sellers, and most people don’t have a chance to read the other side of the coin… (well, I know people who read the other side of the coin, but still prefer to trust Ehrman and Brown :()
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top