Canonicity: Which Books Belong in the Bible?
Canonicity gives a historical defense and analysis of the books that are in the Bible, and it explains why other books were not included. Are you prepared to answer these questions?
- Why are the Apocrypha in some Bibles, but not in others?
- Why did church fathers like Augustine accept the Apocrypha, and why does the Septuagint include it in its translation?
- Why did it take until AD 367 before we had a complete list of the 27 New Testament books? Does this mean that Christians didn’t know the canon for three centuries?
- What are the Gnostic Gospels? And why don’t we include these in our Bibles today?
- Did later church councils make political power plays to accept some books, and reject others?
When was the canon established, who made these decisions, and on what basis? Come ready to explore these questions this new course.