I believe that there were a list of criteria drawn up in council, of course, the NT canon as we have it was hardly railroaded by Constantine.  If anything, he merely gave state sanction to the canon already recognized by the lion’s share of Christendom.  For the Christian, the list of criteria was a product of divine intervention, as was the deliberations done at the various and sundry councils.

Apr 23, 2012 -- 8:44AM, Marcion wrote:

Apr 23, 2012 -- 5:50AM, Kwinters wrote:

Apr 22, 2012 -- 11:04AM, Marcion wrote:

Does anyone know of authenticated references to the criteria used to determine the canonocal vs heretical gospels other than the winners make the rules.
 

No.  As far as I can see there was no checklist that was created in advance and then texts which were accepted or rejected  based upon that criteria.

The creation of official Christian scriptures was a reaction to the development of other sacred, approved texts, most notably Marcion's collection.

The end product is a collection of works that has only one undisputed source: Paul.

We have several anonymous works (inter alia the gospels), Paul's authentic letters, forgeries written in his name, other works which have been wrongly attributed to an apostle (Revelation, James, Hebrews), and other forgeries.  There are also highly disputed writings (e.g. 1 Peter).

Are you serious? Paul was a charlatan who created his own version of Jesus and fools have been following his hoax for centuries.

My NT would be thinner than Jefferson's and would not contain the letters of Paul nor the Gospel of John.

Paul's Jesus was inherited by the apostles and Paul's theology was a poor attempt to walk a line between Judaism and the inclusion of the gentiles.  I agree he was a used car salesman, but he did not invent his Jesus out of thin air.  His Jesus was less than god but more than human.  It was only later, after his death, that some of his followers when the full monty and turned Jesus into a god.

Apr 23, 2012 -- 2:36PM, jlb32168 wrote:

I believe that there were a list of criteria drawn up in council, of course, the NT canon as we have it was hardly railroaded by Constantine.  If anything, he merely gave state sanction to the canon already recognized by the lion’s share of Christendom.  For the Christian, the list of criteria was a product of divine intervention, as was the deliberations done at the various and sundry councils.

Where can we find this list of criteria; that was the intent of my original question before we got sidetracked.

I am interested in facts, not the flapping of dead mens tongues.

Apr 23, 2012 -- 4:56PM, Marcion wrote:

Why would Jesus call twelve disciple to follow him and teach them the meaning of the kingdom if he intended to turn it all over to a miscoginist charlatan?

Paul never knew Jesus or heard him speak yet he had the audacity to proclaim himself an apostle.

Agreed.

But then again, so did others who came after (e.g. Marcion and the gnostics). The main difference between them and the proto orthodoxists was that the latter group got to rewrite history.

If we were to use the criterion of established and undisputed authorship, only the authentic letters of Paul would make the cut.

The "authentic" letters of Paul are one mans ego trip and not compatible with the teachings of Jesus.

You can be Christian or Paulist, but not both.

I follow the teachings of Jesus Christ but reject all the religious trappings. 

The Gnostics were right on when they recognized the Jewish god as a flawed vengeful being and not worthy of being god.