CORE BIBLIOGRAPHY Author’s Note: This bibliography highlights just the principal sources that informed my research and provides a starting point for readers wishing to investigate the evidence more deeply. BIBLES The Apologetics Study Bible, Holman Bible Publishers 2017. The Holy Bible, King James Version. Cambridge Edition. 1769. The Holy Bible,…
POSSIBLE ERRATA Author’s Note: No work of this size is free from error, and I welcome corrections that improve the accuracy, clarity, or fairness of future editions. Assessing my own work-product, the main problem is that Biblindex starts to become incomplete in the fourth century, and I was forced (by…
QUESTIONS NO OTHER BOOKS SEEM TO ADDRESS Author’s Note: Every research project uncovers questions that deserve greater attention, and this chapter collects several that I believe merit further discussion. Who read these Apocrypha to illiterate Jews so that they would know all the things it is claimed they knew—and where…
ADVICE FOR THOSE WHO RESEARCH THE CANON Author’s Note: The study of the biblical canon is both fascinating and surprisingly difficult, and I hope these observations help future readers and researchers avoid some of the pitfalls I encountered. Having the experience of doing all this research, I offer the following…
THE FINAL RULING: IS CHRIST RISEN AND WERE APOCRYPHA SCRIPTURE? Author’s Note: After examining the evidence from Scripture, the early Church, canon lists, manuscripts, and the Church Fathers, this chapter presents my conclusions and invites you to make your own decision. There are at least a thousand and one ways…
LIST OF CANON LISTS Author’s Note: This summary brings together every canon list discussed throughout the book, allowing readers to compare the historical evidence in a single place. Lists broken out by Book were included above, so this is one complete summary list: FATHER/LIST/BOOK YEAR ACCEPTED APOCRYPHA “THIRD CATEGORY”? MELITO…
Pope Innocent I Canon List Author’s Note: Pope Innocent I’s canon list provides important evidence for the books recognized by the Church at the beginning of the fifth century. 405 AD: Pope Innocent I[1] accepts all the Apocrypha as full Scripture. As with the African Councils, one could be pedantic…
Augustine Canon List Author’s Note: Augustine’s canon list reflects the understanding of one of Christianity’s most influential theologians. 397 AD: Augustine accepted all the Apocrypha.[1] But see this quote: In the second case he [Augustine] expressly lowers the authority of the books of the Maccabees by remarking that “the Jews…
Rufinus Canon List Author’s Note: Rufinus provides another late fourth-century view of the biblical canon. 400 AD: Rufinus:[1] His list implicitly includes Baruch and Susanna as canon. As for the other Apocrypha, “there are other books which were called by our predecessors not ‘canonical’ but ecclesiastical.’ Thus, there is Wisdom…Sirach…
