200-350 AD This is the middle period of the early Church, for our purposes. By the end of this period, with the conversion of Constantine, and the Edict of Milan finally granting freedom from persecution, the early Church will enter a new phase, which will include the vast majority of…

SIDEBAR 7: REASONABLE STANDARDS OF PROOF, PART III As we start to move beyond Irenaeus, let us consider some advice from Kruger’s treatise regarding issues we will see in the remaining evidence: … overplaying of disagreements over canonical books also happens in other areas. Throughout early Patristic testimony about the…

Irenaeus Testifies that Baruch was Apostolic Preaching It is time to refocus on Baruch and the question we originally passed over: was Baruch wrongfully accepted in the period before the canon lists, or was it true teaching from the Apostles? Personally, I think Baruch is the key to everything, and…

New Testament Comparison But let’s compare against the New Testament Books in more detail. The only New Testament canon list that could be from this period (given Gallagher and Meade’s dating ranges and list selection) is the Muratorian Fragment. Whatever support it provides would simultaneously apply to the Book of…

THE CANON, AS OF 200 AD Let’s pause to consider the status of the Apocrypha in the second century. After all, what date we use to end our inquiry into the “early Church” is arbitrary. I end at 450, Gallagher and Meade at 400, but we could just as easily…

Clement of Alexandria’s List There is one other list—which is only considered a list when it is useful. It is another reference in Eusebius, that Clement of Alexandria (writing 190-203 AD, so right at the end of our timeframe here) “has not only treated extensively of the Divine Scripture, but…

The Muratorian Fragment The Muratorian Fragment[1] is our last (allegedly) second-century canon list. I include it here because Professor Bart Ehrman once gave implicit support for this dating,[2] and (as a frequent opponent of Christianity) I consider him neutral enough to arbitrate this one, since I do not see why…

Melito’s List The earliest certain date for a list is Melito’s, which is dated at 170 AD.[1] The main issue with this list is a debate as to whether it is just a list of the Jewish canon or intended as the list for Christians as well. We do not…

The Mistaken Bryennios List: 20/20 Hindsight Gallagher and Meade are the best resource I have found for all the early canon lists.[1] So we start with their first Christian entry, the Bryennios List, allegedly the earliest canon list. They date it from 100-150 AD.[2] In fact, Gallagher and Meade (writing…

33 AD TO 200 AD We begin with canon lists, where a Father from the early Church may have provided a list of the Books of the Bible. From Gallagher and Meade (p. 27): The Greek canon lists from the first four centuries attest a very stable collection that consistently…