11/28/20041 Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction? Part 3 Bill Petro your friendly neighborhood historian

11/28/20042 Where is it?

11/28/20043 Agenda: What was Gnosticism? Were other Gnostic/Hidden/Lost/Secret Gospels a legitimate expression of Christianity? How did we really get the New Testament?

11/28/20044 First Week: Book Synopsis Who was Leonardo Da Vinci? Who was Mary Magdalene? Was Jesus married? What do we know about the Holy Grail? Is there a group known as Opus Dei? Was there an ancient Priory of Sion?

11/28/20045 Last Week: What do we know about Constantine? What happened at the Council of Nicaea? What were the issues concerning Jesus’ deity?

11/28/20046 What was Gnosticism? Gnosis Platonic Dualism Aeons, demiurge Spark of divinity Guide into Truth

11/28/20047 Were other (Gnostic) Gospels a legitimate expression of Christianity? Where were they discovered? Were they suppressed in the 4th century? Can they help us understand Jesus?

11/28/20048 Nag Hammadi

11/28/20049 Constantine “paid” for Bibles Financed scribes to copy 50 copies of the Bible for use in Constantinople Constantine burned writings of Arius Eusebius’ list

11/28/ “Other” Gospels Nag Hammadi Library, James M. Robinson The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels Lost Scriptures, Bart D. Ehrman The Other Gospels, Ron Cameron The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Jean-Yves Leloup The Infancy Gospels of James and Thomas, Ronald F. Hock

11/28/ “Value” of other Gospels Writings of Apostolic Fathers and Post- Apostolic Fathers (late 1 st, early 2 nd Centuries) Popular 3 rd class literary entertainment (2 nd and 3 rd Centuries) Heretical books, especially of a Gnostic nature (2 nd – 4 th Centuries)

11/28/ Dates of Gospels Mark:AD 40 – 65 Luke:AD 60 – 85 Matthew:AD 70 – 90 John:AD 86 – 100

11/28/ NT vs. Antiquities NT5,600AD 100AD 140 Gallic Wars10BC 58AD 900 Livy20AD 17AD 300 Tacitus12AD 100AD 1000 Thucydides8BC 400AD 900 CopiesWrittenEarliest copy

11/28/ New Testament Canon Rule, “Ruler” = list Clement, Bishop of Rome – AD 90 Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch – AD 115 Polycarp – AD 155 Origen – AD 230 Officially confirmed in its present and final form by the 3 rd Council of Carthage in AD 397

11/28/ Why a Canon? Dealing with Heresy – Doctrine Reading in Churches – Devotion Surrendering to Authorities – Persecution

11/28/ Tests: Apostolicity: Had been written by an apostle or specifically approved by the apostles. Acceptance: A history of continuous and widespread approval amongst Christians Conformity: to the Old Testament scriptures and Apostles’ rule of faith.

11/28/ How: Letters from apostles were written and received in churches, copied and circulated Growing group of books were recognized as inspired Scripture By end of 1 st century all 27 NT books were written and received by the churches

11/28/ Then: A generation after the Apostolic Age, every book of the NT had been cited as authoritative by a Church Father Debates continued into the 4 th century, until Athanasius’ Easter letter in AD 367 Ratified by the Council of Hippo - AD 393, 3 rd Council of Carthage - AD 397

11/28/ Bibliography The New Testament Documents: are they reliable? F.F. Bruce Inter-Varsity Press Christian History Magazine, Issue 51 Heresy in the Early Church

11/28/ Q&A