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From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

Introduction

I posted a short introduction in three parts for the topic. Curiously, the actual events and particular history of the canonical scriptures is hard to find. Most sources I have read over the years start by assuming they are simply a given and provide very little discussion about process of selection. Interesting. Thomas Simmons 31 March, 2007 (EPT)

Vocabulary changes Question: "conflated" was changed to 'merged" in

• The Gospels of Matthew and of Luke contain nativity stories, which are often conflated for popular commemoration.
• The Gospels of Matthew and of Luke contain nativity stories, which are often merged for popular commemoration.

Why? --Thomas Simmons 18:40, 28 April 2007 (CDT) +17 hours

I changed the headers to comply with current usage. --Thomas Simmons 20:28, 23 June 2007 (CDT)

Hey-- I just removed the mention of the Edict of Milan at the beginning of the Intro. I could not see how it was really relevant to the canonization of the gospels at Nicaea. (It's not as though Constantine and Licinius said: "Stop persecuting those Christians, with those four gospels of theirs!") It's certainly relevant to the topic of early Christianity, just not relevant to this article. Brian P. Long 16:34, 13 April 2008 (CDT)

The stuff about the Council of Nicaea is just mediaeval legend. No up-to-date scholarly source repeats it. No ecumenical council defined a canon of scripture before the Council of Florence in 1439. The earliest source in which the standard canon of the NT appears is dated 367, & alternative canons continued to appear in diminishing numbers of sources for centuries. All this is stated in any respectable modern scholarly account. Peter Jackson 16:59, 14 November 2008 (UTC)