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Council of Nicaea and the biblical canon

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Speculative topic. The main subject of this page is a fringe, popular or unfalsifiable claim. The page reports the claim and sets out what the evidence shows. See Help:Claim labels.

This page addresses the popular claim that the Council of Nicaea (325 CE) chose which books belong in the Bible.

Established The council was convened by the emperor Constantine at Nicaea in Bithynia in 325 CE. It addressed the Arian controversy about the divinity of Christ, produced the original Nicene Creed, and dealt with the date of Easter and church discipline.[1] Established No surviving canon or record of the council discusses which books belong in the Bible.[2] Established The earliest known list matching the 27-book New Testament is Athanasius's 39th Festal Letter of 367 CE; the canon took shape over centuries through use and later regional councils.[3] Speculation The claim that Nicaea "chose the Bible" or suppressed gospels at that meeting has been popularised in modern fiction (for example The Da Vinci Code, 2003) but has no support in the ancient sources.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Eusebius, Life of Constantine (c. 339 CE). book 3; Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series II vol. 1 (1890); public domain.
  2. ↑ Canons of Nicaea, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series II vol. 14 (1900).
  3. ↑ Athanasius, Thirty-Ninth Festal Letter (367 CE). Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series II vol. 4 (1892); public domain.
  4. ↑ Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament (1987). Cited only.


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