Monday, April 28, 2008

Scoring the books of the canon: Athanasius' 39th Festal Letter

This post builds on the previous ones outlining a system for evaluating early Christian writings and an initial evaluation of the canon lists I will be reviewing. This post continues with a review of the canon as set out by Athanasius in his 39th Festal Letter. This is the earliest document we have which lists the New Testament canon with the same books as we have today. It also comments on some of the other works. This work dates from the 300's A.D., placing it in the 300-399 A.D. range for the purposes of this evaluation system and giving a weight of 1.0 to the list as seen in the calculations of the right column of the table.
Early Christian writingClassification in current listRaw scoreList weighted score
MatthewAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
MarkAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
LukeAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
JohnAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
ActsAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
RomansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
1 CorinthiansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
2 CorinthiansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
GalatiansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
EphesiansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
PhilippiansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
ColossiansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
1 ThessaloniansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
2 ThessaloniansAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
1 TimothyAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
2 TimothyAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
TitusAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
PhilemonAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
HebrewsAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
JamesAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
1 PeterAccepted without reservations55 x 1.00 = 5.00
2 PeterAccepted without reservations55 x 1.00 = 5.00
JudeAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
1 JohnAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
2 JohnAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
3 JohnAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
RevelationAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
Acts of PaulNot mentioned00 x 1.00 = 0.00
Acts of PeterNot mentioned00 x 1.00 = 0.00
Apocalpyse of PeterNot mentioned00 x 1.00 = 0.00
Epistle of BarnabasNot mentioned00 x 1.00 = 0.00
Letter to the AlexandrinesNot mentioned00 x 1.00 = 0.00
Letter to the LaodiceansNot mentioned00 x 1.00 = 0.00
Shepherd of HermasSuitable reading but not authoritative00 x 1.00 = 0.00
Teachings of the ApostlesSuitable reading but not authoritative00 x 1.00 = 0.00




Note on the list of books: the list here contains all of the books named on any of the five canon lists I am reviewing in this series, regardless of whether the mention is positive or negative. The order of the books is for the convenience of the reader: since the books are listed in different orders on the various lists, the books are listed here in common canonical order for the canonical books, followed by an alphabetical listing of the non-canonical books mentioned.

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