Monday, April 28, 2008

Scoring the books of the canon: Eusebius' History

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 discussed by Eusebius in his History of the Church. 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 with reservations11 x 1.00 = 1.00
JamesAccepted with reservations11 x 1.00 = 1.00
1 PeterAccepted without reservations55 x 1.00 = 5.00
2 PeterAccepted without reservations55 x 1.00 = 5.00
JudeAccepted with reservations11 x 1.00 = 1.00
1 JohnAccepted without reservation55 x 1.00 = 5.00
2 JohnAccepted with reservations11 x 1.00 = 1.00
3 JohnAccepted with reservations11 x 1.00 = 1.00
RevelationMixed/neutral00 x 1.00 = 0.00
Acts of PaulRejected with reservations-1-1 x 1.00 = -1.00
Acts of PeterRejected with reservations-1-1 x 1.00 = -1.00
Apocalpyse of PeterRejected with reservations-1-1 x 1.00 = -1.00
Epistle of BarnabasRejected with reservations-1-1 x 1.00 = -1.00
Letter to the AlexandrinesNot mentioned00 x 1.00 = 0.00
Letter to the LaodiceansNot mentioned00 x 1.00 = 0.00
Shepherd of HermasRejected with reservations-1-1 x 1.00 = -1.00
Teachings of the ApostlesRejected with reservations-1-1 x 1.00 = -1.00




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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