Subject: The Development of the Canon of the New Testament - Authorities
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The Development of the Canon of the New Testament

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Information

Early
Christian Authorities

Ignatius of
Antioch
Polycarp of
Smyrna
Marcion
Valentinus

Justin
Martyr
Irenaeus of
Lyons
Clement of
Alexandria
Tertullian of
Carthage
Muratorian
Canon
Origen
Eusebius of
Caesarea
codex
Sinaiticus
Athanasius of
Alexandria
Didymus the
Blind
Peshitta

Vulgate

Early Christian Authorities

An early Christian authority is included in this survey if he or it
gives important evidence on the development of the canon of the New
Testament (perhaps even having some influence on it) and did so before
~400 CE, when the first complete manuscripts of the Vulgate were issued. The
early 'authorities' fall into these categories:

early Church fathers (Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus,
Clement, Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius, Didymus the Blind)

early heretics and their followers (Marcion and Marcionites,
Valentinus and the Valentinians)

lists of canonical books (Muratorian Canon, Athanasius' Festal
Epistle)

a single manuscript collection (codex Sinaiticus)

series of manuscripts (Peshitta, Vulgate)

Authority

Date CE

Form of evidence provided on the development of the canon of the
New Testament

Ignatius of
Antioch

~110

7 letters with quotations and allusions to Christian writings as
scripture. There are no citations by name.

Polycarp of
Smyrna

~110

1 letter with ~100 quotations and allusions to Christian
writings as scripture. There are no citations by name.

Marcion

~140

founded a sect with its own "New Testament" collection. There
was one Gospel, based mostly on the Gospel according to Luke

Valentinus

140-150

Valentinus and his followers - Heracleon, Ptolemy, Marcus - were
Gnostic heretics so their doctrines mostly survive in the writings
of the orthodox, such as Irenaeus, who
summarized the Valentinian views before attacking them. The Gospel of
Truth from Nag Hammadi probably derives from the Valentinians,
but this is not certain.

Justin
Martyr

150-160

many of his writings survive; he was the most prolific Christian
writer up to his time.

Irenaeus

~180

two of his writings survive in translations (Latin and
Armenian). There are quotations and allusions to Christian writings
as scripture, and citations by name.

Clement

180-200

many of his writings survive; in them are about 8000 citations -
over 1/3 of them from pagan sources. There are citations by
name.

Tertullian

200-210

Tertullian was the most prolific writer of the Latin Fathers in
pre-Nicene times (before 325 CE). There are citations by name.

Muratorian
Canon

200-300

a manuscript discovered in the Ambrosian Library in Milan with a
catalogue (in Latin) of the New Testament writings with
comments

Origen

220-350

only a small part of his works survives, but this fills volumes
There are citations by name.

Eusebius

300-330

much of the works of Eusebius survives, but here we only use his
famous classification in [Eusebius]

codex
Sinaiticus

~350

a manuscript discovered in 1859 containing a 4th-century New
Testament

Athanasius

~367

his 39th Festal Epistle of 367 CE has a list of canonical
books

Didymus the
Blind

350-398

some of his exegetical writings have survived, including six
commentaries discovered in 1941

Peshitta

~400

a series of manuscripts of the Bible in Syriac including 22 New
Testament books

Vulgate

~400

a series of manuscripts (over 10,000) of the Bible in Latin,
whose New Testament coincides (more or less) with the present
one

For a summary of the authorities' opinions on New Testament writings,
see the Cross Reference
Table.

Pages created by Glenn Davis, 1997-2004.
For additions,
corrections, and comments send e-mail to mailto:[email-masked]