Living Biblically

[Randy Carson]

The English, huh?

The Canon and the Councils

Council of Rome (382 A.D.)

Convoked by Pope Damasus, this council produced the Roman Code.  The Roman Code identified a list of scriptural books identical to canon that would be defined by the Council of Trent. Pope Damasus I approved the work of the first Council of Constantinople, accepting St. Athanasius’ list as divinely inspired, and indicated that if any bishop used a list of books inconsistent with the Roman canon he would need a convincing explanation.

Council of Hippo (AD 393)

This council reiterated the list of books established by the Council of Rome.

First Council of Carthage (AD 397)

This council reiterated the list of books established by the Council of Rome and also affirmed the Decree of Damasus issued in 382 A.D. Carthage, unlike Hippo, sent its decisions to Rome for ratification.

Pope Innocent I (AD 405)

In a letter to Exsuperius, the Bishop of Toulouse, Pope Innocent listed the same books established by the Council of Rome.

Second Council of Carthage (AD 419)

This council, presided over by Augustine, reiterated the list of books established by the Council of Rome and notified Pope Boniface of its action.

Pope Boniface (ca. AD 420)

Pope St. Boniface I (418-422) ratified the decision of the Council of Carthage and declared the canon settled for the Western Patriarchate. Boniface also sent the decision to the Eastern patriarchs in Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. At that point, the Catholic Canon of Sacred Scripture was informally accepted worldwide.

Second Council of Nicaea (787 A.D.)

This council formally ratified the African Code which contained the same list of books that Trent would name “canonical”.

Council of Florence (1441 A.D.)

This council defined a list of inspired books identical to those defined by the African Code and the Second Council of Nicaea.

Council of Trent (1546 A.D.)

On April 8, 1546, this council produced a decree, Sacrosancta, which was the first, formal canonical definition of Old and New Testament scripture. This was the third formal affirmation of the list by an ecumenical council and at least the eighth overall.

There's a major difference between a heap of scrolls and a real book.  Those early characters, before the year 700 AD, just played around with a bunch of various scrolls.  They didn't have a single comprehensive book that contained the fairy tale.  The English took all of that junk and organized it into a single BOOK.  

Do you think those early con men had their fairy tale organized in the current format of stories by titles?  Do you think those early con men had their fairy tale organized into chapters and verses?

Wow. What a coincidence!

The book that the English put together in (insert year here) just HAPPENS to be identical in contents to the "heap of scrolls" that were considered to be the Word of God as early as the middle of the fourth century?

Geez, how did THAT happen?