Evangelical Christians?

[minestrone]

There is no doubt that the bible was manipulated by the early Church. It is not something that should be held as, well 'gospel'.

[NotAllThere]

If that's true - which is kind of hard to demonstrate as you'd have to show what it was manipulated from - then it would only apply to the New Testament. Unless by manipulated you mean "put together by", in which case it's kind of self-evident.

All the other stuff about suppressed gospels etc. is about as as scholarly as Dan Brown, and should be treated with the seriousness that you'd reserve for any other kind of conspiracy theory.

[portseven]

If that's true - which is kind of hard to demonstrate as you'd have to show what it was manipulated from - then it would only apply to the New Testament

So where then do the apocrypha fit in then? Who decided that they should be in or out of the main cannon and on who's authority did they make that decision? I am thinking here about books like Tobit, 1 and 2 Esdras, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mary, etc.

[Spacecadet]

So where then do the apocrypha fit in then? Who decided that they should be in or out of the main cannon and on who's authority did they make that decision? I am thinking here about books like Tobit, 1 and 2 Esdras, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mary, etc.

Radio 4 has a series on at the moment about the King James Bible - you should be able to catch it on iplayer

[xoggoth]

All the other stuff about suppressed gospels etc. is about as as scholarly as Dan Brown

Have you actually looked at the history of the modern version of the Bible? Dan Brown clearly did, successful authors have to to in order to make their stories seem plausible.

[d000hg]

So I do have a capacity for rational discussion? I will take that as a compliment.

Actually in a backwards way, it is one. Until that point, I was genuinely enjoying debating with you.

[minestrone]

Religion is a personal choice that can be taken or left. I will always respect a person for taking a conscious decision of faith even if they do scream down a megaphone.

[NickFitz]

What is scripture?

This is where that whole "owning a dictionary" thing kicks in

[Gibbon]

If that's true - which is kind of hard to demonstrate as you'd have to show what it was manipulated from - then it would only apply to the New Testament. Unless by manipulated you mean "put together by", in which case it's kind of self-evident.

All the other stuff about suppressed gospels etc. is about as as scholarly as Dan Brown, and should be treated with the seriousness that you'd reserve for any other kind of conspiracy theory.

I think the authors of The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine may well differ from your opinion. The NT was a political instrument to try and combine the very differing early Christianities under one faith who then recognise the Emperor as Gods leader on Earth.

[Churchill]

I think the authors of The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine may well differ from your opinion. The NT was a political instrument to try and combine the very differing early Christianities under one faith who then recognise the Emperor as Gods leader on Earth.

Careful mate, they don't like inconvenient truths like that...