This is based on years of academic research, and it's common knowledge to anyone who isn't a Biblical literalist. Only the faithful say that the Bible is an extraordinarily accurate historical record, scholars realize it's multiple sources. The Bible as we know it was compiled at the Council of Nicea in AD 325. I suggest you read some of the work of Elaine Pagels.
As Beyond Belief shows us, in the earliest days of Christianity, no one had an exclusive lock on what was or was not holy scripture. Many people were proclaiming the Good News. The “Pistis Sophia” (literally, “Faith Wisdom”), the Gospels of Philip, Mary Magdalene, Peter, Matthias, Judas, and Bartholomew, the Gospel of Perfection, and “Thunder, Perfect Mind” (in which a feminine personification of God proclaims the truth about God’s love and forgiveness) are just a few of the ancient texts that scholars are beginning to rediscover.
Obviously, not every ancient document is holy scripture. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, for example, probably written around the same time the Gospel of John was written, tells us that as a child of about six, Jesus was jostled by a playmate. The child Jesus told his playmate to drop dead, which the unfortunate boy instantly did. When the dead boy’s parents remonstrated with Mary and Joseph, they were stricken blind for their blasphemy. (4:1-5:1)
Moreover, not every religious leader’s teachings are to be trusted, even today — as the followers of Jim Jones and David Koresh might tell you if they could. In the first few centuries after the Crucifixion, many Christian faith communities formed around leaders and scriptures who may have been mistaken, like the author of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.
Complicating matters was the fact that followers of Jesus were not merely bucking the Establishment; they were outlaws. Persecution of Christians between 30 and 300 C.E. varied, depending on who was Emperor and what his problems were, but to insist upon practicing Christianity in that period generally meant a good chance of being tortured and killed in any of several gruesome ways — crucifixion, being thrown to the lions, being burned alive at the stake, and being “gladiator fodder” among them.
In the middle of the second century, a bishop of the Graeco-Gaulish (Greek/French) church named Polycarp thought it would be a good idea for Christianity to have what we now would call quality control: That is, wherever in the Roman Empire one might find oneself, one’s local Christian leaders would be proclaiming pretty much the same doctrine as every other Christian leader. St. Vincent of Lerins set this idea into writing almost 300 years later, with his famous, “What is believed by all Christians, everywhere, for all time.”
Obviously, not every ancient document is holy scripture. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, for example, probably written around the same time the Gospel of John was written, tells us that as a child of about six, Jesus was jostled by a playmate. The child Jesus told his playmate to drop dead, which the unfortunate boy instantly did. When the dead boy’s parents remonstrated with Mary and Joseph, they were stricken blind for their blasphemy. (4:1-5:1)
Moreover, not every religious leader’s teachings are to be trusted, even today — as the followers of Jim Jones and David Koresh might tell you if they could. In the first few centuries after the Crucifixion, many Christian faith communities formed around leaders and scriptures who may have been mistaken, like the author of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.
Complicating matters was the fact that followers of Jesus were not merely bucking the Establishment; they were outlaws. Persecution of Christians between 30 and 300 C.E. varied, depending on who was Emperor and what his problems were, but to insist upon practicing Christianity in that period generally meant a good chance of being tortured and killed in any of several gruesome ways — crucifixion, being thrown to the lions, being burned alive at the stake, and being “gladiator fodder” among them.
In the middle of the second century, a bishop of the Graeco-Gaulish (Greek/French) church named Polycarp thought it would be a good idea for Christianity to have what we now would call quality control: That is, wherever in the Roman Empire one might find oneself, one’s local Christian leaders would be proclaiming pretty much the same doctrine as every other Christian leader. St. Vincent of Lerins set this idea into writing almost 300 years later, with his famous, “What is believed by all Christians, everywhere, for all time.”
