The Muratorian Fragment: The oldest
list of New Testament books?
Sometime around 1740, an Italian scholar
named Lodovico Antonio Muratori discovered
leaves of an old Latin text in a seventh to eighth
century CE codex (hand-written, bound book) in
a library in Milan.
Scholars soon determined that a very important
segment of this work was translated from Greek
and probably dated to about 180–200 CE. The
fragment includes a discussion of the books of
the New Testament and mentions “four
Gospels,” but it only names Luke and John. It
also mentions epistles of Paul, Peter, and John
as well as Revelation. Thus, the Muratorian
Fragment provides evidence of the existence of
these New Testament writings.
Even more interesting, the Muratorian Fragment
mentions “forged letters” of Paul, which the
writer attributes to Marcion (refer to the earlier
section “The influence of Marcion the Sinope”).
Because the document refers to the Shepherd
of Hermas as “written very recently” and schol-
ars date the Shepherd of Hermas to the first half
of the second century — Muratori’s Fragment
is dated late second century.
But not everyone agrees that the Fragment is
that old, and some even say it’s from the fifth
century. If it’s older, it suggests that the New
Testament canon (it doesn’t use that term, by
the way) was forming at that time but still wasn’t
absolutely certain.Here’s a rundown of more
modern developments:
-
The Roman Catholic Church didn’t finally and officially set its canon of
the Bible until 1546! It took place at the famous Council of Trent cen-
turies after the time of Jesus. The Roman Catholic Church’s canon,
which remains in place today, includes the standard Jewish list of the
Hebrew Bible, plus the Deutero-Canonical books and the standard list of
the New Testament.
-
The Greek Orthodox Church finally established its official canon in 1950
(yes, 1950) and included 2 Ezra and 3 Maccabees, with 4 Maccabees
printed in an appendix in the Bible.
-
Protestantism is thought to have started with Martin Luther (1483–1546),
so the various Protestant groups established their canons after his time.
Martin Luther famously determined that his movement would adopt the
Jewish canon, which is why the Jewish Hebrew Bible and Luther’s Old
Testament differ only slightly in arrangement, but contain the same
writings.
-
The Reform churches (for example, the churches emerging from John
Calvin’s traditions, such as Presbyterian churches and many Baptist
churches) established their present canon in the late 16th century. Calvin
endorses the same canon as Luther, which is why all Protestants in the
modern world have the same books of their Bible.