In recent years, there has become an interest in the books – some Christian, and some with Gnostic (pagan) influences – that did NOT make it into the Bible. This renewed interest in non-canonical books is due primarily to discoveries in the last century of ancient texts. One discovery was at Nag Hamadi, Egypt, in 1945 by a local farmer. The find included some 52 treatises, mostly Gnostic; and some Christian writings with Gnostic influence, like the Gospel of Thomas. The other discovery was at Qumran in a cave near the Dead Sea on the West Bank in the late 1940’s. These scrolls shed light on the Hebrew canon, and include books found in the Orthodox and Catholic Bibles but not in the Protestant Old Testament, which contains only 39 books as opposed to the 49 of the Orthodox Old Testament. 

Another reason for this renewed interest in the books that were not included in the Bible may be spurred by a secular-humanist effort to discredit traditional Christianity, i.e., the Church, suggesting the Church tried to suppress these books. Not so. They simply were not included in the New Testament canon of authorized books. We should be wary of these attempts. Fundamentally, the are iconoclastic.

So what is the canon? Canon refers to the collection of divinely inspired, authoritative writings to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be taken away. According to Church History and Tradition, the canon of the Bible was confirmed definitively in a Paschal Letter distributed to the churches by St. Athanasios the Great in the year 367 AD. It does not mean the other writings are spurious or not useful. They have significance and can shed light on early Christianity, but are simply not part of the Bible for one or more reasons. The proto-evangelion of James, for example, tells us much about the life of the Theotokos (Mother of God). The canon is like a fence to safeguard "orthodoxy."

So, what criteria did the Church (i.e., St. Athanasios and others) use to determine what is the Bible and what is not? How did he discern which should be considered divinely inspired?

The Criteria for Canonicity are four:

1. Apostolic Origin - directly attributed to and/or based on the preaching/teaching of the first-generation apostles, in particular, from one of the Twelve Apostles.

2. Universal Acceptance - acknowledged by all major Christian communities  throughout the world, west and east, north and south. In other words, not merely accepted and used in just a small part of the Church.

3. Liturgical Use - read in Church worship, publicly along with the Old Testament readings, when early Christians gathered for the Divine Liturgy (the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper, their weekly worship service).

4. Consistent Message - containing theological ideas compatible with other accepted Christian writings, including the divinity and humanity Jesus Christ. Over-emphasis of the humanity at the expense of the divinity, or over-emphasis of the divinity neglecting His humanity were viewed as not consistent with the witness of the Apostles.