Constantine And The Bible
According to many historians and the writer of the famous Da Vinci Code, the content of the present-day Bible that is known to people worldwide was actually put together by Constantine The Great, who was actually a pagan before this. It is believed by many that it was he who eliminated a large number of other texts penned by the Gnostics and established the New Testament Canon to be considered as Christian Scripture along with the Old Testament. |
However, this fact is highly controversial. The claim seems to be incorrect as majority of historical accounts suggest that the New Testament canon existed even before Constantine was born. For instance, Muratorian fragment, one of the most popular documentary evidences, dates back to the end of the 2nd century and was named after an Italian scholar. It rejected the truth of Gnosticism and featured the 4 Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, Paul’s thirteen epistles, John’s three epistles, and Jude, the Apocalypses of John and Peter. Thus, it clearly suggests that Constantine had no role in collating the Bible as it is known today and the New Testament Canon was being put together much before his birth. However, as legend has it, he did request bishop Eusebius of Caesarea to create fifty copies of the New Testament for the newly established capital, Constantinople.
Some historians also believe that while he reproduced the New Testament, he considered eighty different gospels and eventually chose only four gospels for inclusion in the final version. He ordered for the new copy that highlighted gospels that made Him god-like and deleted those that talked of the human traits of Jesus Christ. However, this fact has also been a topic of controversy over a long period of time. Thus, Emperor Constantine has always been associated with the Bible and enough documentary proof is available to both corroborate and contradict the fact.
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