The Da Vinci Con: 
    Fact and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code

It's Just a Novel (Movie)

2. Story of The Da Vinci Code: Historical Secret

3. Leonardo’s Last Supper 

4. Derivation of 'Holy Grail'

5. Mary Magdalene in the Bible

6. Priory of Sion

6a. Opus Dei

7. Questions of Jesus’s True Identity

8. Non-Christian Sources

9. Christian Sources: Biblical Texts

10. Other Apostolic Texts

11. St. Ignatius  of Antioch – AD 110

12. "Alternate" Gospels: Gospel of Peter (c. AD 130)

13. St. Justin, Martyr – AD 151

14. St. Irenaeus of Lyon – AD189

15. "Alternate" Christianities

16. Gnostic Scriptures

17. The ‘Muratorian’ Canon – c. AD 200

18. Constantine

19. Council of Nicaea - AD 325

20. St. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea (c. AD 330)

21. Constantine’s Bibles

22. Codex Sinaiticus

23. Closing the Canon

24. Philosophical Issues: Diversity of Christianities

25. Philosophical Issues: Subjectivism of Belief

26. Theological Issue: Was Jesus married?

27. Other Historical Claims

Closing the Canon of Scripture

• St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria

AD 367 – Letter to churches under his authority lists only the current 27 books of New Testament as appropriate to read in Church.

Ehrman: "This marked the beginning of the end of the formation of the canon of the Christian Bible. There continued to be debates about the matter for some time, but eventually most Christians ended up agreeing with the canon laid out by Athenasius. . . . (94)

• St. Jerome

382 - Pope St. Damasus I commissioned a new translation into Latin (then common language)

384 - Completed translation from Greek Old Testament and New Testament

405 – Completed translation from Hebrew Old Testament

• Local Councils list 27 books of the New Testament

382 – Rome (presided by St. Damasus)

393 – Hippo (strong influence of St. Augustine)

397 – III Carthage (St. Augustine)

• Canon of Scripture had been uncontested for the next 1000 years until the Protestant Reformation (16th c.), when because of disagreements over Catholic doctrines of faith and works, the Sacraments and Purgatory, the question of authentic Scripture was again debated.

Luther rejects books unique to Greek Old Testament (accepts only 39 books for which there was a Hebrew version), and also rejects the Letters of James, Hebrews and Apocalypse of John (since there had been some dispute about these in the early Church.

1546 – Council of Trent finally sets Old Testament (from Greek) at 46 books and the New Testament at 27 for Roman Catholic Church

Back | Home | Next