In episode six, we dig even deeper into the process, or the concerns about, the canon of the New Testament. We saw in episode five that Christian leaders in the 2nd-4th century affirmed a specific list of writings that were consistently in use by the first Christian followers of the 1st century. It is fair, though, for us to challenge the fact that those leaders said "these are in the canon." Did they have any criteria? Were they just picking their favorites? Was there any effort to specifically exclude other writings?

We spend the back half of this episode looking at those other writings, specifically writings that are also given the title term "Gospel." Finally I end the episode with a list of reasons why I think the decision of these early Christian followers is authoritative, holds up to scrutiny.

Writings of the Church Fathers (there are many, so this links to a decent holding site of the many writings).

You could also purchase a variety of books for the writings of the Church Fathers. Here's a link to Amazon's list.

The Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Philip

The Gospel of Peter ("Gospel of the Cross")

The Gospel of Mary

Infancy Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Judas