Dr. Michael Peppard

thematic picture of a human life but then when we get to jesus we get crazy like our we get haywire and we think we know we we line up we line up well it says here he did this on this day but it says here he did this on this day and now now i don't believe any of it right none of it's true so i you know we have we have a not not all of us but some believers have a dogmatism and a

thematic picture of a human life but then when we get to jesus we get crazy like our we get haywire and we think we know we we line up we line up well it says here he did this on this day but it says here he did this on this day and now now i don't believe any of it right none of it's true so i you know we have we have a not not all of us but some believers have a dogmatism and a

rigidity about these stories that doesn't, it just doesn't bear out in real life in any way. I mean, look at what's happening now. People still talking about JFK. We have video. Think about how, why are we still adjudicating the JFK files? Why do we still write new biographies of Abraham Lincoln?

rigidity about these stories that doesn't, it just doesn't bear out in real life in any way. I mean, look at what's happening now. People still talking about JFK. We have video. Think about how, why are we still adjudicating the JFK files? Why do we still write new biographies of Abraham Lincoln?

These are all modern people and we're still kind of crafting narratives that emphasize some features of their lives and de-emphasize other features of their lives. So we're going all the way back to a pre-print culture with no video, with no audio, with no... Really, no early organized community either.

These are all modern people and we're still kind of crafting narratives that emphasize some features of their lives and de-emphasize other features of their lives. So we're going all the way back to a pre-print culture with no video, with no audio, with no... Really, no early organized community either.

If I may just say another pet peeve I have or a frustration I have as a scholar of this period about people coming into it for the first time. Most people presume a much higher degree of organization than than would have existed. Right. So when when people ask me, how did this book get in the canon and this book didn't get in the canon? I think they have in their mind that there's a meeting.

If I may just say another pet peeve I have or a frustration I have as a scholar of this period about people coming into it for the first time. Most people presume a much higher degree of organization than than would have existed. Right. So when when people ask me, how did this book get in the canon and this book didn't get in the canon? I think they have in their mind that there's a meeting.

Right. That there was all the leaders get together and they have a spreadsheet and they're talking about, you know, well, the Gospel of Thomas doesn't have a passion narrative. It doesn't talk about the crucifixion. So that one's out. But the Acts of Thomas is pretty good. Why can't why don't we put that in? Well, it's a little bit different here and they only use it in Syria.

Right. That there was all the leaders get together and they have a spreadsheet and they're talking about, you know, well, the Gospel of Thomas doesn't have a passion narrative. It doesn't talk about the crucifixion. So that one's out. But the Acts of Thomas is pretty good. Why can't why don't we put that in? Well, it's a little bit different here and they only use it in Syria.

And those in Italy have never heard of it. OK, we'll put it out for these meetings that wrap. They never have. We want to believe they happened. Sometimes we fabricate them that they happened. Sometimes we say, well, at the Council of Nicaea, they must have done this. I don't think that was their main concern.

And those in Italy have never heard of it. OK, we'll put it out for these meetings that wrap. They never have. We want to believe they happened. Sometimes we fabricate them that they happened. Sometimes we say, well, at the Council of Nicaea, they must have done this. I don't think that was their main concern.

They had concerns at the Council of Nicaea about church unity and concerns about doctrine and concerns about organizational structure in the fourth century. But when we look at our fourth century codices, meaning books, kind of the great codices of the fourth and fifth century, which are earliest collected, what comes to eventually be the Bible,

They had concerns at the Council of Nicaea about church unity and concerns about doctrine and concerns about organizational structure in the fourth century. But when we look at our fourth century codices, meaning books, kind of the great codices of the fourth and fifth century, which are earliest collected, what comes to eventually be the Bible,

What you see very clearly is that there is a core, which is strong. Your core of four gospels, Paul's letters, 1 Peter, sometimes 2 Peter, you know, Acts and Hebrews get in there. You have your core, but then you have a lot of fuzziness on the edges, right? And you look at, you know, Codex in the Vatican, Vaticanus or Codex Sinaiticus in the British Library, 4th century codices.

What you see very clearly is that there is a core, which is strong. Your core of four gospels, Paul's letters, 1 Peter, sometimes 2 Peter, you know, Acts and Hebrews get in there. You have your core, but then you have a lot of fuzziness on the edges, right? And you look at, you know, Codex in the Vatican, Vaticanus or Codex Sinaiticus in the British Library, 4th century codices.

And at the end, they have some other texts, right, that are not ultimately in the modern post-Reformation, post-printing press canon. So what do we do with that? Do we think that they thought that those were of the same weight as the ones that came before? I'm more likely just to say that they had different questions than we have, right? Their questions were primarily about, is this useful?

And at the end, they have some other texts, right, that are not ultimately in the modern post-Reformation, post-printing press canon. So what do we do with that? Do we think that they thought that those were of the same weight as the ones that came before? I'm more likely just to say that they had different questions than we have, right? Their questions were primarily about, is this useful?

Is this text good for teaching? Is it good for learning?

Is this text good for teaching? Is it good for learning?