Should the gospel of Thomas be in the Canon?……The early church councils followed something similar to the following principles to determine whether a New Testament book was truly inspired by the Holy Spirit: 1) Was the author an apostle or have a close connection with an apostle? 2) Was the book being accepted by the […]

“What is the Deutero-Isaiah theory? Was the Book of Isaiah written by multiple Isaiahs?”……Most Bible scholars are in agreement that Isaiah was the sole author of the book that bears his name. However, there are those "liberal" scholars who are skeptical about anything that points to supernatural inspiration of the Bible. In fact, they go […]

“What is the JEDP Theory?”……In brief, the JEDP theory states that the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, were not written entirely by Moses, who died in the 1400’s B.C., but also by different authors/compliers after Moses. The theory is based on the fact that different names for God […]

“What is the gospel of Barnabas?”……Answer: It's important that we not confuse the gospel of Barnabas (ca. A.D. 1500) with the Epistle of Barnabas (ca. A.D. 70├ö├ç├┤90). The Epistle of Barnabas was written in the late 1st century, but probably not by the Barnabas named in the New Testament. While more of a pseudo-Gospel with […]

“What is the gospel of Philip?”……Answer: Similar to the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Philip is a collection of sayings, supposedly of Jesus. The gospel of Philip focuses a great deal on the "sacrament of marriage" as a "sacred mystery." The gospel of Philip does not claim to have been written by Jesus' disciple […]

“What is the gospel of Thomas?”……The gospel of Thomas is a Coptic manuscript discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi in Egypt. This manuscript contains 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. Some of these sayings resemble sayings found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Other sayings were unknown until their discovery or even run […]

“What is the pseudepigrapha?”……The pseudepigrapha are the books which attempt to imitate Scripture but which were written under false names. The term "pseudepigrapha" comes from the Greek pseudo meaning "false" and epigraphein meaning "to inscribe," thus, "to write falsely." The pseudepigraphical books, sometimes broadly called the Apocrypha, were written anywhere from 200 BC to AD […]