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Westcott: A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament

Brooke Foss Westcott · 1855; edition 1896

How the Church received the books of the New Testament, traced through the Fathers, the councils and the early versions.

Edition: Internet Archive · archive.org

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From the opening: Notice to the Fifth Edition

IN revising the present Edition 1 have had the advantage of considering many important essays which have been published during the last six years upon the subjects with which I have dealt. Among these I wish to name especially Bp Lightfoot’s contributions to the Contemporary Review, Dr Sanday’s Gospels in the Second Century, and Dr Abbot’s Axthorship of the Fourth Gospel. My work was completed before I had the opportunity of seeing Dr Charteris’ Canonicity.

In one particular of some importance I have felt able after a fresh consideration of the evidence to speak more confidently than in former editions. There is, I think, no reasonable doubt that the writings of Justin Martyr shew that he was acquainted with the Gospel

NOTICE TO THE FIFTH EDITION. xiii

of St John. On another point of interest additional evidence has been made available. The Latin Version of the Armenian translation of the Commentary of Ephraem Syrus on the Dvatessaron of Tatian has confirmed beyond question, as it seems, what I had ventured to present as most probable before.

It is unlikely that I shall ever again be able to revise what now stands written; but in looking back over the work which has been spread over thirty years I cannot but remember with the deepest thankfulness that every fresh piece of documentary evidence which has been discovered in the interval has gone to confirm the conclusions which I sought to establish from the first. Our errors and misunderstandings as to the earliest ages of Christendom spring, I believe, most commonly from neglecting the life which underlies the fragmentary records, The testimonies which can be gathered from the meagre remains of a limited literature are the signs of the life of the Church and not the measure of it. It is true of the first centuries, as it is true of the present century, that we cannot understand the history of Christianity unless we recognise the action of the Holy Spirit through the Christian Society. It is through the active belief that He speaks and acts still as He spoke and acted then, not as we should expect beforehand, that we can yet ‘win our souls in patience.’

DIVINITY SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE, April 30th, 1881.

Notice to the Sixth Edition

WITH the exception of a note on The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles and a few corrections this Edition is a reprint of the last. = * τ =

xliv NOTICE TO THE SIXTH EDITION.

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Contents (145 sections)

  1. Opening
  2. Title page
  3. Note to the Seventh Edition
  4. Preface
  5. Notice to the Second Edition
  6. Preface (continued)
  7. Preface (continued)
  8. Notice to the Fifth Edition
  9. The Age of the Greek Apologists
  10. The Age of the Greek Apologists (continued)
  11. The Early Versions of the New Testament
  12. Chapters I–III
  13. The Testimony of Heretical and Apocryphal Writings
  14. The Age of Councils
  15. The Sixteenth Century
  16. Introduction
  17. The History of the Canon
  18. History of the Canon of the New Testament to the Time of Hegesippus
  19. The Age of the Apostolic Fathers
  20. The Age of the Apostolic Fathers (continued)
  21. The Age of the Apostolic Fathers (continued)
  22. Epistle to the Hebrews
  23. Epistle to the Hebrews (continued)
  24. Epistle to the Hebrews (continued)
  25. Sect. II. The Relation of the Apostolic Fathers to the Canon of the New Testament
  26. Note (1) to Page 54. on the Evangelic Words Contained in the Apostolic Fathers
  27. Note (2). on the ‘Teaching of the Twelve Apostles
  28. Note (2). on the ‘Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (continued)
  29. The Age of the Greek Apologists
  30. The Age of the Greek Apologists (continued)
  31. The Age of the Greek Apologists (continued)
  32. The Evangelists in the Reign of Trajan
  33. The Athenian Apologists
  34. The Athenian Apologists (continued)
  35. The Letter to Diognetus
  36. The Letter to Diognetus (continued)
  37. The Letter to Diognetus (continued)
  38. The Jewish Apologists
  39. The Jewish Apologists (continued)
  40. The Jewish Apologists (continued)
  41. The Jewish Apologists (continued)
  42. The second passage has been already noticed p. 117, n (continued)
  43. The second passage has been already noticed p. 117, n (continued)
  44. The Canon and Irenaeus
  45. The Canon and Irenaeus (continued)
  46. Dionysius of Corinth
  47. Dionysius of Corinth (continued)
  48. The Canon of Muratori
  49. Melito of Sardis
  50. Melito of Sardis (continued)
  51. Melito of Sardis (continued)
  52. Theophilus of Antioch
  53. Chapter III — The Early Versions of the New Testament
  54. Part I. the Early Versions
  55. Part I. the Early Versions (continued)
  56. Synod of Diamper
  57. Chapter III
  58. Chapter III (continued)
  59. Chapter IV
  60. Part I. the Early Heretics
  61. The Corresponding Quotations of Justin Martyr and the Clementine Homilies
  62. The Corresponding Quotations of Justin Martyr and the Clementine Homilies (continued)
  63. The Corresponding Quotations of Justin Martyr and the Clementine Homilies (continued)
  64. The Corresponding Quotations of Justin Martyr and the Clementine Homilies (continued)
  65. Conclusion of the First Part
  66. Conclusion of the First Part (continued)
  67. Conclusion of the First Part (continued)
  68. Conclusion of the First Part (continued)
  69. Conclusion of the First Part (continued)
  70. History of the Canon of the New Testament from the Time of Hegesippus to the Persecution…
  71. Close of the Second Century
  72. At the Close of the Second Century
  73. Clement of Alexandria
  74. At the Close of the Second Century
  75. At the Close of the Second Century (continued)
  76. At the Close of the Second Century (continued)
  77. The Testimony of the Churches to the Disputed Books of the New Testament
  78. The Disputed Books of the Canon
  79. Summary of the Evidence
  80. Clement of Alexandria
  81. Clement of Alexandria (continued)
  82. Clement of Alexandria (continued)
  83. Tertullian: Lactantius
  84. The Church of Rome
  85. Gregory of Neocaesarea
  86. Gregory of Neocaesarea (continued)
  87. Chapter III
  88. Part II Monarchianism
  89. The Testimony of Heretical Writings
  90. The Testimony of Heretical Writings (continued)
  91. The Testimony of Heretical Writings (continued)
  92. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
  93. The Testimony of Apocryphal Writings
  94. Conclusion of the Second Part
  95. Conclusion of the Second Part (continued)
  96. Conclusion of the Second Part (continued)
  97. History of the Canon of the New Testament from the Persecution of Diocletian to the Third…
  98. The Donatists
  99. Chapter II
  100. Part Iil Constantine
  101. The Council of Nicaea
  102. The Synod of Laodicea
  103. Epistle of Barnabas
  104. The Synod of Laodicea
  105. The Synod of Laodicea (continued)
  106. The Third Council of Carthage
  107. Gregory of Nazianzus
  108. The Epistle to the Laodicenes
  109. Hugo of St Victor
  110. John of Salisbury
  111. The New Testament in the Sixteenth Century
  112. The Debates on the Canon
  113. The Council of Trent
  114. Sixtus Senensis
  115. Sixtus Senensis (continued)
  116. The Reformed Confessions
  117. The Westminster Confession
  118. Tyndale’s New Testament
  119. The English Reformers
  120. Appendix A
  121. On the History of the Word Kanon
  122. On the Use of Apocryphal Writings in the Early Church
  123. On the Use of Apocryphal Writings in the Early Church (continued)
  124. Apocryphal Writings in the Early Church
  125. On the Use of Apocryphal Writings in the Early Church
  126. On the Use of Apocryphal Writings in the Early Church (continued)
  127. On the Use of Apocryphal Writings in the Early Church (continued)
  128. On the Use of Apocryphal Writings in the Early Church (continued)
  129. On the Use of Apocryphal Writings in the Early Church (continued)
  130. On the Use of Apocryphal Writings in the Early Church (continued)
  131. On the Use of Apocryphal Writings in the Early Church (continued)
  132. On the Use of Apocryphal Writings in the Early Church (continued)
  133. Appendix B
  134. Appendix B (continued)
  135. Appendix B (continued)
  136. Appendix C. The Muratorian Fragment
  137. The Chief Catalogues of the Books of the Bible During the First Eight Centuries
  138. Chapters II–III
  139. Gregorius Nazianzenus
  140. Appendix D. Lists of the Books of Scripture
  141. Appendix D. Lists of the Books of Scripture (continued)
  142. Appendix D. Lists of the Books of Scripture (continued)
  143. List of Authorities
  144. List of Authorities (continued)
  145. Index

How to cite it

Chicago
Brooke Foss Westcott. Westcott: A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament. Internet Archive, 1855; edition 1896. https://archive.org/details/cu31924029301582
MLA
Brooke Foss Westcott. Westcott: A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament. Internet Archive, 1855; edition 1896. https://archive.org/details/cu31924029301582
APA
Brooke Foss Westcott (1855; edition 1896). Westcott: A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/cu31924029301582

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