Muratorian fragment
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Among Christians, the Muratorian fragment is known as a copy of perhaps the oldest known list of New Testament books. The fragment listed all the works that were accepted as canonical by the churches known to its anonymous compiler. It was discovered in the Ambrosian Library in Milan by father Ludovico Antonio Muratori, (1672 – 1750), the most famous Italian historian of his generation, and published in 1740. The fragment is a 7th century Latin manuscript, which internal cues identify as a translation from a Greek original, of about 170.
The Muratorian fragment is lacking its beginning and its end. The text of the list itself is dated to about 170 because its author refers to Pius I, bishop of Rome (142 - 157), as recent:
- ' But Hermas wrote The Shepherd very recently, in our times, in the city of Rome, while bishop Pius, his brother, was occupying the chair of the church of the city of Rome. And therefore it ought indeed to be read; but it cannot be read publicly to the people in church either among the Prophets, whose number is complete, or among the Apostles, for it is after their time."
The unidentified author mentions only two epistles of John, without describing them. The Apocalypse of Peter is mentioned as a book which "some of us will not allow to be read in church."
The author accepts, "moreover, the Epistle of Jude and two bearing the name of John are counted in the catholic Church; and the Book of Wisdom, written by the friends of Solomon in his honour."
External links
- Text of the Muratorian fragment. (http://www.bible-researcher.com/muratorian.html)
- Original and amended Latin and English translation of the Muratorian fragment. (http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/muratorian.html)
- Muratorian fragment. (http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/extras/Muratorian.html)
- "The development of the canon of the New Testament" (http://www.ntcanon.org/Muratorian_Canon.shtml): The Muratorian Canon
Further reading
- Metzger, Bruce M., 1987. The Canon of the New Testament : Its Origin, Development, and Significance . {Clarendon Press. Oxford) ISBN 0198269544