Development of the New Testament canon a novelty in Irenaeus's time. "Against Heresies" 3.11.7 acknowledges that many heterodox Christians use only one gospel while 3.11.9 acknowledges that some use more than four. The success of Tatian's Diatessaron in about the same time period is "...a powerful indication that the fourfold Gospel contemporaneously sponsored by Irenaeus was not broadly, let alone universally, recognized." Irenaeus apparently quotes from 21 of the New Testament books and names the author he thought wrote the text. He mentions the four gospels, Acts, the Pauline epistles with the exception of Hebrews and Philemon, as well as the first epistle of Peter, and
Antisemitism and the New Testament Williamsom (Christian Theological Seminary), Hyam Maccoby (The Leo Baeck Institute), Norman A. Beck (Texas Lutheran College), and Michael Berenbaum (Georgetown University). There are some verses in the New Testament that describe Jews in a positive way, attributing to them salvation or divine love. In the story of the crucifixion, meanwhile, Jews prompt Jesus' execution and say "His blood be on us, and on our children", referred to as the blood curse. In the Gospel of John, Jesus calls certain Pharisees "children of the devil". According to the New Testament Gospels, Jesus, on his fateful entry into Jerusalem before Passover, was