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
Jan Lambrecht (New Testament scholar) Jan Lambrecht (New Testament scholar) Jan Lambrecht (born in Wielsbeke, 1926) is a Belgian Roman Catholic priest of the Society of Jesus, Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Biblical Greek at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium and former member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. As a theologian, biblical scholar, and prolific author, he has contributed numerous studies on almost all the books of the New Testament, but focusing especially on the Gospels and the Pauline letters. His publications include books and articles written in English, Dutch, and French. Lambrecht joined the Society of Jesus in