New Testament the Anchor Bible Dictionary), may be the earliest known New Testament canon attributed to mainstream Christianity. It is similar, but not identical, to the modern New Testament canon. The oldest clear endorsement of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John being the only legitimate gospels was written "circa" 180 AD. A four gospel canon (the "Tetramorph") was asserted by Irenaeus, who refers to it directly in his polemic "Against the Heresies", "It is not possible that the gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in which we live,
Oxyrhynchus Gospels Jesus (e.g., the "Secret Book of James" and the "Gospel of Mary"), but with sayings gospels involving the earthly Jesus (e.g., Q document and the "Gospel of Thomas"). Crossan suggests that the document might have been written as early as the mid-first century. Oxyrhynchus Gospels The Oxyrhynchus Gospels are two fragmentary manuscripts discovered among the rich finds of discarded papyri at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. Unknown to most laymen, they throw light on early non-canonical Gospel traditions. Oxyrhynchus 840 (P. Oxy. V 840), found in 1905, is a single small vellum parchment leaf with 45 lines of text written on both