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
The Missing Gospels The Missing Gospels The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities is a book by Darrell L. Bock, Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. The book is concerned with later alternative gospels and 'Christianities' associated with the Nag Hammadi discoveries of 1945. The book focuses on the claims of early Christian diversity, the origins of Gnosticism, as well as the theology of the later alternative texts and communities. The book contains a foreword by Edwin M. Yamauchi. The book contains numerous endorsements by prominent Christian New Testament scholars and academics including Larry Hurtado, Martin Hengel,