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The New Testament canon wasn't established before the 4th century AD, so not "mere decades" after Jesus' death (or "ascension" if you're a believer), but centur

by bambax 4y ago

The New Testament canon wasn't established before the 4th century AD, so not "mere decades" after Jesus' death (or "ascension" if you're a believer), but centuries after (although of course it didn't happen in a fortnight, it was a process that had started earlier). The wikipedia article about this is quite well documented: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_the_New_Testament_canon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_the_New_Testame... You're right that different churches have been appearing continuously since the beginning of Christianity, but access to the text of the Bible in vernacular did fuel the Reformation. How could people build a "personal relationship" with God if they don't have direct access to his words?

Eleison23 4y ago
But it was mere decades that the NT began to take shape. The article you've linked says it was all written before AD 120. So, 87 years - fewer than 9 decades. And practically all learned people - all the movers and shakers (so to speak) of the Reformation - understood Latin really well. About as well as the Hellenic world understood Koine Greek in the Apostolic Age. So they already had direct access to both Scripture and Tradition (chiefly being the sacred liturgy in Latin) and the Eastern Orthodox already actively translated the latter into vernaculars.