The Council of Hippo, held in 393 AD in the North African city of Hippo Regius (Roman City)(modern-day Algeria), was a significant moment in the history of the Christian Bible’s canonization. At this council, led by early Church Fathers including St. Augustine, the bishops affirmed a list of scriptural books considered authoritative for Christian teaching, which closely matches the modern Catholic Bible. Although this council did not formally finalize the canon, it was instrumental in shaping the list of books by confirming what had become widely accepted through tradition and use in liturgy. The decisions of Hippo were later reinforced by the Councils of Carthage (397 and 419), helping to solidify the canon that would be formally recognized by the Western Church in later centuries.
Before the Chrisitian Biblical canon was finalized in the late 4th century, numerous texts circulated among early Christian communities—some of which were later labeled heresies by mainstream Church authorities due to their theological content, authorship, or association with divergent sects like Gnosticism, Marcionism, or Montanism. Here are some of the most notable:
Gospel of Thomas – A collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus, often associated with Gnostic ideas that emphasized secret knowledge (gnosis) over faith and grace. It lacks narrative structure and denies key Christian doctrines like the resurrection.
Gospel of Mary (Magdalene) – A Gnostic text that elevates Mary Magdalene as a source of hidden teachings from Jesus, challenging the authority of male apostles like Peter.
Gospel of Judas – A Gnostic gospel portraying Judas Iscariot not as a traitor but as Jesus’s enlightened confidant, who betrays Him at Jesus’s own request to release His divine self from the body.
Gospel of Peter – Although popular in some early communities, it was condemned for its Docetic leanings—the belief that Jesus only appeared to suffer and die, undermining the reality of the Incarnation.
Apocryphon of John – A Gnostic text that presents a complex cosmology involving emanations (aeons) and a lesser god (the demiurge), radically departing from Jewish monotheism and Christian theology.
Acts of Paul and Thecla – Though not overtly heretical, this text was eventually rejected due to questionable authorship and theological content that seemed to promote extreme asceticism.
The Gospel of Marcion – A version of Luke’s Gospel edited by Marcion of Sinope in the 2nd century to remove Jewish elements. Marcion also rejected the Old Testament entirely, promoting a dualistic theology with a strict divide between the gods of the Old and New Testaments. His teachings were strongly condemned by early Church leaders.
These books were often considered heretical because they conflicted with core Christian doctrines about Jesus’s nature, resurrection, creation, and the authority of the apostles. Their exclusion from the canon helped the early Church define orthodoxy and preserve doctrinal unity.
