---
title: "The Heresy of Orthodoxy: When Was the Earliest Complete List of New Testament Books?"
canonical: "https://michaeljkruger.com/the-heresy-of-orthodoxy-when-was-the-earliest-complete-list-of-new-testament-books/"
pubDate: "2017-12-05T08:52:07.000Z"
updatedDate: "2023-04-14T17:53:51.000Z"
author: Michael Kruger
description: "For the last few weeks, I have been posting a series of videos where Andreas Köstenberger and I discuss our response to Walter Bauer’s thesis on heresy and orthodoxy in early Christianity. These discussions are based on our book, The Heresy of Orthodoxy: How Contemporary Culture’s Fascination with Diversity Has Reshaped Our Understanding of Early [...]"
tags: [New Testament Canon, Orthodoxy and Heresy]
---

For the last few weeks, I have been posting a series of videos where Andreas Köstenberger and I discuss our response to Walter Bauer’s thesis on heresy and orthodoxy in early Christianity.

These discussions are based on our book, [*The Heresy of Orthodoxy: How Contemporary Culture’s Fascination with Diversity Has Reshaped Our Understanding of Early Christianity*](http://amzn.to/2AdYUrC) (Crossway, 2010).

You can find the prior three installments [here](https://michaeljkruger.com/the-heresy-of-orthodoxy-who-is-walter-bauer-and-why-write-a-book-about-him/), [here](https://michaeljkruger.com/the-heresy-of-orthodoxy-what-do-the-nt-books-tell-us-about-early-christian-diversity/), and [here](https://michaeljkruger.com/the-heresy-of-orthodoxy-how-and-when-was-the-new-testament-canon-put-together/).

In this next video below, Andreas and I discuss the earliest complete list of New Testament books. For years, this was thought to be Athanasius’ Festal Letter of 367.

However, I have recently argued that a often-overlooked list exists nearly a century earlier (c.250) in Origen’s *Homilies on Joshua* (the painting above is Origen).

For more detail on this argument see my article: “Origen’s List of New Testament Books in *Hom. Josh*. 7.1: A Fresh Look,” in Chris Keith and Deiter T. Roth, eds., [*Mark, Manuscripts, and Monotheism: Essays in Honor of Larry W. Hurtado*](http://amzn.to/2hFkWLL) (T&T Clark, 2014), 99-117.

For a quick overview, here’s the video!

https://player.vimeo.com/video/240868977?dnt=1&app_id=122963