Constantine: Is there Anything He Couldn’t Do?

A reader writes:

I hope you can help me answer this question that was asked of me by a Baptist co-worker. She asked, ”So, I have a question. Umm, I don’t mean it to be an insult or anything but, ummm….. what do you think about the fact that Constantine edited 600 books out of the Bible?” Deep breath. Conversation back and forth went like this – Well, I don’t know that he did. Oh, yeah, it’s common knowledge. Well, I don’t have an answer for you. Let me get back to you.

I have done a lot of reading on this now, both at Catholic and Protestant sites. My understanding is that Constantine did not determine the canon of the Bible. Catholic sites do not really give much ‘credit’ to Constantine; Protestant sites blame/credit him with a mixture of Christian/pagan practices.

Can you help me to answer her question?

The answer is “Documentation please?” There is absolutely no evidence for her contention. Common knowledge is how we “know” that Humphrey Bogart said “Play it again, Sam” when he in fact never did. This is what is know as pseudoknowledge.

The canon of the Bible had long since assumed the basic shape it has today by Constantine’s day. Constantine did have a bunch of copies of the Bible made as gift for various bishops. But he simply copied the Bible they were already using. He didn’t add or subtract anything. And the canon didn’t really get to its final polished shape until Pope Damasus I said, “These are the books we read in liturgy” in around 390, decades after Constantine’s death.

For more information about the silly myth that Constantine invented Christianity, see Volume I of Mary, Mother of the Son.

For more info about Constantine and his relationship to the Bible, see The Da Vinci Deception by me and Ted Sri. Basic fact: The 50 copies of the Bible made by Constantine are not substantially different that the MSS of Bibles copied before Constantine. The canon was basically settled by his day.