The Muratorian fragment is an eighty-five-line Latin document that lists the books received by the Church. It is the oldest known list of New Testament books. It is often dated to the late second century, although this dating is still debated. It takes its name from Ludovico Antonio Muratori, who discovered it in the eighteenth century.
What the list contains
The text is written in clumsy Latin, but its content is valuable. It includes:
- the four Gospels;
- the Acts of the Apostles;
- thirteen letters of Paul;
- Jude;
- two or three letters of John;
- Revelation;
- and, more surprisingly, the Wisdom of Solomon.
The fragment also mentions the Shepherd of Hermas, a writing that was popular at the time. It may be read privately, but not in church, because it is too recent. This remark shows that a distinction was already being made between a useful text and a text with authority for the whole Church.
Four criteria for recognising a book
The fragment does not only say which books to accept: it also lets us see why. Four criteria of recognition can be drawn from it:
- Antiquity: the closer a writing is to the time of Jesus, the more reliable it is.
- Apostolic origin: written by an apostle or by one of his close companions.
- Usage: widely read in the Churches.
- Orthodoxy: in line with the faith received.
One point often surprises people: inspiration was not the deciding criterion. At the same period, writers such as Clement of Alexandria regarded as inspired some writings that never entered the canon, such as the Shepherd of Hermas or the Didache.
Why this list at that time
The fragment belongs to a time of crisis. In the second century, the Gnostics appealed to secret gospels, the Montanists to new prophecies, and Marcion put forward a canon reduced to ten letters of Paul and a version of Luke. The Church therefore had to say which writings carried authority. By the end of the second century, most Churches were already reading a “double testament”, Old and New.
The Muratorian fragment is not an official decision: it is a witness to the practice of the Churches of its time. We have to wait for Athanasius’s letter of 367 to find exactly our twenty-seven New Testament books.