Pretty much. There were other forgeries circulating during the time of the Apostles. Paul even brings some of these forgeries up in some of his letters. The early church (before 300AD) had to have a way to tell which books/letters were authentic and which weren't. Paul gives some criteria regarding the letters written by his own hand. I forget which letter it was in.
Most people (I don't know if you are included here, so forgive if you aren't) think the process of Biblical canonization was simply a bunch of men getting together around a table and determining which books should be authoritative and which aren't. And then the Catholic Church controlling everything from there on out. But the reality is that they simply "recognized" the books and letters that were already considered authoritative amongst the early Christian community.
Before Christianity became a State religion in 300AD'ish, and the infiltration of paganism during the same time, there was a period of 270 years of early Church history that people have a tendency to over look. It's easy to get fixated on the development (and pagan infiltration) of Christianity post 300AD. But those pre 300AD Christians knew what they were doing!
...and it wasn't considered authoritative scripture by the early Christian community (the time of the Apostles).
What was the substance of the arguments for those advocating inclusion with canon?
Mainly, written by an Apostle (eyewitness of the risen Christ).
So, the argument FOR inclusion with canon was that the story of young Jesus was written by an eye witness of the resurrection?
Pretty much. There were other forgeries circulating during the time of the Apostles. Paul even brings some of these forgeries up in some of his letters. The early church (before 300AD) had to have a way to tell which books/letters were authentic and which weren't. Paul gives some criteria regarding the letters written by his own hand. I forget which letter it was in.
Most people (I don't know if you are included here, so forgive if you aren't) think the process of Biblical canonization was simply a bunch of men getting together around a table and determining which books should be authoritative and which aren't. And then the Catholic Church controlling everything from there on out. But the reality is that they simply "recognized" the books and letters that were already considered authoritative amongst the early Christian community.
Before Christianity became a State religion in 300AD'ish, and the infiltration of paganism during the same time, there was a period of 270 years of early Church history that people have a tendency to over look. It's easy to get fixated on the development (and pagan infiltration) of Christianity post 300AD. But those pre 300AD Christians knew what they were doing!
Mainly because Jesus kills a boy out of spite.