(1) Although the Catholic response acknowledges that Protestant views about the Bible range from seeing the whole as metaphorical/ mythological to seeing the whole as literally true, in many comments the responder presents the Protestant point of view as singular, which it certainly is not. (2) I think Catholics are often taught strange things about Protestantism. I have a friend who is a nun in Italy, who is only in her 60s, who was taught somewhere along the way that Protestants are basically not Christians! (3) don't forget the other books of the New Testament which were left out of the final selection made hundreds of years after the life of Christ - like the Gospel of Thomas. (BTW it was the more feminist /egalitarian writings that tended to get left out).
Eudoix, point taken that I was painting Protestants with a wide, sweeping brush in places. I mentioned early on something about Protestants "of a certain faith tradition" but I did not repeat that often enough.
It's also interesting you mention your friend the nun being taught in Italy that Protestants were not Christian. I was never taught anything like that. In my part of the country, it is the opposite. It's the subject of debates here as to whether Catholics are Christian.
As to works such as the Gospel of Thomas, those, like the book of Enoch of the Old Testament, have dubious authorship. These were written much later than the four Gospels, and never considered to be inspired.
Well, when it comes to The Book of Enoch and the Gospel of Thomas there certainly were many groups for hundreds of years that considered them inspired. And there still are. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church still has Enoch in their Bibles. Enoch was only really purged from Western forms of Christianity. It still influenced and still influences more Eastern forms.
(1) Although the Catholic response acknowledges that Protestant views about the Bible range from seeing the whole as metaphorical/ mythological to seeing the whole as literally true, in many comments the responder presents the Protestant point of view as singular, which it certainly is not. (2) I think Catholics are often taught strange things about Protestantism. I have a friend who is a nun in Italy, who is only in her 60s, who was taught somewhere along the way that Protestants are basically not Christians! (3) don't forget the other books of the New Testament which were left out of the final selection made hundreds of years after the life of Christ - like the Gospel of Thomas. (BTW it was the more feminist /egalitarian writings that tended to get left out).
Eudoix, point taken that I was painting Protestants with a wide, sweeping brush in places. I mentioned early on something about Protestants "of a certain faith tradition" but I did not repeat that often enough.
It's also interesting you mention your friend the nun being taught in Italy that Protestants were not Christian. I was never taught anything like that. In my part of the country, it is the opposite. It's the subject of debates here as to whether Catholics are Christian.
As to works such as the Gospel of Thomas, those, like the book of Enoch of the Old Testament, have dubious authorship. These were written much later than the four Gospels, and never considered to be inspired.
Well, when it comes to The Book of Enoch and the Gospel of Thomas there certainly were many groups for hundreds of years that considered them inspired. And there still are. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church still has Enoch in their Bibles. Enoch was only really purged from Western forms of Christianity. It still influenced and still influences more Eastern forms.
and see: https://wisdomschool.com/p/the-gospel-of-mary-and-the-feminine which I've just come across