Part III: Silenced Voices and Canon Conflicts

This chapter is part of the book The Sacred Editors: Christianity.

Once the Bible had been defined and translated, a new struggle emerged: the battle over whose voices would be remembered—and whose would be erased. This section uncovers the human hands that edited, harmonized, and redacted the text, often in service of power. Women apostles vanished. Whole gospels were buried or burned. Disputed letters were attributed to Paul. And church councils closed the canon not with consensus, but with authority. What remains today is as notable for what was excluded as for what was preserved. These chapters examine the cost of control—and imagine what might have been if Scripture had left more room for tension, plurality, and the voices long silenced.