Who decided which books to include in the New Testament?

Factual Questions
1

In another thread , Freyr asked

One poster pointed to this page in answer. However, the cited page has serious misinformation, so I thought we should start another thread to straighten it out.

From the web page:

This is patently false. The first time that the NT books were listed as they currently are accepted was in the Easter letter of bishop Athanasius of Alexandria in 367 AD. He wrote every year to inform the churches of the official Easter date and to address other church concerns. Around the 325 time mentioned, we have the witness of Eusebius, however he lists some of our NT as “disputed” (specifically James, Jude, and 2 and 3 John, IIRC). It is unclear whether he accepts Revelation, a book that continued to be controversial. In fact, the Armenian national church (the oldest national Christian church of all) still doesn’t accept Revelation. So, in a sense, the controversy continues even today.

The claim that “everyone agreed on … every single word” is absurd. Of the ancient documents of the NT that are still extant, no two agree completely on any book. (Reference, Bart D. Ehrman, * Introduction to the NT*. When modern translations are made, scholars debate which of the sometimes 5 or more ancient texts represent the best/most original version. For earlier periods (2nd and 3rd centuries), quotations of NT books are even more variable. Earler writers also quote from non-NT books, sometimes even describing them as “Scripture”.

Even after the current list became the “official” NT of the Roman Catholic church (several decades after Athanasius), controversy continued. The Codex Sinaiticus , an important early Bible of the 4th or early 5th century, includes the Letter of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. In Syria for some time, our 4 gospels weren’t used at all, instead, a harmonization called the Diatesseron was considered “the Gospel”. (reference: H. Koester, Ancient Christian Gospels)

Clearly, some people are so invested in the idea of an early unquestioned NT canon that they are willing to lie to support it.

2

There is an excellent history of the canonization of the New Testament at the Catholic Encyclopaedia

3

Most people don’t know it, and I’m not really supposed to say, but it was me. And actually, I’m the one they consult on a good many things. When people ask “Who’s to say …” usually its me. For instance: Who’s to say what’s right or wrong? Its me. Of course, I would appreciate if you don’t tell others.

4

I’d just always assumed it was Kay Graham.

5

The staff report on Who Wrote the Bible? (Part 5) concludes with a description of the collation of the NT (although it may not be as detailed as you’d like).

If no one comes up with a clearer answer before I get home, tonight, I’ll try to synthesize the comments in Kümmel’s Introduction to the New Testament (although the summary runs to about eight pages).