AHC: Christian denominations with vastly different biblical canons

So I was explaining gospel (and epistle) authorship debates with some friends and I started wondering if it's possible for a heresy or denomination to emerge. One that declares one gospel to be absolute, and the others weak copies or imitations or forgeries.

How and where could a denomination which rejects some, but accepts other gospels or epistles, survive until the present day?

Edit: clarified the timing.
 
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Marcon fits the criteria as he denied the entire old testament and new testament with the exception of a heavily modified version of Luke and the Pauline epistels
 
So I was explaining gospel (and epistle) authorship debates with some friends and I started wondering if it's possible for a heresy or denomination to emerge. One that declares one gospel to be absolute, and the others weak copies or imitations or forgeries.

Or better yet, is a denomination which rejects some but accepts other gospels or epistles.

How and where would these be possible?

"Many Protestants still thrill to Luther's insistence that he would not recant unless refuted from Scripture. Have they forgotten how soon he repudiated the Epistle of James, the brother of Jesus, as 'an epistle of utter straw'"? https://books.google.com/books?id=Vl3sDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA182
 
@ everybody mentioning Marcion - I'm talking about having such a heresy/denomination *survive* to the present day. Sorry if that wasn't clear.
 
That's OTL--Protestants reject the deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament, while Catholics and Orthodox consider them canon (Orthodox Christians even have a few more books that Catholics don't use).
 
I think the best way to do this is to have Arianism survive as a major trend. Then you have the trinitarian schisms and the eventual Arianism schisms.
 
"Many Protestants still thrill to Luther's insistence that he would not recant unless refuted from Scripture. Have they forgotten how soon he repudiated the Epistle of James, the brother of Jesus, as 'an epistle of utter straw'"? https://books.google.com/books?id=Vl3sDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA182
Luther didn't like Hebrews, Jude, or Revelation either. But he faced resistance on dropping 'em out of his translation completely, so he grouped those 4 at the end of the NT in his translation...
 
So I was explaining gospel (and epistle) authorship debates with some friends and I started wondering if it's possible for a heresy or denomination to emerge. One that declares one gospel to be absolute, and the others weak copies or imitations or forgeries.

How and where could a denomination which rejects some, but accepts other gospels or epistles, survive until the present day?

Edit: clarified the timing.
Maybe a "purist" sect of one of the Oriental Orthodox churches, surviving somewhere in the Near East, which accepts ONLY the books originally included in the Peshitta (rejecting 2 and 3 John, 2 Peter, Jude and Revelation)?

As far as adding other epistles/gospels to the canon, the Armenian Apostolic church had, at various times, a few more books than the usually-accepted number.

Having a POD in the 1700's or 1800's where a western scholar gains access to the full corpus of the Ethiopian Tewahedo tradition and faithfully translates them, making them available to a wider audience, could be interesting too, maybe spinning off some interesting sects of the esoteric/theosophic variety. Some of the Ethiopian books to this day do not have good reliable translations available into western languages...
 
There several Gnostic 'gospels'. Have Gnosticism survive, and you have a really weird canon (e.g. boy Jesus resurrecting a dead sparrow, just as one weirdity).

Modernly, you have Mormons with a third Testament. And the Tai Ping rebellion, where Hong Xiuquan declared himself 'brother of Jesus'. Had that survived it would have been a VERY strange variant.
And, of course, Islam.
 
There several Gnostic 'gospels'. Have Gnosticism survive, and you have a really weird canon (e.g. boy Jesus resurrecting a dead sparrow, just as one weirdity).

Modernly, you have Mormons with a third Testament. And the Tai Ping rebellion, where Hong Xiuquan declared himself 'brother of Jesus'. Had that survived it would have been a VERY strange variant.
And, of course, Islam.
Agreed there are already four top level sects
  1. Christian
  2. Mormon
  3. Muslim
  4. Judaism
All inter related and to a large degree different based on the same abrahamic religious foundation
 

samcster94

Banned
Luther didn't like Hebrews, Jude, or Revelation either. But he faced resistance on dropping 'em out of his translation completely, so he grouped those 4 at the end of the NT in his translation...
Revelation is disputed by many Christians throughout history. It just, to many, "doesn't fit".
 
Revelation is disputed by many Christians throughout history. It just, to many, "doesn't fit".
Not only that, but there's been serious questions about Revelations over authenticity - questions of dating and actual authorship - practically from the beginning. I find the idea of a Christian sect rejecting Revelation completely to be quite compelling :)
 
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