Editing New Testament apocrypha (section)

=== Present day ===
Among historians of early Christianity, the books are considered invaluable, especially those that almost made it into the final canon, such as [[Shepherd of Hermas]]. [[Bart Ehrman]], for example, said:

<blockquote>The victors in the struggles to establish Christian Orthodoxy not only won their theological battles, they also rewrote the history of the conflict; later readers then naturally assumed that the victorious views had been embraced by the vast majority of Christians from the very beginning ... The practice of Christian forgery has a long and distinguished history ... the debate lasted three hundred years ... even within "orthodox" circles there was considerable debate concerning which books to include.<ref>Ehrman, ''Lost Scriptures'' pp. 2, 3</ref></blockquote>