Editing Book burning (section)

=== Christian book burnings (80–1759 CE) ===
In the [[New Testament]]'s [[Acts of the Apostles]], it is claimed that [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] performed an [[exorcism]] in Ephesus. After men in Ephesus failed to perform the same feat many gave up their "curious arts" and burned the books because apparently, they did not work.

<blockquote>
And many that believed, came and confessed and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts, brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Acts|19:18–20|KJV}}</ref>
</blockquote>

After the [[First Council of Nicea]] (325 CE), Roman emperor [[Constantine the Great]] issued an [[edict]] against [[nontrinitarian]] [[Arians]] which included a prescription for systematic book-burning: <blockquote> "In addition, if any writing composed by [[Arius]] should be found, it should be handed over to the flames, so that not only will the wickedness of his teaching be obliterated, but nothing will be left even to remind anyone of him. And I hereby make a public order, that if someone should be discovered to have hidden a writing composed by Arius, and not to have immediately brought it forward and destroyed it by fire, his penalty shall be death. As soon as he is discovered in this offense, he shall be submitted for capital punishment....."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Athanasius |date=2010-01-23 |title=Fourth Century Christianity » Part of an edict against Arius and his followers |url=https://www.fourthcentury.com/urkunde-33/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819215807/http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/urkunde-33 |archive-date=2011-08-19 |access-date=2012-05-02 |website=Fourth Century Christianity |publisher=[[Wisconsin Lutheran College]]}}</ref></blockquote> 
Nevertheless, Constantine's edict on Arian works was not rigorously observed, as Arian writings or the theology based on them survived to be burned much later in Spain. According to the [[Chronicle of Fredegar]], [[Recared]], [[Visigothic Kingdom|King of the Visigoths]] (reigned 586–601) and first Catholic king of [[Hispania|Spain]], following his conversion to [[Catholicism]] in 587, ordered that all [[Arian]] books should be collected and burned; and all the books of Arian theology were reduced to ashes, along with the house in which they had been purposely collected.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McMillan |first1=Duncan |url= |title=Guillaume d'Orange and the chanson de geste : essays presented to Duncan McMillan in celebration of his seventieth birthday by his friends and colleagues of the Société Rencesvals |last2=van Emden |first2=Wolfgang |last3=Bennett |first3=Philip E |last4=Kerr |first4=Alexander |last5=Société Rencesvals |date=1984 |publisher=University of Reading |isbn=978-0-7049-0927-4 |location=Reading |oclc=18225186}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibbon |first=Edward |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32017316 |title=The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire |date=1994 |publisher=Allen Lane, Penguin Press |others=David Womersley |isbn=0-7139-9124-0 |location=London |oclc=32017316 |access-date=7 June 2022 |archive-date=7 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607185545/https://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/oclc/32017316 |url-status=live}}</ref> 

According to [[Elaine Pagels]], "In AD 367, [[Athanasius]], the zealous bishop of [[Alexandria]]... issued an Easter letter in which he demanded that [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria|Egyptian monks]] destroy all such unacceptable writings, except for those he specifically listed as 'acceptable' even 'canonical'—a list that constitutes the present 'New Testament'".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pagels |first=Elaine H. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/55641434 |title=Beyond belief : the secret Gospel of Thomas |date=2003 |publisher=[[Random House]] |isbn=978-1-4000-7908-7 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=176–177 |language=en |oclc=55641434 |access-date=7 June 2022 |archive-date=7 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607185533/https://www.worldcat.org/title/beyond-belief-the-secret-gospel-of-thomas/oclc/55641434 |url-status=live}}</ref> (Pagels cites Athanasius's Paschal letter (letter 39) for 367 CE, which prescribes a canon, but her citation "cleanse the church from every defilement" (page 177) does not explicitly appear in the Festal letter.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xxv.iii.iii.xxv.html |title= NPNF2-04. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters |publisher= Ccel.org |date= 13 July 2005 |access-date= 21 January 2012 |archive-date= 14 May 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190514223255/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xxv.iii.iii.xxv.html |url-status= live}}</ref>) 
Heretical texts do not turn up as [[palimpsest]]s, scraped clean and overwritten, as do many [[Classical literature|texts of Classical antiquity]]. According to author Rebecca Knuth, multitudes of early [[Christianity|Christian]] texts have been as thoroughly "destroyed" as if they had been publicly burnt.{{sfn|Knuth|2006|}}{{Citation needed|reason=Exact page needed, verification not possible|date=February 2025}}

In 1759 [[Pope Clement XIII]] banned all publications written by Swedish biologist [[Carl Linnaeus]] from the Vatican, and ordered that all copies of his work be burned.<ref name="MACUNI">{{cite web |last1=Downing |first1=Alison |last2=Atwell |first2=Brian |last3=Downing |first3=Kevin |title=''Sigesbeckia orientalis'' |url=http://bio.mq.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/plant-of-the-week-Sigesbeckia-orientalis.pdf |website=Biology-Macquarie University |publisher=Department of Biological Sciences |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-date=19 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119113531/http://bio.mq.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/plant-of-the-week-Sigesbeckia-orientalis.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="JTSOR">{{cite web |title=Johann Georg Siegesbeck |url=https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000368452 |website=Global Plants |publisher=[[JSTOR]] |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-date=14 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214133319/https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000368452 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>In 1774, his successor, [[Pope Clement XIV]], reversed the ban and botanists were invited to present lectures on Linnaeus’ system at the
Vatican ([https://bio.mq.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/plant-of-the-week-Sigesbeckia-orientalis.pdf source]</ref>