Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of early Christian texts of disputed authorship


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. Liz Read! Talk! 19:53, 23 November 2022 (UTC)

List of early Christian texts of disputed authorship

 * – ( View AfD View log | edits since nomination)

WP:UNSOURCED for 15 years, contains WP:OR, has an unclear scope and seems to violate WP:INDISCRIMINATE, and is probably WP:REDUNDANT. Essentially, the authorship of pretty much the large majority of early Christian writings is disputed. Apart from seven of the 13/14 epistles attributed to Paul and John of Patmos (not "John the Evanglist") as the author of the Book of Revelation, the authorship of all books of the New Testament is disputed. Then there are New Testament apocrypha/Christian apocrypha/pseudepigrapha and some later works listed here as "Later Christian writings", where we've got pretty much the same situation. A whole category that is not even mentioned here yet is misattributed patristic works, with "pseudo-so-and-so" (see e.g. List of Church Fathers who quote the New Testament). I think far too wide a net is being cast here, and the only common elements that these text are somehow 'early Christian' plus having 'disputed authorship' is just way too little in common to be a meaningful list (or category). I do not rule out the idea of splitting this list up in smaller groupings, but lists or overviews of various groups of early Christian writings are already present and well-established elsewhere on English Wikipedia, including in the articles I linked to above, or in various categories those articles are in. Ultimately, this page may therefore also be redundant. Nederlandse Leeuw (talk) 17:10, 16 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Christianity and Lists. Shellwood (talk) 17:17, 16 November 2022 (UTC)


 * Delete aren’t most early Christian works of disputed authorship? Dronebogus (talk) 20:36, 16 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Yeah that's what I'm saying. Funnily enough, it would actually make more sense to create a list of early Christian texts of undisputed authorship. At least that kind of list would be somewhat limited and manageable. Nederlandse Leeuw (talk) 21:26, 16 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Actually kind of an interesting concept. Dronebogus (talk) 21:53, 16 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Sure, but also pretty much covered already by all articles in Category:Biblical authorship debates, New Testament apocrypha and so on. I see no need for duplication. Nederlandse Leeuw (talk) 22:27, 16 November 2022 (UTC)


 * Delete -- In most cases it would be better to say that they are of unknown authorship, but this is merely because there is no author's name attached to them, but items such as those pointed to by Nederlandse Leeuw cover the topic well. Peterkingiron (talk) 22:07, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Delete as violating WP:V, WP:GNG, WP:LIST, WP:SOAP, and WP:FORK. Besides violating our most important rules of citation, this is a fairly random list and a fork of Apocrypha that seems to be pushing a particular dogmatic agenda. In 2022, everyone knows that we are not a venue for religious debates. Go back to Twitter for that, or when that blows up. some other social media site. Bearian (talk) 19:10, 22 November 2022 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.