Leaders of the early Church were divided over Revelation - its uncertain authorship, its unorthodox theology, even its terrible grammar. Then the first Christian emperor saw himself prophesied in its pages. Here is the first comprehensive history of how Revelation came to be included in the New Testament.

Early Christians applied four tests to writings when they were deciding which works merited treatment as Scripture: an origin soon after Christ's time, apostolic authorship, Christian orthodoxy, and acceptance of a work by Christian congregations across the known world....