11. The Council of Nicaea decided which books to include in the Bible
Following his conversion to Christianity, Emperor Constantine invoked the Edict of Milan in 313 CE. The edict established tolerance for Christians of all sects throughout the Roman Empire. Different sects within the empire debated certain aspects of the Christian faith. One such sect believed in the position of Bishop Arius, who taught that Jesus’s divinity was not always present during his lifetime. Those who agreed with Arius called themselves Arians, and the Arian controversy created significant rifts among the various Christian groups. Constantine called for a meeting of Christian leaders in an ecumenical council, to be held in Nicaea, in what is modern day Turkey. The Council of Nicaea resolved the Arian controversy and issued the statement of beliefs now known as the Nicene Creed.
It did not address the creation of the canon of books which comprised the New Testament of the Bible. That mythology arose through literature and other forms of entertainment, and gained steam in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Not until over forty years later did Athanasius of Alexandria suggest the list of books which comprise the New Testament. Subsequent councils in Hippo and Carthage confirmed the Canon of the Old and New Testaments, with the Third Synod of Carthage finalizing the authorized Canon of the Bible in 397 CE, more than seventy years after the Council of Nicaea. Yet the myth of the Council of Nicaea creating the canon of the Bible as it is known in the Catholic Church today prevails, largely through its spread in entertainment based on fiction.