Dr. Moore
By my limited reading, canonization was decided by ecclesiastical leaders and a church vote. Scholars had no say in the matter, correct?
When I was reading heavily in the Early Christian Church Fathers and Apologists, I discovered it was exactly backwards from what you are saying. The church and priesthood had nothing to do with the canon, it was all the scholars and politicians. There was not a single revelation to guide them in how to do it. It was all guess work and bias about what one already believed as to determine what one let into the canon.
Granted, I am way back in the early Christian era, but the Bible canon did start there, and I have no reason to accept their selection. It hasn't been solved to this very day/ Some outstanding texts on this are:
1. Dennis R. MacDonald, "Two Shipwrecked Gospels, The Logoi of Jesus and Papias's Exposition of Logia About the Lord,"
2. Peter W. Flint, "The Bible at Qumran, Text, Shape, and Interpretation."
3. James E. Brenneman, "Canons in Conflict, Negotiating Texts in True and False Prophecy."
4. Lee Martin McDonald, James A. Sanders, "The Canon Debate."
5. Bart D. Ehrman, "Lost Scriptures, Books That Did Not Make it into the New Testament."
6. Jason D. BeDuhn, "The First New Testament, Marcion's Scriptural Canon."
7. Thomas L. Brodie, "The Birthing of the New Testament."
8. John Barton, "Holy Writings, Sacred Text, The Canon in Early Christianity."
9. Willis Barnstone, "The Other Bible."
10. Willis Barnstone, "The Gnostic Bible."