Early New Testament Apocrypha

Broaden the scope of your New Testament studies with this introduction to early Christian apocryphal literature. To understand the New Testament well, it is important to study the larger world surrounding it, and one of the primary avenues for this exploration is through reading related ancient texts. But this task is daunting for scholars and novices alike given the sheer size of the ancient literary corpora. The Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies series aims to bridge this gap by introducing the key ancient texts that form the cultural, historical, and literary context for the study of the New Testament. Early New Testament Apocrypha offers an entry point into the corpus of early Christian apocryphal literature through twenty-eight texts or groups of texts. While the majority of the texts fall within the first four centuries CE, and therefore are useful for uncovering the earliest interpretations assigned to the New Testament, select later texts serve as reminders of how the meanings of New Testament texts continued to develop in subsequent centuries. Each essay covers introductory matters, a summary of content, interpretive issues, key passages for New Testament studies and their significance, and a select bibliography. Whether you are a scholar looking to familiarize yourself with a new corpus of texts or a novice seeking to undertake a serious contextualized study of the New Testament, this is an ideal reference work for you. Essays and contributors include: Part 1: Apocryphal Gospels Agrapha, Andrew Gregory Fragments of Gospels on Papyrus, Tobias Nicklas Gospel of Barnabas, Philip Jenkins Gospel of Peter, Paul Foster Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Reidar Aasgaard Jewish-Christian Gospels, Petri Luomanen Legend of Aphroditian, Katharina Heyden Pilate Cycle, J. K. Elliott Protevangelium of James, Eric M. Vanden Eykel Toledot Yeshu, Sarit Kattan Gribetz Revelation of the Magi, Catherine Playoust Part 2: Apocryphal Acts Acts of Andrew, Nathan C. Johnson Acts of John, Harold W. Attridge Acts of Paul, Harold W. Attridge Acts of Peter, Robert F. Stoops, Jr. Acts of Philip, Christopher R. Matthews Acts of Thomas, Harold W. Attridge Departure of My Lady Mary from This World (Six Books Dormition Apocryphon), J. Christopher Edwards Pseudo-Clementines, F. Stanley Jones Part 3: Apocryphal Epistles Jesus's Letter to Abgar, William Adler Correspondence of Paul and Seneca, Andrew Gregory Epistle to the Laodiceans, Philip L. Tite Epistula Apostolorum, Florence Gantenbein The Sunday Letter, Jon C. Laansma Part 4: Apocryphal Apocalypses Apocalypse of Paul, Jan N. Bremmer Apocalypse of Peter (Greek), Dan Batovici Apocalypse of Thomas, Mary Julia Jett 1 Apocryphal Apocalypse of John, Robyn J. Whitaker New Testament Apocrypha: Introduction and Critique of a Modern Category, Dale B. Martin SERIES DESCRIPTION: Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies is a 10-volume series that introduces key ancient texts that form the cultural, historical, and literary context for the study of the New Testament. Each volume features introductory essays to the corpus, followed by articles on the relevant texts. Each article will address introductory matters, provenance, summary of content, interpretive issues, key passages for New Testament studies and their significance, and a select bibliography. Neither too technical to be used by students nor too thin on interpretive information to be useful for serious study of the New Testament, this series provides a much-needed resource for understanding the New Testament in its Jewish, Greco-Roman, and early Christian contexts. Produced by an international team of leading experts in each corpus, Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies stands to become the standard resource for both scholars and students.

The Apocryphal New Testament includes new translations of the most significant and famous of the non-canonical Christian works. These apocryphal texts reveal the popular legends of Christians after the New Testament era, and throw light on the origins of many later beliefs and practices.

One of the daunting challenges facing the New Testament interpreter is achieving familiarity with the immense corpus of related literatures. Scholars and students alike must have a fundamental understanding of the content, provenance, and utility for New Testament interpretation of a wide range of pagan, Jewish, and diversely Christian documents. Ancient Texts for the Study of the New Testament provides descriptions of all ancient literature that is relevant for serious study of the New Testament writings. Readers can quickly survey the literature clustered under various headings (such as the Apocrypha, Dead Sea Scrolls, or early Rabbinic literature), easily access brief definitions and descriptions, and then consider examples of how the literature sheds light on the background and interpretation of specific passages in the New Testament. There are several helpful appendices, including one that lists, beginning with Matthew and ending with Revelation, potentially significant parallels between New Testament passages and the ancient writings treated in the book. This thoroughly revised and significantly expanded edition of Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation examines a vast range of ancient literature, masterfully distilling details of date, language, text, and translation into an eminently usable handbook. Craig Evans evaluates the materials' relevance for interpreting the New Testament and provides essential biographies. Although the book is written at an introductory level, its comprehensive scope makes it useful even for the seasoned scholar.

*Includes pictures *Includes excerpts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading The study of the apocryphal gospels, documents about the life or sayings of Jesus that did not become part of the New Testament, is a popular discipline among scholars that now fills several shelves of any respectable library. Despite the growing secularization of society, there seems to be an appetite for the historical figure of Jesus. However, fewer readers consider the question of whether the Old Testament, also known as the Hebrew Bible, is "complete," and whether in antiquity there were other books besides Genesis, the Exodus or Judges, with different histories and unknown characters, that were excluded from the canon and got lost in the sands of time. Most readers assume that the great saga of Israel, beginning with the pastoral stories of the patriarchs, the epic of the Exodus, and the conquest of the Promised Land, until the court of King David, is a compact, complete and unique story. In its current form, it seems to start from the beginning, and as such it was accepted by all in antiquity, but did someone in ancient Israel write other renditions? Recent archaeological and textual discoveries have revealed that literary production among the people of Israel before the life of Jesus was much more extensive and varied than previously supposed. The earliest Christian and Jewish exegetes were aware of some texts whose status was imprecise. Did the books of Tobit, Maccabees and Judith belong to Israel's sacred scriptures or not? What happened to certain books that are mentioned in the Bible but have not been found, such as stories about the court of King David, the Annals of Solomon, a Book of Jasher, and prominently the Book of Wars of the Lord? Between 50 and 90 CE, the various writings that comprise the New Testament were written, including the Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of Paul, and other letters to more general communities of the early Church. But what is recognized as the 26 books of the New Testament today, in literally hundreds of English translations, actually took several more centuries to be determined as "canonical" by the Church. In fact, it was not until a synod in Rome in 382 that the Church in the West formally adopted a list of the canonical books of the New Testament. Even today, not every branch of the Christian church agrees on which writings should be regarded as "canonical" and which are "apocryphal," even though some apocryphal texts often have noticeable links with books regarded as "canonical." Regardless, the New Testament Apocrypha refers to texts written by early Christians that were not included in the Bible used by the main branches of Christianity today. These texts vary in subject matter, with some being accounts of Jesus, others being about the nature of God, and still others being accounts and teachings of Jesus' apostles. What makes them fascinating is not just the history behind why they are considered non-canonical, but what they tell us about the early Church and early Christianity. Moreover, they offer insight into what sources were used to write them, and whether they shared the same sources as the texts that comprise the Bible today. Given their historical and religious importance, there is still a fierce debate over the authenticity of many of these texts. The Apocrypha of the Bible: The History of the Ancient Apocryphal Texts Left Out of the Old Testament and New Testament looks at the history of the books excluded from the Bible, the characters and events told by the books, and the discoveries that have influenced Biblical studies in the last few centuries. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the apocrypha of the Bible like never before.

What books were left out of the Bible and why? First issued in 1926, this is the most popular collection of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal literature ever published. Here, in one place, are the infancy gospels, the letter of Jesus to Abgarus, the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Legends of Paul and Thecla, the Epistles of Clement and Barnabus, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Books of Adam and Eve, the Secrets of Enoch, the Psalms and Odes of Solomon, the many Testaments of the Patriarchs, and many more ancient books which were highly revered, but ultimately left out of the Bible.

This classic volume of essays takes an in-depth look at the Apocrypha and how Latter-day Saints should approach this in their gospel study. With notable LDS authors such as Stephen E. Robinson, Joseph F. McConkie, and Robert L. Millet this volume is an essential addition to any well rounded Mormon studies library. Essays include: Whose Apocrypha? Viewing Ancient Apocrypha from the Vantage of Events in the Present Dispensation, Lying for God: The Uses of Apocrypha, and The Nag Hammadi Library: A Mormon Perspective.

Throughout history, Christians have expressed their faith through story. They created texts featuring important early Christian figures, like Jesus, Peter, Paul, Mary Magdalene, and Judas, to express their relationships to God and to the world around them. Some of these texts are found in today's New Testament, but there is a wide assortment of other texts that are not included in the Bible. Secret Scriptures Revealed answers, in clear accessible terms, many frequently asked questions about the Christian Apocrypha. It describes and explains the key texts and includes a much-needed discussion.