The Lost Books Of The Bible

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.

Collects the lost books of the Bible, sharing stories of Jesus as a child, discussing other miracles of Mary, and other tales not included in the New Testament.

You're probably missing some of the most interesting books of the Bible. In the Jewish tradition, the five books known as "The Five Scrolls" perform a central liturgical function as the texts associated with each of the major holidays. The Song of Songs is read during Passover, Ruth during Shavuot, Lamentations on Tisha B'av, Ecclesiastes during Sukkot, and Esther during the celebration of Purim. Together with the five books of the Torah, these texts orient Jewish life and provide the language of the faith. In the Christian tradition, by contrast, these books have largely been forgotten. Many churchgoers can't even find them in their pew Bibles. They are rarely preached, come up only occasionally in the lectionary, and are not the subject of Bible studies. Thus, their influence on the lives and theology of many Christians is entirely negligible. But they deserve much more attention. With scholarly wisdom and a quick wit, Williamson insists that these books speak urgently to the pressing issues of the contemporary world. Addressing themes of human sexuality, grief, immigration, suffering and protest, ethnic nationalism, and existential dread, he skillfully guides readers as they rediscover the relevance of the Five Scrolls for today.

One man’s quest to find the oldest Bible scrolls in the world and uncover the story of the brilliant, doomed antiquarian accused of forging them. In the summer of 1883, Moses Wilhelm Shapira—archaeological treasure hunter and inveterate social climber—showed up unannounced in London claiming to have discovered the oldest copy of the Bible in the world. But before the museum could pony up his £1 million asking price for the scrolls—which discovery called into question the divine authorship of the scriptures—Shapira’s nemesis, the French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, denounced the manuscripts, turning the public against him. Distraught over this humiliating public rebuke, Shapira fled to the Netherlands and committed suicide. Then, in 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Noting the similarities between these and Shapira’s scrolls, scholars made efforts to re-examine Shapira’s case, but it was too late: the primary piece of evidence, the parchment scrolls themselves had mysteriously vanished. Tigay, journalist and son of a renowned Biblical scholar, was galvanized by this peculiar story and this indecipherable man, and became determined to find the scrolls. He sets out on a quest that takes him to Australia, England, Holland, Germany where he meets Shapira’s still aggrieved descendants and Jerusalem where Shapira is still referred to in the present tense as a “Naughty boy”. He wades into museum storerooms, musty English attics, and even the Jordanian gorge where the scrolls were said to have been found all in a tireless effort to uncover the truth about the scrolls and about Shapira, himself. At once historical drama and modern-day mystery, The Lost Book of Moses explores the nineteenth-century disappearance of Shapira’s scrolls and Tigay's globetrotting hunt for the ancient manuscript. As it follows Tigay’s trail to the truth, the book brings to light a flamboyant, romantic, devious, and ultimately tragic personality in a story that vibrates with the suspense of a classic detective tale.

Though apocryphal in nature, these books--suppressed by the Church Fathers--are fascinatiing and beautifully written. Here you can read for yourself many of the manuscripts which were excluded form the Cannon of Scripture, and discover new appreciation for those which were chosen.

Some differences between Catholicism and Protestantism can be tricky to grasp, but one of them just requires the ability to count: Catholic bibles have seventy-three books, whereas Protestant bibles have sixty-sis - plus an appendix with the strange title Apocrypha. What's the story here? Protestants claim that the medieval Catholic Church added six extra books that had never been considered part of the Old Testament, either by Jews or early Christians. Catholics say that the Protestant Reformers removed those books, long considered part of Sacred Scripture, because they didn't like what they contained. In Why Catholic Bibles Are Bigger, Gary Michuta presents a revised and expanded version of his authoritative work on this key issue. Combing the historical record from pre-Christian times to the Patristic era to the Reformation and its aftermath, he traces the canon controversy through the writings and actions of its major players.

The figures of Susanna, Judith and Judah Maccabee were all prominent features in European art, but their stories are missing from present-day Bibles. In this volume, you'll learn the fascinating history of the missing books of the Bible, and be able to read them in their entirety.

YOU will find between these covers all the ecclesiastical writings of early Christian authorities that are known to exist, and yet were omitted from the authorized New Testament. They are published here as a matter of record. Whether they are canonical or not, at least these writings are of very great antiquity. Origins are noted in paragraphs at the front of each book. This will enable the reader to form his own conclusions as to the genuineness of the writings. These writings are a vivid picture of the minds of men in the post-Apostolic period of the Church. Discount the statements from the historical viewpoint as you will-there remains in these gospels and epistles an earnestness of purpose, and zeal to express a message, similar to that of our authorized Bible. An interesting question naturally arises as to why these writings were cast out in the selection of the material that has come down to us in the authorized version. The compilation of the Bible was not an act of any definite occurrence. It was a matter complicated and abstruse. It was an evolution at the hands of Churchmen of various beliefs and purposes. In the formulation of early church doctrines there was dissension, personal jealousy, intolerance, persecution, bigotry. That out of this welter should have arisen the Bible, with its fine inspiration, would seem to present a plausible basis for belief in its Divine origin. But who can deny that under such vicious and human circumstances much writing of as pure purpose and as profound sincerity as other that is included in the authorized Bible, must have been omitted? The story of the first council of Nice, when Arius was commanded by the Bishop of Alexandria to quit his beliefs or be declared a heretic, and his writings were ordered destroyed, is eloquent of many things that happened. Good men were engaged on both sides of the ecclesiastical controversies.