Lost Scriptures Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament

by Ehrman, Bart D.

• ISBN13: 9780195141825
• ISBN10: 0195141822
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-10-02
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

We may think of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament as the only sacred writings of the early Christians, but this is not at all the case. Lost Scriptures offers an anthology of up-to-date and readable translations of many non-canonical writings from the first centuries afterChrist--texts that have been for the most part lost or neglected for almost two millennia. Here is an array of remarkably varied writings from early Christian groups whose visions of Jesus differ dramatically from our contemporary understanding. Readers will find Gospels supposedly authored by the apostle Philip, James the brother of Jesus, Mary Magdalen, and others. There are Actsoriginally ascribed to John and to Thecla, Paul's female companion; there are Epistles allegedly written by Paul to the Roman philosopher Seneca. And there is an apocalypse by Simon Peter that offers a guided tour of the afterlife, both the glorious ecstasies of the saints and the horrendoustorments of the damned, and an Epistle by Titus, a companion of Paul, which argues page after page against sexual love, even within marriage, on the grounds that physical intimacy leads to damnation. In all, the anthology includes fifteen Gospels, five non-canonical Acts of the Apostles, thirteenEpistles, a number of Apocalypes and Secret Books, and several Canon lists. Ehrman has included a general introduction, plus brief introductions to each piece. Lost Scriptures gives readers a vivid picture of the range of beliefs that battled each other in the first centuries of the Christian era. It is an essential resource for anyone interested in the Bible or the early Church.

Author Biography

Bart D. Ehrman chairs the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An authority on the early Church and the life of Jesus, he has appeared on A&E, the History Channel, CNN, and other television and radio shows. He has taped several highly popular lecture series for the "Teaching Company" and is the author of The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (Third Edition, OUP, 2003) and Jesus, Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (OUP, 1999).

Table of Contents

General Introduction	1	(6)
NON-CANONICAL GOSPELS	7	(84)
The Gospel of the Nazareans	9	(3)
The Gospel of the Ebionites	12	(3)
The Gospel According to the Hebrews	15	(2)
The Gospel According to the Egyptians	17	(2)
The Coptic Gospel of Thomas	19	(10)
Papyrus Egerton 2: The Unknown Gospel	29	(2)
The Gospel of Peter	31	(4)
The Gospel of Mary	35	(3)
The Gospel of Philip	38	(7)
The Gospel of Truth	45	(7)
The Gospel of the Savior	52	(5)
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas	57	(6)
The Proto-Gospel of James	63	(10)
The Epistle of the Apostles	73	(5)
The Coptic Apocalypse of Peter	78	(4)
The Second Treatise of the Great Seth	82	(5)
The Secret Gospel of Mark	87	(4)
NON-CANONICAL ACTS OF THE APOSTLES	91	(64)
The Acts of John	93	(16)
The Acts of Paul	109	(4)
The Acts of Thecla	113	(9)
The Acts of Thomas	122	(13)
The Acts of Peter	135	(20)
NON-CANONICAL EPISTLES AND RELATED WRITINGS	155	(94)
The Third Letter to the Corinthians	157	(3)
Correspondence of Paul and Seneca	160	(5)
Paul's Letter to the Laodiceans	165	(2)
The Letter of 1 Clement	167	(18)
The Letter of 2 Clement	185	(6)
The "Letter of Peter to James" and its "Reception"	191	(4)
The Homilies of Clement	195	(6)
Ptolemy's Letter to Flora	201	(6)
The Treatise on the Resurrection	207	(4)
The Didache	211	(8)
The Letter of Barnabas	219	(17)
The Preaching of Peter	236	(3)
Pseudo-Titus	239	(10)
NON-CANONICAL APOCALYPSES AND REVELATORY TREATISES	249	(80)
The Shepherd of Hermar	251	(29)
The Apocalypse of Peter	280	(8)
The Apocalypse of Paul	288	(9)
The Secret Book of John	297	(10)
On the Origin of the World	307	(9)
The First Thought in Three Forms	316	(8)
The Hymn of the Pearl	324	(5)
CANONICAL LISTS	329
The Muratorian Canon	331	(3)
The Canon of Origen of Alexandria	334	(3)
The Canon of Eusebius	337	(2)
The Canon of Athanasius of Alexandria	339	(2)
The Canon of the Third Synod of Carthage	341