Wilhelm Schneemelcher

The first volume exploring "Christian" apocryphal works, focusing primarily on Jesus.

The work is an English translation of a German work written in 1959. This volume provides a general introduction to the idea of the New Testament apocrypha, the history of the New Testament canon, origins of the idea of the apocrypha, and the history of study of the NT apocrypha. The rest of the work focuses on various apocryphal works about Jesus: fragments of "Gospels" or sayings preserved in patristic literature and/or from manuscript evidence, "Jewish-Christian Gospels," Gospel of Egyptians, the Gospel of Peter, Gnostic "Gospels" and similar documents, and then looking at other apocryphal Gospels by category: those assigned to Jesus in some way, those attributed to the Apostles or an Apostle, Gospels attributed to the names of women or arch-heretics, infancy Gospels, stories of Jesus' family, and stories of Jesus' work and life. An appendix features the Gospel of Thomas and parts of the Gospel of Truth.

Every fragment or work is discussed and the history of interpretation/understanding/provenance, etc. is analyzed and a bibliography given. Some texts are provided in translation; others are discussed without translations given.

The work is excellent but a victim of time; it was written not long after the discoveries at Nag Hammadi and while some reference is made to those discoveries much has come to light since 1959. Other documents have been (re)-discovered in the meantime as well.

A useful work to understand and dig into NT apocrypha but further reading in the Gnostic works would prove necessary.… (mere)

This is the second half of the standard two-volume collection used by scholars of books that did not make it into the New Testament. This volume collects together letters, the legendary adventures and miracles of the apostles, and apocalypses (which make an interesting comparison to the last book of the New Testament.) Full of fascinating stories: highly recommended for anyone with a curiosity about what isn't in the Bible.

(For those who fear the influence of heresy, many of these books were considered 'edifying but not canonical' by early Church Fathers.)

There are many older translations of non-canonical Christian texts available for free online: the translations in this book are far newer and no scholar would dispute their accuracy or quality. (This book also contains helpful lists of books for further reading and excellent (if dense) introductions and notes for each work.)

-Kushana… (mere)

This is one half of the standard two-volume collection used by scholars of books that did not make it into the New Testament. This volume has a dense but illuminating history of how the New Testament was put together, fragments of Gospels, Gnostic works, Gospels, and works on the lives of (and legends about) Jesus and the Apostles, including stories about Christ's babyhood. Full of fascinating stories and unsuspected sayings and miracles: highly recommended for anyone with a curiosity about what isn't in the Bible.

(For those who fear the influence of heresy, many of these books were considered 'edifying but not canonical' by early Church Fathers.)

There are many older translations of Gnostic texts and non-canonical Christian texts available for free online: the translations in this book are far newer and no scholar would dispute their accuracy or quality. (This book also contains helpful lists of books for further reading.)

-Kushana… (mere)