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New Testament Apocrypha, Vol 1: Gospels and Related Writings
This revised edition is a translation of the sixth German edition, just as the original English New Testament Apocrypha was a translation of the third German edition. The introductions to individual texts have been either completely rewritten or thoroughly revised. This book reflects current research findings. The bibliographical data in all sections has been updated as well. Some of the texts have been newly translated, some completely revised, and three completely new texts have been added. Indexes have been included in this volume that allow access to both volumes of the entire work.
572 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 3, 2014
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.
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.
June 29, 2008
I had the pleasure of spending 6 months with a two volume set of these, once. Cost was always prohibitive to own a copy and so I had to live near a Library or other friendly patron.
This is a selection from the latest most complete collection of these things. It IS amazing!
This is a selection from the latest most complete collection of these things. It IS amazing!
September 6, 2011
The standard for understanding the massive body of literature that followed the apostolic writings. A carefully documented compendium of Gnostic, et.al. literature. Expensive, and worth the investment.
January 21, 2024
This is the book I recommend if you’re interested in thinks of this ilk. You have a few options. I started out with J. K. Elliott’s edition. It’s an update of M. R. James’, which I looked at but is now a bit outdated. I abandoned Elliott’s as it seemed a bit half-arsed and the introductions were uneven.
This one has excellent introductions, and you’re going to need them, otherwise it can be difficult to know what exactly it is you’re reading. Really, without a bit of guidance some of the texts could be from anywhere in the world over a 1500 year period. The intros here are very much in the style of Charlesworth’s OT Pseudepigrapha – a deep dive into the unbelievably complex textual history and the history of religious belief.
There’s a really nice selection of texts from as broad a spectrum as possible. It does have one annoying flaw. Casting your eye down the contents page would lead you to believe that all those texts are translated here. Not the case. Very annoying to get halfway through an introduction only to find that what you’re being offered is a summary, or extracts. They really sell the Arabic Infancy Gospel only to snatch it away. There’s a book in the Ante-Nicene Christian Library series by Roberts and Donaldson called Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, And Revelations. I found this particularly useful for those missing texts as it is, I think, a complete translation of everything they had available to them in 1870. The introductions are useless, but the translation is good.
This one has excellent introductions, and you’re going to need them, otherwise it can be difficult to know what exactly it is you’re reading. Really, without a bit of guidance some of the texts could be from anywhere in the world over a 1500 year period. The intros here are very much in the style of Charlesworth’s OT Pseudepigrapha – a deep dive into the unbelievably complex textual history and the history of religious belief.
There’s a really nice selection of texts from as broad a spectrum as possible. It does have one annoying flaw. Casting your eye down the contents page would lead you to believe that all those texts are translated here. Not the case. Very annoying to get halfway through an introduction only to find that what you’re being offered is a summary, or extracts. They really sell the Arabic Infancy Gospel only to snatch it away. There’s a book in the Ante-Nicene Christian Library series by Roberts and Donaldson called Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, And Revelations. I found this particularly useful for those missing texts as it is, I think, a complete translation of everything they had available to them in 1870. The introductions are useless, but the translation is good.
February 13, 2013
Excellent resource.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews