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

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Oxford University Press, Oct 2, 2003 - Bibles - 352 pages
While most people think that the twenty-seven books of the New Testament are the only sacred writings of the early Christians, this is not at all the case. A companion volume to Bart Ehrman's Lost Christianities, this book offers an anthology of up-to-date and readable translations of many non-canonical writings from the first centuries after Christ--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 Acts originally 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 horrendous torments 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, thirteen Epistles, a number of Apocalypses and Secret Books, and several Canon lists. Ehrman has included a general introduction, plus brief introductions to each piece. This important anthology gives readers a vivid picture of the range of beliefs that battled each other in the first centuries of the Christian era.
 

Contents

The Correspondence Between Paul and Seneca
160
Pauls Letter to the Laodiceans
165
The Letter of 1 Clement
167
The Letter of 2 Clement
185
The Letter of Peter to James and its Reception
191
The Homilies of Clement
195
Ptolemys Letter to Flora
201
The Treatise on the Resurrection
207

The Gospel of Peter
31
The Gospel of Mary
35
The Gospel of Philip
38
The Gospel of Truth
45
The Gospel of the Savior
52
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
57
The ProtoGospel of James
63
The Epistle of the Apostles
73
The Coptic Apocalypse of Peter
78
The Second Treatise of the Great Seth
82
The Secret Gospel of Mark
87
NONCANONICAL ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
91
The Acts of John
93
The Acts of Paul
109
The Acts of Thecla
113
The Acts of Thomas
122
The Acts of Peter
135
NONCANONICAL EPISTLES AND RELATED WRITINGS
155
The Third Letter to the Corinthians
157
The Didache
211
The Letter of Barnabas
219
The Preaching of Peter
236
PseudoTitus
239
NONCANONICAL APOCALYPSES AND REVELATORY TREATISES
249
The Shepherdof Hermas
251
The Apocalypse of Peter
280
The Apocalypse of Paul
288
The Secret Book of John
297
On the Origin of the World
307
The First Thought in Three Forms
316
The Hymn of the Pearl
324
CANONICAL LISTS
329
The Muratorian Canon
331
The Canon of Origen of Alexandria
334
The Canon of Eusebius
337
The Canon of Athanasius of Alexandria
339
The Canon of the Third Synod of Carthage
341
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About the author (2003)

Bart D. Ehrman is Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings and Jesus, Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium.

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