Publisher: Westminster Press, 1982
This is an anthology of gospel literature that is not part of the New Testament but is of extreme importance for the study of the origins of Christianity. It preserves non-biblical writings of the earliest Christians that contain sayings of Jesus and stories about him.
These sixteen texts constitute what remains of the non-canonical gospels from the first and second centuries. Many are preserved only in fragmentary form, partly from the ravages of time and partly from the censor’s pen. Early church writers repeatedly cited texts incorrectly, attributing quotations to the wrong sources. They also regularly suppressed evidence as well, and interpreted what they did record in a biased manner.
Some people would argue that these gospels add little to our picture of the historical Jesus. However, they are important witnesses to the development of our understanding of the transmission of traditions about Jesus and of the formation of gospel texts. They show little, if any, influence from the gospels of the New Testament. They also show that the process did not come to an end with the New Testament. More gospel writings continued to be produced. While most of the early ‘church’ limited the growth of this literature by canonizing the Four Gospels, other Christian groups continued to produce their own books. Although some are known as ‘gnostic gospels,’ they often preserve older traditions.
Traditions of Sayings of Jesus
The Gospel of Thomas
The Dialogue of the Savior
The Gospel of the Egyptians
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840
The Apocryphon of James
Traditions of Stories About Jesus
The Secret Gospel of Mark
Papyrus Egerton 2
The Gospel of Peter
The Gospel of the Hebrews
‘John’s Preaching of the Gospel,’ The Acts of John 87-105
The Gospel of the Nazoreans
The Gospel of the Ebionites
The Protevangelium of James
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
The Epistula Apostolorum
The Acts of Pilate
