The Apocryphal Gospels
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A Penguin Classic
In the early years of Christianity, several groups produced "hidden" or "apocryphal" gospels, alternative versions of the story of Christ. Sometimes these texts complemented the four canonical gospels, sometimes they subverted them and often they were completely different. We hear the young Jesus making live birds from clay, words of wisdom collected by his disciples, details of his trial, gnostic cosmologies, strange angels and the Harrowing of Hell. Often kept secret by their readers and frequently attacked by their detractors, these gospels shine a fascinating light on the early Christian Church and its surprising manifestations.
Simon Gathercole
Translated by
Simon Gathercole (PhD, University of Durham) is senior lecturer in New Testament studies in the Faculty of Divinity of the University of Cambridge and Fellow and director of studies in theology at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. A leading British New Testament scholar, he has written hundreds of articles and several groundbreaking volumes, including The Preexistent Son: Recovering the Christologies of Matthew, Mark, and Luke; The Gospel of Judas: Rewriting Early Christianity; The Composition of the Gospel of Thomas; and The Gospel of Thomas: Introduction and Commentary. He is also coauthor of How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus' Divine Nature--A Response.
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