How many are there

out there?

The New Testament apocrypha are a number of writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. These writings often have links with those books which are regarded as "canonical". Not every branch of the Christian church is in agreement as to which writings are to be regarded as "canonical" and which are "apocryphal"

The word "apocrypha" means "hidden writings" and comes from the Greek through Latin.

The general term is usually applied to the books that were considered by the church as useful, but not divinely inspired.

As such, to refer to Gnostic writings as "apocryphal" is misleading since they would not be classified in the same category by orthodox believers

That some works are categorized as New Testament Apocrypha is indicative of the wide range of responses that were engendered in the interpretation of the message of Jesus of Nazareth.

According to Eusebius the first such gospel was the Gospel according to the Hebrews.

During the first several centuries of the transmission of that message, considerable debate turned on safeguarding its authenticity.

Three key methods of addressing this survive to the present day:

1)ordination, where groups authorize individuals as reliable teachers of the message;

2)creeds, where groups define the boundaries of interpretation of the message

3)canons, which list the primary documents certain groups believe contain the message originally taught by Jesus (in other words, the Bible).

Many early books about Jesus were not included in the canons, and are now termed apocryphal. Some of them were vigorously suppressed and survive only as fragments.

The earliest lists of authentic works of the New Testament were not quite the same as modern lists; for example, the Book of Revelation was long regarded as inauthentic, while Shepherd of Hermas was considered genuine by many Christians, and appears in several ancient Bibles

Infancy Gospels

The rarity of information about the childhood of Jesus in the canonical Gospels led to a hunger of early Christians for more detail about the early life of Jesus.

This was supplied by a number of 2nd century and later texts, known as infancy gospels, none of which was accepted into the biblical canon, but the very number of their surviving manuscripts attests to their continued popularity.

Most of these were based on the earliest infancy gospels, namely the Infancy Gospel of James (also called the Protoevangelium of James) and Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and on their later combination into the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (also called the Infancy Gospel of Matthew or Birth of Mary and Infancy of the Saviour).

The other significant early Infancy Gospels are:Arabic Infancy Gospel History of Joseph the Carpenter Life of John the Baptist

Jewish Christian Gospels

Jewish Christian sects within Early Christianity that retained a strong allegiance to Judaism, upholding Mosaic Law, used a Gospel specific to themselves:

Gospel of the Hebrews

Gospel of the Nazarenes

Gospel of the Ebionites

Since these mostly survive as quotes scattered amongst critical commentaries by Pauline Christianity, some modern theories suggest that these may be variations on one another, although the quotations from the Gospel of the Ebionites appear more distinct than the others. It has also been suggested that the Gospel of the Hebrews may have been an earlier version of the Greek Gospel of Matthew.

Rival versions of canonical Gospels

Many alternate edited versions of other gospels existed during the period of early Christianity.

Sometimes, those attributed to the text state elsewhere that their text is the earlier version, or that their text excises all the additions and distortions made by their opponents to the more recognised version of the text.

The church fathers insist that these people are incorrect (and indeed heretical) in their assertions, but some modern scholars do not. It remains to be seen whether any are earlier and more accurate versions of the canonical texts. Details of their contents only survive in the attacks on them by their opponents, and so for the most part it is uncertain as to how extensively different they are, and whether any constitute entirely different works. These texts include:Gospel of Marcion Gospel of Mani

Gospel of Appelles Gospel of Bardesanes Gospel of Basilides Gospel of Cerinthus

All together the Books Contain:

GOSPELS ???????

Infancy Gospels Jewish Christian

Gospels Rival versions of

canonical Gospels Sayings Gospels Passion Gospels Harmonic Gospels

These were “used”

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas A 5th Century Compilation of the Thomas Texts An Arabic Infancy Gospel The Gospel of James The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary The Gospel of Mary [Magdalene] The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew The Gospel of Nicodemus [Acts of Pilate] The Gospel of Bartholomew The Gospel of Peter The Gospel of Thomas The Gospel of Philip The Gospel of the Lord [by Marcion] The Secret Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Judas

The Non-Canonical Gospels

 The Acts of Andrew  The Acts and Martyrdom of Andrew  The Acts of Andrew and Matthew  The Acts of Barnabas  Martyrdom of Bartholomew  The Acts of John  The Mystery of the Cross-Excerpt from the Acts of John  The Acts of John the Theologian  The History of Joseph the Carpenter  The Book of John Concerning the Death of Mary  The Passing of Mary  The Acts and Martyrdom of Matthew  The Martyrdom of Matthew 

Apocraphal Acts of the New Testament

The Acts of Paul  The Acts of Paul and Thecla  The Acts of Peter  The Acts of Peter and Andrew  The Acts of Peter and Paul  The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles  The Acts of Philip  The Report of Pontius Pilate to Tiberius The Giving Up of Pontius Pilate  The Death of Pilate  The Acts of Thaddaeus  The Acts of Thomas  The Book of Thomas the Contender  The Consummation of Thomas

Apocraphal Acts of the New Testament

  The Apocalypse of Adam The Revelation of Esdras The First Apocalypse of James The Second Apocalypse of James The Revelation of John the Theologian The Revelation of Moses The Apocalypse of Paul Fragments-The Apocalypse of Paul The Revelation of Paul The Apocalypse of Peter The Vision of Paul The Revelation of Peter Fragments-The Apocalypse of Peter

Apocryphal Apocalypse  

The Teachings of Addeus the Apostle  The Epistle of the Apostles  Community Rule The Apocryphon of James The Correspondence of Jesus and Abgar  The Sophia of Jesus Christ  John the Evangelist  The Apocryphon of John  The Narrative of Joseph of Arimathaea  The Epistle to the Laodiceans  The Correspondence of Paul and Seneca  The Prayer of the Apostle Paul  The Letter of Peter to Philip  The Letter of Pontius Pilate to the Roman

Emperor  The Report of Pilate to Caesar  The Report of Pilate to Tiberius  Excerpts from Pistis Sophia  The Avenging of the Saviour  The Three Steles of Seth  The Book of Thomas the Contender 

Other Writings

BOOK OF JAMES, OR PROTEVANGELIUM

Origen Origen mentions the

Book of James (and the Gospel of Peter) as stating that the ' brethren of the Lord' were sons of Joseph by a former wife. This is the first mention of it, and shows us that the book is as old as the second century. To collect later references to it is unnecessary

And Ioacim was sore grieved, and showed not himself to his wife, but betook himself into the wilderness, and pitched his tent there, and fasted forty days and forty nights, saying within himself: I will not go down either for meat or for drink until the Lord my God visit me, and my prayer shall be unto me meat and drink.

And behold an angel of the Lord appeared, saying unto her: Anna, Anna, the Lord hath hearkened unto thy prayer, and thou shalt conceive and bear, and thy seed shall be spoken of in the whole world.

And day by day the child waxed strong, and when she was six months old her mother stood her upon the ground to try if she would stand; and she walked seven steps and returned unto her bosom.

And the child became three years old, and Ioacim said: Call for the daughters of the Hebrews that are undefiled, and let them take every one a lamp, and let them be burning, that the child turn not backward and her heart be taken captive away from the temple of the Lord. And they did so until they were gone up into the temple of the Lord.

And she made the purple and the scarlet and brought them unto the priest. And the priest blessed her and said: Mary, the Lord God hath magnified thy name, and thou shalt be blessed among all generations of the earth. 2 And Mary rejoiced and went away unto Elizabeth her kinswoman: and she knocked at the door. And Elizabeth when she heard it cast down the scarlet (al. the wool) and ran to the door and opened it, and when she saw Mary she blessed her and said: Whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come unto me ? for behold that which is in me leaped and blessed thee.

This is a traditional icon of The Nativity. The early church used icons to tell the story—theology in imagery. There is so much to tell and to be seen!For starters, notice that Joseph is off to the bottom left. This is his proper position in the Nativity icon. Think of the Gospel account – Joseph is righteous and protects Mary and Jesus, but he is not involved in the miracle of the incarnation of the Son of God.

The old man speaking to him represents the devil bringing new doubts to Joseph. “How can a virgin give birth? You know that is impossible! God does not become human! How can this be?” He is tempting Joseph to doubt the incarnation.Some angels are glorifying God, tending to the action and ministering while another angel proclaims good news to the shepherds.

The figure to the right of Mary is the Prophet Isaiah and to her left are the Magi.The two women on the bottom right are the midwives which tradition says Joseph summoned. They are shown here to indicate that Jesus was born in the normal way and would have needed washing, as a regular human baby would.Notice that the manger is like a casket, and Jesus’ swaddling clothes are very much like the grave clothes discovered by the women at the tomb following his resurrection.

The tree below the baby is the “Jesse Tree” from Isaiah’s prophesy, which says that a shoot will sprout from the stump (tree) of Jesse (the father of King David). The ox and the ass are also from Isaiah’s prophecy, “The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib.”

Mary occupies the center of the icon signifying that the incarnation was not only the work of God but also the work of the will and faith of the Virgin. Jesus was able to take flesh because the humanity in Mary gave him that possibility. Even though she is mother, she turns away from her child to welcome us all, recognizing in us the birth of her child.

See you next week