Lost Scriptures

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.

A companion volume to 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.

Bart D. Ehrman chairs the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An authority on the early Church and the life of Jesus, he has appeared on A&E, the History Channel, CNN, and other television and radio shows. He has taped several highly popular lecture series for the "Teaching Company" and is the author of The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (Third Edition, OUP, 2003) and Jesus, Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (OUP, 1999).

General Introduction

NON-CANONICAL GOSPELS

The Gospel of the Nazareans

The Gospel According to the Ebionites

The Gospel According to the Hebrews

The Gospel According to the Egyptians

The Coptic Gospel of Thomas

Papyrus Egerton 2: The Unknown Gospel

The Gospel of Peter

The Gospel of Mary

The Gospel of Philip

The Gospel of Truth

The Gospel of the Savior

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas

The Proto-Gospel of James

The Epistle of the Apostles

The Coptic Apocalypse of Peter

The Second Treatise of Great Seth

The Secret Gospel of Mark

NON-CANONICAL ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

The Acts of John

The Acts of Paul

The Acts of Thecla

The Acts of Thomas

The Acts of Peter

NON-CANONICAL EPISTLES AND RELATED WRITINGS

The Third Letter to the Corinthians

Correspondence of Paul and Seneca

Paul's Letter to the Laodiceans

The Letter of 1 Clement

The Letter of 2 Clement

The "Letter of Peter to James" and its "Reception"

The Homilies of Clement

Ptolemy's Letter to Flora

The Treatise of the Resurrection

The Didache: The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles

The Letter of Barnabas

The Preachings of Peter

Pseudo-Titus

NON-CANONICAL APOCALYPSES AND REVELATORY TREATISES

The Shepherd of Herman

The Apocalypse of Peter

The Apocalypse of Paul

The Secret Book of John

On the Origin of the World

The First Thought in Three Forms

The Hymn of the Pearl

CANONICAL LISTS

The Muratorian Canon

The Canon of Origen of Alexandria

The Canon of Eusebius

The Canon of Athansius of Alexandria

The Canon at the Third Synod of Carthage