Lost Books of the Bible [Hardcover]

This book (available in several different printings, sometimes bound with "The Lost Books of Eden") is the most economical way
to get acquainted with this material. It includes some simple critical notes describing the origins of these texts are included. If you have a larger budget, the current standard edition (available through AMAZON.COM) is Schneemelcher's "New Testament Apocrypha."

The original publication dates are important here, because biblical archaeology and textual studies have progressed substantially in the past seventy years. For example, this book predates the discovery of the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas, and accordingly does not include it.

The NTAP is the source of many Christian traditions. For instance, many believe that Mary's mother was Saint Anne. The only written source for this information is the "Protovangelion", in the NTAP.

On the other hand, The "Infancy Gospel", included in this book, claims to tell stories of the early days of Jesus's life. I think any committed Christian reading the "Infancy Gospel" would understand why the Church Fathers believed it was not Inspired and therefore did not include it in the canonical Bible. It presents Jesus as divine, yet also having the personality of a five-year-old boy. For example, one of his playmates maltreats him, so: "When the Lord Jesus was coming home in the evening with Joseph, he met a boy who ran so hard against him, that he threw him down; To whom the Lord Jesus said `As thou hast thrown me down, so shalt thou fall, nor ever rise.' And that moment the boy fell down and died." (I infancy, Ch. XIX, vv. 22-24)

In the early church, there was no consistent agreement about what belonged in the Bible and what was not to be included. Modern-day readers of books such as the 'Da Vinci Code' can understand some of the issues and dilemmas here - there were no printing presses, no consistency of library cataloging or copyrighting, and no central authority in the oft-persecuted church as to who could make a decision of what texts were valuable. Indeed, even the Hebrew scriptures existed in variations, and the modern day issue of apocryphal books included or not included in the Bible stems from the difference between the Greek and Hebrew translations of the Hebrew scriptures/Old Testament texts.

For example, the book of the Shepherd of Hermas, included here, was well known to the early church, and continued to be a document known to church historians and scholars in the subsequent centuries, even if it was not commonly known and read by the laity in the churches. The apostle Paul was far from the only letter writer of the early church; the New Testament includes some other letters (Peter, John, etc.), but the canonical decision at one point was made that only those attributed to the original twelve apostles and Paul would be included - the letters of Clement, very important and useful in the early church, were excluded from the canon.

However, there is an important point to be made here. Just because something was not included in the canon of scripture did not mean that it was worthless. Just because a student gets an A rather than an A+ does not mean that student did not do good and worthwhile work. Many of these texts were 'A' texts for the early church, but lacked that certain something that made them canonical. The same is true for the gospels - this collection includes some extra-canonical gospel texts, and the reason for their non-inclusion in the canon is varied, but does not mean their value is insignificant.

There has been much work done on early church documentary history and the development of the canon since this book was first published more than a century ago, but these are reasonable (if not always reader-friendly) translations of relatively unknown texts, useful for general readers and undergraduates, or those who might want to know what the early Christians were reading and being influenced by apart from the canonical text.