What do you think?
Rate this book
The Other Gospels: Accounts of Jesus from Outside the New Testament
Bart Ehrman--the New York Times bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus and a recognized authority on the early Christian Church--and Zlatko Plese--a foremost authority on Christian Gnosticism--here offer a valuable compilation of over 40 ancient gospel texts and textual fragments that do not appear in the New Testament. This comprehensive collection contains Gospels describing Jesus's infancy, ministry, Passion, and resurrection, and includes the controversial manuscript discoveries of modern times, such as the Gospel of Thomas and the most recent Gospel to be discovered, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot. Each translation begins with a thoughtful examination of important historical, literary, and textual issues in order to place the Gospel in its proper context. This volume is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in early Christianity and the deeper meanings of these apocryphal Gospels.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
53 people are currently reading
470 people want to read
About the author
Bart D. Ehrman
66 books2,120 followersBart Denton Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, including three college textbooks. He has also authored six New York Times bestsellers. He is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 9, 2022
Shadows on canonical gospels
Gnosticism is a collection of beliefs and practices among early Christian sects which emphasized personal spiritual knowledge (Gnosis) above the orthodox teachings and authority of established institutions. According to the Gnostic belief system, material existence is flawed, and it proposes that there is a higher Supreme Being that is responsible for creating the cosmos. Gnostics believed that achieving salvation from materialism is to seek knowledge of the supreme divinity through the mystical insight. Most Gnostic texts do not believe in the concepts of sin and repentance that is dominant in the canonical gospels and the New Testament, but acquiring knowledge is essential for the emancipation of human miseries.
According to the Gospel of Mary Magdalene 4:26, “The Savior said There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery.” Then Mary goes on to say in the same chapter verse 30, “Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in its whole body.”
The infancy gospels like the Gospel of James, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the Syriac Infancy Gospel describes many miraculous incidents from the life of Mary and the childhood of Jesus not found in the canons. They also include extensive narratives of the birth and upbringing of Jesus’ mother Mary. The History of Joseph the Carpenter is a compilation of traditions of Mary, Joseph, and the "holy family.”
The Shepherd of Hermas, a Christian literary work of allegorical language describes five visions granted to Hermas. This is followed by twelve commandments, and ten parables. This allegorical language continues through this work that suggests that Jesus is God and not a human. The remarks of Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria, the leadership in the early days of the church offers a sense of resistance to the teachings of the Shepherd. But Pope Callixtus I said it as an authority and deserved to be included in the Divine Instrument. Borborites another gnostic sect had sacred scriptures revolved around the figure of Mary Magdalene. The elements of sexual sacramental practices formed an important role in their rituals. This sect engaged in a version of the Eucharist in which they would smear their hands with menstrual blood and semen and consume them as the blood and body of Christ, respectively.
The Gospel of Peter suggests that Jesus did not actually die. This, together with the claim that on the cross Jesus "remained silent, as though he felt no pain", has led many early Christian leaders to accuse this text of Docetism. Christ was so divine that he could not have been human, since God lacked a material body, therefore could not feel physical pain that is completely contrary to the teachings in the church today. The Gospel of Nicodemus, also called the Acts of Pilate describes the Harrowing of Hell episode where St. Dismas accompanies Jesus in a descent to hell, and the deliverance of the righteous Old Testament patriarchs.
Church's synods of Carthage and Rome which established the New Testament canon rejected Gnostic gospels as apocryphal and ordered for a massive destruction of the ancient scriptures. A major question in scholarly research now is the qualification of Gnosticism as a phenomenon that may have the influence of other belief systems of that time. Sankhya and Vedanta school of Hindu philosophical system were known throughout the Indian subcontinent during the times of Jesus, and Buddha knew the principles of Sankhya philosophy. The Gnostic belief system is reminiscent of Sankhya school of thought.
The English translations of over forty noncanonical texts presented in this book is helpful to readers who are interested in Gnostic Christianity that dominated the early church. This is a good reference books even for students at Divinity schools, Christian seminaries and church pastors who are more open to Gnosticism.
Gnosticism is a collection of beliefs and practices among early Christian sects which emphasized personal spiritual knowledge (Gnosis) above the orthodox teachings and authority of established institutions. According to the Gnostic belief system, material existence is flawed, and it proposes that there is a higher Supreme Being that is responsible for creating the cosmos. Gnostics believed that achieving salvation from materialism is to seek knowledge of the supreme divinity through the mystical insight. Most Gnostic texts do not believe in the concepts of sin and repentance that is dominant in the canonical gospels and the New Testament, but acquiring knowledge is essential for the emancipation of human miseries.
According to the Gospel of Mary Magdalene 4:26, “The Savior said There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery.” Then Mary goes on to say in the same chapter verse 30, “Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in its whole body.”
The infancy gospels like the Gospel of James, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the Syriac Infancy Gospel describes many miraculous incidents from the life of Mary and the childhood of Jesus not found in the canons. They also include extensive narratives of the birth and upbringing of Jesus’ mother Mary. The History of Joseph the Carpenter is a compilation of traditions of Mary, Joseph, and the "holy family.”
The Shepherd of Hermas, a Christian literary work of allegorical language describes five visions granted to Hermas. This is followed by twelve commandments, and ten parables. This allegorical language continues through this work that suggests that Jesus is God and not a human. The remarks of Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria, the leadership in the early days of the church offers a sense of resistance to the teachings of the Shepherd. But Pope Callixtus I said it as an authority and deserved to be included in the Divine Instrument. Borborites another gnostic sect had sacred scriptures revolved around the figure of Mary Magdalene. The elements of sexual sacramental practices formed an important role in their rituals. This sect engaged in a version of the Eucharist in which they would smear their hands with menstrual blood and semen and consume them as the blood and body of Christ, respectively.
The Gospel of Peter suggests that Jesus did not actually die. This, together with the claim that on the cross Jesus "remained silent, as though he felt no pain", has led many early Christian leaders to accuse this text of Docetism. Christ was so divine that he could not have been human, since God lacked a material body, therefore could not feel physical pain that is completely contrary to the teachings in the church today. The Gospel of Nicodemus, also called the Acts of Pilate describes the Harrowing of Hell episode where St. Dismas accompanies Jesus in a descent to hell, and the deliverance of the righteous Old Testament patriarchs.
Church's synods of Carthage and Rome which established the New Testament canon rejected Gnostic gospels as apocryphal and ordered for a massive destruction of the ancient scriptures. A major question in scholarly research now is the qualification of Gnosticism as a phenomenon that may have the influence of other belief systems of that time. Sankhya and Vedanta school of Hindu philosophical system were known throughout the Indian subcontinent during the times of Jesus, and Buddha knew the principles of Sankhya philosophy. The Gnostic belief system is reminiscent of Sankhya school of thought.
The English translations of over forty noncanonical texts presented in this book is helpful to readers who are interested in Gnostic Christianity that dominated the early church. This is a good reference books even for students at Divinity schools, Christian seminaries and church pastors who are more open to Gnosticism.
June 6, 2018
A very convenient volume that collects (most) all of the non-canonical gospels together. The introductions were great for situating each text in time and place, and tracing some of the fascinating paths by which they've been rediscovered in modern times. My four-star rating is intended mainly for the book itself, with its interesting introductions, extensive footnotes, readable translations, et cetera. The only knock I have against this collection is that in several cases where one work incorporates parts of another, Ehrman and Pleše have opted against reproducing that material twice, which is helpful when reading the book straight through (less redundancy) but means it would be impossible later on to just flip open to (for example) the infancy account of Pseudo-Matthew and just read it, since they left out all the parts that overlap with other infancy gospels. I'm also not sure this is as complete a collection as they claim, since in their own footnotes the authors reference other texts like the Gospel of Philip or Gospel of Bartholomew which are not included. But it contained every work I was interested in, so no worries there.
As far as the books themselves... there's a range. The earlier texts are fascinating - the idea that there are parchment fragments that contain possibly authentic sayings of Jesus that have not come down to us in the canonical gospels was awe-inspiring. I greatly enjoyed the agrapha, the Gospel of Thomas, and other first- or second-century works, some of which contain familiar sayings of Jesus but in longer form (giving more context, if authentic) or sayings we had lost altogether. I tried to maintain a cautious skepticism - these documents didn't make the canon in any church in antiquity - but if even a few of these extra details are legitimate, they are giving us a further glimpse at Jesus' words and actions, and that is beyond fascinating.
The further out from the first century you go, the more this stuff reads like fan fiction, though. The infancy narratives prove that people were making goofy prequels long before George Lucas - with some of the same tendencies to insert appearances from later characters, etc. There is a cycle from the medieval era that is Tarantino-esque gruesome revenge fiction against Pilate and the Sanhedrin for their part in crucifying Jesus. Whoever wrote a series of stories devoted to bloodily avenging Jesus' death *definitely* missed the point of his nonviolent surrender in the New Testament. And the gnostic gospels (Judas and Mary in particular) are predictably full of bizarre astrology and cosmic weirdness.
Overall, an excellent collection, even if my personal level of interest sort of waxed and waned between different gospels.
As far as the books themselves... there's a range. The earlier texts are fascinating - the idea that there are parchment fragments that contain possibly authentic sayings of Jesus that have not come down to us in the canonical gospels was awe-inspiring. I greatly enjoyed the agrapha, the Gospel of Thomas, and other first- or second-century works, some of which contain familiar sayings of Jesus but in longer form (giving more context, if authentic) or sayings we had lost altogether. I tried to maintain a cautious skepticism - these documents didn't make the canon in any church in antiquity - but if even a few of these extra details are legitimate, they are giving us a further glimpse at Jesus' words and actions, and that is beyond fascinating.
The further out from the first century you go, the more this stuff reads like fan fiction, though. The infancy narratives prove that people were making goofy prequels long before George Lucas - with some of the same tendencies to insert appearances from later characters, etc. There is a cycle from the medieval era that is Tarantino-esque gruesome revenge fiction against Pilate and the Sanhedrin for their part in crucifying Jesus. Whoever wrote a series of stories devoted to bloodily avenging Jesus' death *definitely* missed the point of his nonviolent surrender in the New Testament. And the gnostic gospels (Judas and Mary in particular) are predictably full of bizarre astrology and cosmic weirdness.
Overall, an excellent collection, even if my personal level of interest sort of waxed and waned between different gospels.
January 17, 2015
Ehrman gives a good account of the early gospels, that didn't make the cut. He is probably the most knowledgeable Christian writer alive today. He is the current "James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill". Ehrman has a matter of fact writing style, that makes enjoyable and easy reading. But, since I am not a believer, for me, it's like reading someone explaining Aesop's Fables. For Christians that want to know more about the story of Jesus and early Christianity, I recommend this book.
March 2, 2024
This book contains a collection of non-canonical scripture. Each translation is preceded by a bit of information about the text.
Overall a good read for anyone interested in this topic.
Overall a good read for anyone interested in this topic.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews