Authentic Apocrypha: False and Genuine Christian Apocrypha (The Dead Sea Scrolls & Christian Origins Library, 2) - Softcover

Charlesworth, James H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0941037630 ISBN 13: 9780941037631

Publisher: D & F Scott Pub Inc, 1998

Synopsis

If you could ask third-century Christians what they knew about Jesus, they would tell a story full of details that you've probably never heard. They might begin by describing how Joachim and Anna took their daughter, Mary, to live at the Temple from the age of three until she was twelve. They would tell how Jesus was crucified between Titus and Dumachus and would mention that Titus entered paradise before Jesus because he had protected Mary, Joseph, and Jesus years earlier. They would certainly quote some sayings of Jesus that you won't find in the Bible, and they might even describe how Jesus was raised by God. These stories and many others are just a small part of ancient writings which many early Christians regarded as Scripture, but which are not part of our modern Bibles. Such writings are called New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. They are fascinating to read and can provide important insights into the development of Christianity and even the nature of the gospels in the New Testament. Yet few people are familiar with them, and even scholars rarely consult or refer to them.

In this book, Dr. Charlesworth introduces you to the New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, tells you where you can find good translations of all of them, and discusses some sensational fakes. There's even a translation of the Gospel of Peter inside these pages. You'll find this book both entertaining and informative. Enjoy.

About this title

About the Author:

James H. Charlesworth received an A.B. from Ohio Wesleyan University, a B.D. from Duke Divinity School, a Ph.D. from Duke Graduate School, and an advanced degree from the École Biblique de Jérusalem. He has been on the faculty of Duke University, the Universität Tübingen, and The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Since 1984, he has been the George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary. He has written or edited more than thirty books and 200 articles, including editing of the first comprehensive English language edition of the Pseudepigraphia. Some of his recent books include Jesus Within Judaism (Doubleday), Jesus' Jewishness (Crossroad), What Has Archaeology to Do with Faith (Trinity), The Messiah (Fortress), Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Doubleday), and Qumran Questions (Sheffield). He has been involved in the discovery of more than four thousand biblical and religious manuscripts and has worked on photographing and translating the Qumran scrolls. He is the editor of BIBAL's Dead Sea Scrolls & Christian Origins Library and the editor of the Dead Sea Scrolls Project at Princeton Theological Seminary.

About this edition

• Publisher: D & F Scott Pub Inc
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0941037630
• ISBN 13: 9780941037631
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 120