Misplaced Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testomony

Whereas most individuals assume that the twenty-seven books of the New Testomony are the one sacred writings of the early Christians, this isn’t in any respect the case. A companion quantity to Bart Ehrman’s Misplaced Christianities, this guide presents an anthology of up-to-date and readable translations of many
non-canonical writings from the primary centuries after Christ–texts which were for probably the most half misplaced or uncared for for nearly two millennia.

Right here is an array of remarkably different writings from early Christian teams whose visions of Jesus differ dramatically from our modern understanding. Readers will discover Gospels supposedly authored by the apostle Philip, James the brother of Jesus, Mary Magdalen, and others. There are Acts
initially ascribed to John and to Thecla, Paul’s feminine companion; there are Epistles allegedly written by Paul to the Roman thinker Seneca. And there may be an apocalypse by Simon Peter that gives a guided tour of the afterlife, each the wonderful ecstasies of the saints and the horrendous
torments of the damned, and an Epistle by Titus, a companion of Paul, which argues web page after web page towards sexual love, even inside marriage, on the grounds that bodily intimacy results in damnation.

In all, the anthology consists of fifteen Gospels, 5 non-canonical Acts of the Apostles, 13 Epistles, plenty of Apocalypses and Secret Books, and several other Canon lists. Ehrman has included a normal introduction, plus temporary introductions to every piece. This necessary anthology offers readers a
vivid image of the vary of beliefs that battled one another within the first centuries of the Christian period.