The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations

The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations

Editors	Bart D. Ehrman, Zlatko Plese
Translator	Bart D. Ehrman, Zlatko Plese
Language	English with Coptic, Greek, and Latin texts
Subject	Early Christian apocrypha, New Testament studies
Genre	Scholarly edition
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publication date	2011
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print
Pages	xii, 611
ISBN	978-0-19-973210-4
OCLC	466361885
Preceded by	Forged
Followed by	Forgery and Counterforgery

The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations is a bilingual sourcebook that presents more than forty noncanonical gospels with facing page English translations. The volume organizes infancy narratives, fragments from ministry and sayings traditions including agrapha, and passion and resurrection accounts. Each text has a historical and textual introduction, a selection of manuscript evidence, cross references to related ancient literature, and concise notes. Operating as editors, Ehrman and Plese model the format on the Loeb Classical Library. They provide original language texts in Coptic, Greek, and Latin with English translations on facing pages. They keep the apparatus selective and they do not claim to produce new critical editions of the base texts. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Publication

Oxford University Press published the volume in 2011. The book prints Coptic, Greek, and Latin witnesses with English on facing pages. ^{[1] [4] [5]}

Oxford University Press issued an English only selection for general readers as The Other Gospels: Accounts of Jesus from Outside the New Testament. That volume adapts the translations and supplies new brief introductions geared to a broader audience. ^{[6] [2]}

Contents and structure

Ehrman and Plese group the material into four sections. Infancy gospels include the Infancy Gospel of Thomas in a fuller Greek recension with an alternate beginning, the Proto-Gospel of James , the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew , Latin infancy compilations, and the History of Joseph the Carpenter. Ministry gospels include the Jewish Christian gospels transmitted in patristic quotations, the Gospel of the Egyptians , a possible gospel harmony, and a series of Greek papyrus fragments. Sayings traditions include the Gospel of Thomas with Greek fragments and a curated set of agrapha. Passion and resurrection materials include the Gospel of Peter , the Gospel of Judas , the Pilate cycle with correspondence and narratives, the Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea, and The Gospel according to Mary with Greek fragments. ^[7]

Infancy Gospels
1	The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
2	The Infancy Gospel of Thomas C: An Alternative Beginning
3	The Proto-Gospel of James: The Birth of Mary, the Revelation of James
4	The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
5	The Latin Infancy Gospels (J Composition): Arundel Form
6	The History of Joseph the Carpenter
Ministry Gospels
7	The Jewish-Christian Gospels
	The Gospel of the Nazareans
	The Gospel of the Ebionites
	The Gospel according to the Hebrews
8	The Gospel of the Egyptians
9	A Gospel Harmony: The Diatessaron?
10	Papyrus Berlin 11710
11	Papyrus Cairo 10735
12	Papyrus Egerton 2 (and Papyrus Köln 255)
13	Papyrus Merton 51
14	Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 210
15	Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840
16	Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1224
17	Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2949
18	Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 4009
19	Papyrus Vindobonensis G 2325 (The Fayûm Fragment)
Sayings Gospels and Agrapha
20	The Gospel of Thomas
	The Gospel of Thomas: The Greek Fragments
21	Agrapha
Passion, Resurrection, and Post-Resurrection Gospels
22	The Gospel of Peter
23	The Gospel of Judas
24	Jesus' Correspondence with Abgar
25	The Gospel of Nicodemus (The Acts of Pilate) A
26	The Gospel of Nicodemus (The Acts of Pilate) B (Including the Descent into Hades)
27	The Report of Pontius Pilate (Anaphora Pilati)
28	The Handing Over of Pilate (Paradosis Pilati)
29	The Letter of Pilate to Claudius
30	The Letter of Pilate to Herod
31	The Letter of Herod to Pilate
32	The Letter of Tiberius to Pilate
33	The Vengeance of the Savior (Vindicta Salvatoris)
34	The Death of Pilate Who Condemned Jesus (Mors Pilati)
35	The Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea
36	The Gospel of Mary
	The Gospel according to Mary: Greek Fragments
37	The Greater Questions of Mary

Editorial approach and core themes

The introductions survey attestation, probable date, transmission history, and major editions for each text. The editors note the lack of a definitive critical edition for several witnesses. They select fuller or widely used recensions for translation in cases where editorial reconstruction remains contested. The discussion of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas illustrates the approach. It reviews the Greek and versional witnesses, it describes the late medieval Greek manuscripts, and it explains the choice to present a fuller narrative in translation while recognizing the absence of a secure original form. ^[8] The preface states an editorial model focused on accessibility for study. The apparatus is intentionally spare. Cross references direct readers to related New Testament passages and to standard reference works. The editors include over forty gospels as complete works, substantial fragments, short fragments, and patristically preserved excerpts. They exclude the Coptic Gospel of the Savior pending a final critical edition. They include exceptions for Thomas and Mary because of user demand and the need for unified coverage in one volume. ^[1]

Reception

The book was generally well received, praised for its usefulness and organization as a scholarly resource. Brian Murdoch reviewed the volume in Literature and Theology. He emphasized the advantage of a single volume that makes disparate apocryphal material available with facing translations and introductions for teaching and research. ^[9] Birger A. Pearson assessed the volume in Religious Studies Review. He characterized it as a highly useful edition for students and scholars because it consolidates introductions, original language texts, and translations across the major categories of apocryphal gospel literature. ^[10] Library Journal noted the volume as a service to students of ancient Christian texts and languages and anticipated adoption in personal libraries and university syllabi. ^[11]

See also

• New Testament Apocrypha
• Gospel of Thomas
• Gospel of Peter
• Gospel of Mary

References

1. Ehrman, Bart D.; Plese, Zlatko (2011). The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations (PDF). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-973210-4 . Retrieved 2025-09-27. Altogether we provide over forty Gospel texts in this collection. For each text we have provided a brief introduction... We have kept our apparatus sparse... Our model has been the Loeb Classical Library...
2. Ehrman, Bart D. (2012-11-09). "The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations". The Bart Ehrman Blog. Retrieved 2025-09-27.
3. Ehrman, Bart D. "Curriculum Vitae". BartEhrman.com. Retrieved 2025-09-27. The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. pp. xii + 611.
4. "The Apocryphal Gospels: texts and translations". WorldCat. Retrieved 2025-09-27.
5. Ehrman, Bart D.; Plese, Zlatko (2011). The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations (PDF). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-973210-4 . Retrieved 2025-09-27. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data... ISBN 978-0-19-973210-4
6. Ehrman, Bart D.; Plese, Zlatko (2014). The Other Gospels: Accounts of Jesus from Outside the New Testament (PDF). Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780199335213 . Retrieved 2025-09-27.
7. Ehrman, Bart D.; Plese, Zlatko (2011). The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations (PDF). Oxford University Press. pp. x–xv. Retrieved 2025-09-27.
8. Ehrman, Bart D.; Plese, Zlatko (2011). The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations (PDF). Oxford University Press. pp. 3–18. Retrieved 2025-09-27.
9. Murdoch, Brian (2013). "The Apocryphal Gospels. Texts and Translation. By Bart D. Ehrman and Zlatko Plese". Literature and Theology. 27 (1): 128–129. doi:10.1093/litthe/frs006 . Retrieved 2025-09-27.
10. Pearson, Birger A. (2012). "The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations". Religious Studies Review. doi:10.1111/j.1748-0922.2012.01650_29.x . Retrieved 2025-09-27.
11. Sullivan, Matthew (2011-06-01). "The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations". Library Journal. Retrieved 2025-09-27.