The Apocryphal Gospels

Posted on 04 October 2017 by Paul Foster

This Very Short Introduction offers a clear, accessible, and concise account of the apocryphal gospels exploring their origins, their discovery, and discussing how the various texts have been interpreted both within and outside the Church Looking at texts ranging from the Gospels from Nag Hammadi to the Dialogues with the Risen Savior, Paul Foster shows how the apocryphal gospels reflect the diversity that existed within early Christianity, and considers the extent to which they can be used to reconstruct an accurate portrait of the historical Jesus Foster demonstrates how close analysis of text, contents, and context are vital in assessing the value and authenticity of such ancient documents Including discussions of controversies and case studies such as the alleged hoax surrounding the discovery of Secret Mark, Foster concludes that the non canonical texts, considered in the correct context, can help us reach a complete understanding of the multi faceted nature of early Christianity About the Series Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life s most interesting topics Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam. New Read [ The Apocryphal Gospels ] author [ Paul Foster ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Over the last ten years or so there has been a flurry of interest into the apocryphal gospels and all forms of early non orthodox Christian thought and practice Much of this is due to the fact that many of these early non orthodox sources were for the first time in almost two thousand years available in their original form, thanks to the remarkable set of archeological discoveries that commenced in the late nineteenth century and continue to present day It became exciting to see these ancient Over the last ten years or so there has been a flurry of interest into the apocryphal gospels and all forms of early non orthodox Christian thought and practice Much of this is due to the fact that many of these early non orthodox sources were for the first time in almost two thousand years available in their original form, thanks to the remarkable set of archeological discoveries that commenced in the late nineteenth century and continue to present day It became exciting to see these ancient texts in their original form, unmediated to us through the prism of their opponents or detractors For the better or for worse, some of the interest in ...Nothing too gripping here, feel free to move along Basically the author says that all the non canonicals have at best two quotes that the big four don t and the only thing the former are good for are good is relating that second and third century Christians weren t as much on the same page as maybe the winners would have you believe.I went after this because it was sho...epic tales of jesus the child asshole and esoteric mumblingsI m fascinated by what didn t make it into the official Bible, so this intro to some of those texts was a good, quick read It s not comprehensive at all, but that s not its point.What it did show me is that most of those gospels came well after Christ, and the reason they aren t part of the main Bible is that they tend to be written so late as to be rather dubious in terms of authenticity to Christ s teachings No, there s no way we ll ever know how authentic the Big 4 are, but they are from a I m fascinated by what didn t make it into the official Bible, so this intro to some of those texts was a good, quick read It s not comprehensive at all, but that s not its point.What it did show me is that most of those gospels came w...I listened to the audio version It was easy to zone out to the narrator s voice and I could tell when a tough word was stumbled upon The text itself read less like an introduction andlike a scholarly essay, with parts that I had tro...As the name of the book states, this is a very short introduction into the topic Nevertheless it offers an easy to understand overview of what is known about the early years of Christianity This book is a good starting point for everyone ...Paul Foster s THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS A Very Short Introduction is an entry in the Oxford University Press series that seeks to explain the basis of a topic in a mere 150 pages Published in 2009, Foster s book responds especially to recent media coverage of the apocryphal gospels Ever time archaeologists find a new text, it s sensationalistically reported as telling us secrets that the Church doesn t want us to know As Foster notes, the truth is rathercomplicated Foster begins by talki Paul Foster s THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS A Very Short Introduction is an entry in the Oxford University Press series that seeks to explain the basis of a topic in a mere 150 pages Published in 2009, Foster s book responds especially to recent media coverage of the apocryphal gospels Ever time archaeologists find a new text, it s sensationalistically reported as telling us secrets that the Church doesn t want us to know As Foster notes, the truth is rathercomplicated F...This is a very interesting introduction to the debate about the Gnostic Gospels It is a well written and informative piece and shows how an unified dogma of Christianity was never true, mainly during the two centuries after Yeshua ben Joseph s death Jesus followers were diverse and receive his teachings in different ways as it doesn t existed an unified Church as Peter acknowledged The book emphasizes the similiarites between the Jewish and Christian rites and even the legends created to spre This is a very interesting introduction to the debate about the Gnostic Gospels It is a well written and informative piece and shows how an unified dogma of Christianity was never true, mainly during the two centuries after Yeshua ben Joseph s death Jesus followers were diverse and receive his teachings in different ways as it doesn t existed an unified Church as Peter acknowledged The book emphasizes the similiarites between the Jewish and Christian rites and even the legends created to spread the faith Of course it is a introduction and in many aspects is very sumarised In a way Paul Foster doesn t detach himself from being a lecturer of New Testament and a man close to the Church He looks to save the institutional Church trying to contextualise these fragmented texts as evidence of First and Second Centuries forms of Christian pursuit He still atributes a larger andmodern reading of these texts to the adoration of conspira...This is one of a series of Very Short Introductions to a subject put out by Oxford University Press This one is an excellent overview for anyone interested in its much vexed subject Foster applies a scholarly and thus basically conservative approach in easy to ...This book is a very good introduction as its title suggests to the subject of the apocryphal gospels, includind, but not exlusively those found at Nag Hamadi It is precise although not over technical It shows what can these texts bring to us and teach us about the Early Christian groups.

English
04 October 2017

Paul Foster