TnAtheist Asks: Have you ever read a non-canonical gospel or other non-canonical books of the Bible?
For this week’s Sunday Swap, I’m curious how many of you have been introduced to or read non-canonical / apocryphal books of the Bible like the Acts of Peter, John or Paul, the Infancy Gospel of James or the Apocalypses of Peter, Paul or Thomas. Many of these books represent the popular genres and styles of writing from biblical times and I think they’re an important part of understanding the Bible’s human origins and its interesting history of translations, editing and revisions since being written.
Haven’t read one of those yet. Can’t find any of them
For some basic introductions, I would recommend some of Bart D. Ehrman’s books. The New Oxford Annotated Bible also includes some of the apocryphal books. There is also a book called ‘The Other Bible’ (HarperSanFrancisco ISBN: 978-0-06-081598-1) that collects public domain translations of several ancient scriptures including gnostic gospels & Christian apocrypha into a single volume… it’s not really a complete academic volume, but a nice starting point.