Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not
Make It into the New Testament by
Bart D. Ehrman
Impressed Already
While most people think that the twenty-seven books of the New
Testament are the only sacred writings of the early Christians, this is not at
all the case. A companion volume to Bart Ehrmans Lost Christianities, this
book offers an anthology of up-to-date and readable translations of many
non-canonical writings from the first centuries after Christ--texts that have
been for the most part lost or neglected for almost two millennia. Here is
an array of remarkably varied writings from early Christian groups whose
visions of Jesus differ dramatically from our contemporary understanding.
Readers will find Gospels supposedly authored by the apostle Philip,
James the brother of Jesus, Mary Magdalen, and others. There are Acts
originally ascribed to John and to Thecla, Pauls female companion; there
are Epistles allegedly written by Paul to the Roman philosopher Seneca.
And there is an apocalypse by Simon Peter that offers a guided tour of the

afterlife, both the glorious ecstasies of the saints and the horrendous
torments of the damned, and an Epistle by Titus, a companion of Paul,
which argues page after page against sexual love, even within marriage,
on the grounds that physical intimacy leads to damnation. In all, the
anthology includes fifteen Gospels, five non-canonical Acts of the
Apostles, thirteen Epistles, a number of Apocalypes and Secret Books,
and several Canon lists. Ehrman has included a general introduction, plus
brief introductions to each piece. This important anthology gives readers a
vivid picture of the range of beliefs that battled each other in the first
centuries of the Christian era.
Personal Review: Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It
into the New Testament by Bart D. Ehrman
I am a Pentecostal Christian and I find this book to be very fair in it's
descriptions of the books and the summaries of their content. This book is
not written with an agenda that the Bible was put together wrong, rather, it
mentions early Christian writings that were not included as more of a guide
rather than an attack on the cannon.
Here is the following list of books included in this book:
Non-Canonical Gospels:
THE GOSPEL OF THE NAZAREANS
THE GOSPEL OF THE EBIONITES
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE HEBREWS
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE EGYPTIANS
THE COPTIC GOSPEL OF THOMAS
PAPYRUS EGERTON 2: THE UNKNOWN GOSPEL
THE GOSPEL OF PETER
THE GOSPEL OF MARY
THE GOSPEL OF PHILIP
THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH
THE GOSPEL OF THE SAVIOR
THE INFANCY GOSPEL OF THOMAS
THE PROTO-GOSPEL OF JAMES
THE EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLES
THE COPTIC APOCALYPSE OF PETER
THE SECOND TREATISE OF THE GREAT SETH
THE SECRET GOSPEL OF MARK
Non-Canonical acts of the Apostles:
THE ACTS OF JOHN
THE ACTS OF PAUL
THE ACTS OF THECLA
THE ACTS OF THOMAS
THE ACTS OF PETER

Non-Canonical Epistles and Related Writings:
THE THIRD LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS
CORRESPONDENCE OF PAUL AND SENECA
PAUL'S LETTER TO THE LAODICEANS
THE LETTER OF 1 CLEMENT
THE LETTER OF 2 CLEMENT
THE "LETTER OF PETER TO JAMES" AND ITS "RECEPTION"
THE HOMILIES OF CLEMENT
PTOLEMY'S LETTER TO FLORA
THE TREATISE ON THE RESURRECTION
THE DIDACHE
THE LETTER OF BARNABAS
THE PREACHING OF PETER
PSEUDO-TITUS
Non-Canonical Apocalypses and Revelatory Treatises:
THE SHEPHERD OF HERMAS
THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER
THE APOCALYPSE OF PAUL
THE SECRET BOOK OF JOHN
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD
THE FIRST THOUGHT IN THREE FORMS
THE HYMN OF THE PEARL
Historical Cannon lists:
THE MURATORIAN CANNON
THE CANNON OF ORIGEN OF ALEXANDRIA
THE CANNON OF EUSEBIUS
THE CANNON OF ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA
THE CANNON OF THE THIRD SYNOD OF CARTHAGE
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