books in order

Bart D. Ehrman Books In Order

Non-Fiction Books In Publication Order

  1. Didymus the Blind & the Text of the Gospels (1986)
  2. The Text of the Fourth Gospel in the Writings of Origen (1992)
  3. The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament (1993)
  4. The Text of the New Testament In Contemporary Research (1995)
  5. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (1996)
  6. The New Testament And Other Early Christian Writings: A Reader (1997)
  7. After the New Testament: A Reader in Early Christianity (1998)
  8. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (1999)
  9. The Historical Jesus (2000)
  10. Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (2002)
  11. Lost Scriptures: Books That Did Not Make It Into the New Testament (2003)
  12. Christianity in Late Antiquity, 300-450 CE: A Reader (2003)
  13. From Jesus to Constantine (2004)
  14. The DaVinci Set (2004)
  15. Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene & Constantine (2004)
  16. A Brief Introduction to the New Testament (2004)
  17. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (With: ) (2005)
  18. Whose Word Is It? The Story Behind Who Changed the New Testament and Why (2005)
  19. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (2005)
  20. The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed (2006)
  21. Studies in the Textual Criticism of the New Testament (2006)
  22. Peter, Paul & Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History & Legend (2006)
  23. God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question – Why We Suffer (2008)
  24. Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible & Why We Don’t Know About Them (2009)
  25. The Reliability of the New Testament (2011)
  26. Forged: Writing in the Name of God (2011)
  27. The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations (2011)
  28. Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth (2012)
  29. Forgery and Counter-forgery: The Use of Literary Deceit in Early Christian Polemics (2012)
  30. The Other Gospels: Accounts of Jesus from Outside the New Testament (2013)
  31. The Greatest Controversies of Early Christian History (2013)
  32. The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction (2013)
  33. How Jesus Became God : the Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee (2014)
  34. Jesus Before the Gospels: How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior (2016)
  35. The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World (2017)
  36. Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife (2020)
  37. 36 Big Ideas (2020)
  38. After the New Testament: The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers (2020)
  39. Can We Trust the Bible on the Historical Jesus? (2020)

Non-Fiction Book Covers

Bart D. Ehrman Books Overview

The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament

Victors not only write history: they also reproduce the texts. Bart Ehrman explores the close relationship between the social history of early Christianity and the textual tradition of the emerging New Testament, examining how early struggles between Christian ‘heresy’ and ‘orthodoxy’ affected the transmission of the documents over which many of the debates were waged. He makes a crucial contribution to our understanding of the social and intellectual history of early Christianity and raises intriguing questions about the relationship of readers to their texts, especially in an age when scribes could transform the documents they reproduced. This edition includes a new afterword surveying research in biblical interpretation over the past twenty years.

The Text of the New Testament In Contemporary Research

This volume is a monograph in the Studies and Documents series devoted to basic research in the manuscript tradition of the New Testament. This entry focuses on the advances made in textual criticism during the past fifty years, presenting an overview of the current state of knowledge with respect to a wide range of important topics.

The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings

This new edition of Bart Ehrman’s highly successful introduction approaches the New Testament from a consistently historical and comparative perspective, emphasizing the rich diversity of the earliest Christian literature. Rather than shying away from the critical problems presented by these books, Ehrman addresses the historical and literary challenges they pose and shows why scholars continue to argue over such significant issues as how the books of the New Testament came into being, what they mean, how they relate to contemporary Christian and non Christian literature, and how they came to be collected into a canon of Scripture. Distinctive to this study is its emphasis on the historical, literary, and religious milieu of the Greco Roman world, including early Judaism. As part of its historical orientation, this text also discusses works by other Christian writers who were roughly contemporary with the New Testament, such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the letters of Ignatius. The volume is enhanced by two color inserts, one on illuminated manuscripts and the other on archaeology. New to this edition: Additional material on archaeology, including a new eight page color insert ‘What to Expect’ and ‘At a Glance’ boxes that provide summaries of the material covered in each chapter A Website Study Guide at http://www. oup. com/us/ehrman, offering chapter summaries, glossary terms, guides for reading, and self quizzes for students. Several new ‘Something to Think About’ and ‘Some More Information’ boxes More extensive treatments of Judaism and of the role of women in the history of early Christianity Nine new illustrations An Instructor’s Manual containing chapter summaries, discussion questions, and possible examination questions Ideal for undergraduate and seminary clas*ses in the New Testament, Biblical Studies, and Christian Origins, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 3/e, is an accessible, clearly written introduction that encourages students to consider the historical issues surrounding these writings.

The New Testament And Other Early Christian Writings: A Reader

The twenty seven books of the New Testament were not the only writings produced by early Christians. Nor were they the only ones to be accepted, at one time or another, as sacred Scripture. Unfortunately, nearly all the other early Christian writings have been lost or destroyed. But approximately twenty five books written at about the same time as the New Testament have survived, books that reveal the rich diversity of early Christian views about God, Jesus, the world, salvation, ethics, and ritual practice. This reader presents, for the first time in one volume, every Christian writing known to have been produced during the first hundred years of the church 30 130 C.E.. In addition to the New Testament itself, it includes other early non canonical Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses, as well as additional important writings, such as those of the Apostolic Fathers. Each text is provided in an up to date and readable translation including the NRSV for the New Testament, and introduced with a succinct and incisive discussion of its author, date of composition, and overarching themes. With an opening overview which shows how the canon of the New Testament came to be formulated the process by which some Christian books came to be regarded as sacred Scripture whereas others came to be excluded this accessible reader will meet the needs of students, scholars, and general readers alike. An ideal primary text for courses in the New Testament, Christian Origins, and Early Church History, it can be used in conjunction with a companion volume, the author’s The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 2/e OUP, 1999.

After the New Testament: A Reader in Early Christianity

The remarkable diversity of Christianity during the formative years of the first three centuries has become a plain, even natural, ‘fact’ for most ancient historians. But until now there has been no source book of primary texts that reveals the varieties of Christian beliefs, practices, ethics, experiences, confrontations, and self understandings. To help readers recognize and experience the rich diversity of the early Christian movement, After the New Testament provides a wide range of texts, both orthodox and heterodox, including such works as the Apostolic Fathers, e.g., 1 Clement, the writings of Nag Hammadi e.g., the Apocryhon of John, early pseudepigrapha e.g., the Gospel of Peter, martyrologies e.g., Perpetua, anti Jewish tractates e.g., from Tertullian, heresiologies e.g., Irenaeus and the Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter, canon lists e.g., the Muratorian Fragment, church orders e.g., the Apostolic Constitutions, liturgical texts the Didascalia, and theological treatises e.g., Origen. In addition, rather than giving only fragments of texts, this collection provides large portions entire documents wherever possible organized under social and historical rubrics. This unique reader’s concise and informative introductions and clear and up to date English translations make it ideal for courses on the New Testament, Christian Origins, Early Church History, or Late Antiquity, as well as for anyone student, teacher, pastor, layperson interested in the gamut of early Christian literature from the period after the New Testament up to the writings of the so called father of church history, Eusebius.

Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium

In this highly accessible discussion, Bart Ehrman examines the most recent textual and archaeological sources for the life of Jesus, along with the history of first century Palestine, drawing a fascinating portrait of the man and his teachings. Ehrman shows us what historians have long known about the Gospels and the man who stands behind them. Through a careful evaluation of the New Testament and other surviving sources, including the more recently discovered Gospels of Thomas and Peter, Ehrman proposes that Jesus can be best understood as an apocalyptic prophet a man convinced that the world would end dramatically within the lifetime of his apostles and that a new kingdom would be created on earth. According to Ehrman, Jesus’ belief in a coming apocalypse and his expectation of an utter reversal in the world’s social organization not only underscores the radicalism of his teachings but also sheds light on both the appeal of his message to society’s outcasts and the threat he posed to Jerusalem’s established leadership.

Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew

The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human. In Lost Christianities, Bart D. Ehrman offers a fascinating look at these early forms of Christianity and shows how they came to be suppressed, reformed, or forgotten. All of these groups insisted that they upheld the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, and they all possessed writings that bore out their claims, books reputedly produced by Jesus’s own followers. Modern archaeological work has recovered a number of key texts, and as Ehrman shows, these spectacular discoveries reveal religious diversity that says much about the ways in which history gets written by the winners. Ehrman’s discussion ranges from considerations of various ‘lost scriptures’ including forged gospels supposedly written by Simon Peter, Jesus’s closest disciple, and Judas Thomas, Jesus’s alleged twin brother to the disparate beliefs of such groups as the Jewish Christian Ebionites, the anti Jewish Marcionites, and various ‘Gnostic’ sects. Ehrman examines in depth the battles that raged between ‘proto orthodox Christians’ those who eventually compiled the canonical books of the New Testament and standardized Christian belief and the groups they denounced as heretics and ultimately overcame. Scrupulously researched and lucidly written, Lost Christianities is an eye opening account of politics, power, and the clash of ideas among Christians in the decades before one group came to see its views prevail.

Lost Scriptures: Books That Did Not Make It Into the New Testament

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 Ehrman’s 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, Paul’s 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 Apocalypses 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.

Christianity in Late Antiquity, 300-450 CE: A Reader

Christianity in Late Antiquity, 300 450 C.E.: A Reader collects primary sources of the early Christian world, from the last ‘Great Persecution’ under the Emperor Diocletian to the Council of Chalcedon in the mid fifth century. During this period Christianity rose to prominence in the Roman Empire, developed new notions of sanctity and heresy, and spread beyond the Mediterranean world. This reader incorporates standard texts from authors such as Athanasius, Augustine, and Eusebius in the most recent translations and also includes less familiar texts, some of which appear in English translation for the first time. Presented in their entirety or in long excerpts, the texts are arranged thematically and cover such topics as orthodoxy, conversion, asceticism, and art and architecture. The editors provide introductions for each chapter, text, and image, situating the selections historically, geographically, and intellectually. Christianity in Late Antiquity, 300 450 C.E.: A Reader highlights the ways in which religion and culture were mutually transformed during this crucial historical period. Ideal for courses in Early Christianity, Christianity in Late Antiquity, and History of Christianity, this reader is an excellent companion to Bart D. Ehrman’s After the New Testament OUP, 1998 and an exceptional resource for scholars.

The DaVinci Set

This superb two volume set combines a revealing look at the many historical inaccuracies to be found in The Da Vinci Code with a brilliant, brief account of the life and work of Leonardo, written by a leading authority on the great artist.

Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene & Constantine

In his staggeringly popular work of fiction, Dan Brown states up front that the historical information in the The Da Vinci Code is all factually accurate. But is this claim true? As historian Bart D. Ehrman shows in this informative and witty book, The Da Vinci Code is filled with numerous historical mistakes. Did the ancient church engage in a cover up to make the man Jesus into a divine figure? Did Emperor Constantine select for the New Testament from some 80 contending Gospels the only four Gospels that stressed that Jesus was divine? Was Jesus Christ married to Mary Magdalene? Did the Church suppress Gospels that told the secret of their marriage? Bart Ehrman thoroughly debunks all of these claims. But the book is not merely a laundry list of Brown’s misreading of history. Throughout, Ehrman offers a wealth of fascinating background information all historically accurate on early Christianity. He describes, for instance, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls ; outlines in simple terms how scholars of early Christianity determine which sources are most reliable; and explores the many other Gospels that have been found in the last half century. In his engaging book, Ehrman separates fact from fiction, the historical realities from the flights of literary fancy. Anyone who would like to know the truth about the beginnings of Christianity and the real truth behind The Da Vinci Code will find this book riveting.

A Brief Introduction to the New Testament

A Brief Introduction to the New Testament is a concise and more pedagogical version of Bart D. Ehrman’s best selling The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 3/e. Retaining the approach of the longer textbook while condensing and simplifying much of its material, this volume looks at the New Testament from a consistently historical and comparative perspective and emphasizes the rich diversity of the earliest Christian literature. Rather than shying away from the critical problems presented by these books, Ehrman addresses the historical and literary challenges they pose. He shows why scholars continue to argue over such significant issues as how the books of the New Testament came into being, what they mean, and how they relate to contemporary Christian and non Christian literature. Distinctive to this study is its emphasis on the historical, literary, and religious milieu of the Greco Roman world, including early Judaism. Features: Covers the fundamentals of New Testament scholarship in an engaging style, making challenging material easily understandable to undergraduates in introductory courses Retains the numerous pedagogical devices from the longer textbook: ‘What to Expect’ and ‘At a Glance’ boxes introduce and provide summaries of the material covered in each chapter ‘Something to Think About’ and ‘Some More Information’ boxes offer thought provoking asides Adds new study aids: Key Terms each appearing in boldface the first time it is used, Questions for Study and Reflection, and a greatly expanded Glossary Offers streamlined coverage this volume is nine chapters shorter than The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the New Testament, 3/e Includes a full color eight page insert on archaeology A Student Website contains chapter summaries, guides for reading, and self quizzes An Instructor’s Manual provides chapter summaries, student reading guides, pedagogical suggestions, and exam questions and answers Ideal for undergraduate and seminary clas*ses in the New Testament, Biblical Studies, and Christian Origins, A Brief Introduction to the New Testament is an accessible, clearly written introduction that encourages students to consider the historical issues surrounding these writings.

The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (With: )

This thoroughly revised edition of Bruce M. Metzger’s classic work is the most up to date manual available for the textual criticism of the New Testament. The Text of the New Testament, Fourth Edition, has been invigorated by the addition of Bart D. Ehrman author of numerous best selling books on the New Testament as a coauthor. This revision brings the discussion of such important matters as the early Greek manuscripts and methods of textual criticism up to date, integrating recent research findings and approaches into the body of the text as opposed to previous revisions, which compiled new material and notes into appendices. The authors also examine new areas of interest, including the use of computers in the collection and evaluation of manuscript evidence and the effects that social and ideological influences had upon the work of scribes. The standard text for courses in biblical studies and the history of Christianity since its first publication in 1964, The Text of the New Testament is poised to become a definitive resource for a whole new generation of students.

Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why

For almost 1,500 years, the New Testament manuscripts were copied by hand and mistakes and intentional changes abound in the competing manuscript versions. Religious and biblical scholar Bart Ehrman makes the provocative case that many of our widely held beliefs concerning the divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, and the divine origins of the Bible itself are the results of both intentional and accidental alterations by scribes. In this compelling and fascinating book, Ehrman shows where and why changes were made in our earliest surviving manuscripts, explaining for the first time how the many variations of our cherished biblical stories came to be, and why only certain versions of the stories qualify for publication in the Bibles we read today. Ehrman frames his account with personal reflections on how his study of the Greek manuscripts made him abandon his once ultra conservative views of the Bible.

The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed

The recent National Geographic special on the Gospel of Judas was a major media event, introducing to tens of millions of viewers one of the most important biblical discoveries of modern times. Now, a leading historian of the early church, Bart Ehrman, offers the first comprehensive account of the newly discovered Gospel of Judas, revealing what this legendary lost gospel contains and why it is so important for our understanding of Christianity. Ehrman, a featured commentator in the National Geographic special, describes how he first saw the Gospel of Judas surprisingly, in a small room above a pizza parlor in a Swiss town near Lake Geneva and he recounts the fascinating story of where and how this ancient papyrus document was discovered, how it moved around among antiquities dealers in Egypt, the United States, and Switzerland, and how it came to be restored and translated. More important, Ehrman gives the reader a complete and clear account of what the book teaches and he shows how it relates to other Gospel texts both those inside the New Testament and those outside of it, most notably, the Gnostic texts of early Christianity. Finally, he describes what we now can say about the historical Judas himself as well as his relationship with Jesus, suggesting that one needs to read between the lines of the early Gospels to see exactly what Judas did and why he did it. The Gospel of Judas presents an entirely new view of Jesus, his disciples, and the man who allegedly betrayed him. It raises many questions and Bart Ehrman provides illuminating and authoritative answers, in a book that will interest anyone curious about the New Testament, the life of Jesus, and the history of Christianity after his death.

Peter, Paul & Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History & Legend

Bart Ehrman, author of the highly popular Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code and Lost Christianities, here takes readers on another engaging tour of the early Christian church, illuminating the lives of three of Jesus’ most intriguing followers: Simon Peter, Paul of Tarsus, and Mary Magdalene. What do the writings of the New Testament tell us about each of these key followers of Christ? What legends have sprung up about them in the centuries after their deaths? Was Paul bow legged and bald? Was Peter crucified upside down? Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute? In this lively work, Ehrman separates fact from fiction, presenting complicated historical issues in a clear and informative way and relating vivid anecdotes culled from the traditions of these three followers. He notes, for instance, that historians are able to say with virtual certainty that Mary, the follower of Jesus, was from the fishing village of Magdala on the shore of the Sea of Galilee this is confirmed by her name, Mary Magdalene, reported in numerous independent sources; but there is no evidence to suggest that she was a prostitute this legend can be traced to a sermon preached by Gregory the Great five centuries after her death, and little reason to think that she was married to Jesus. Similarly, there is no historical evidence for the well known tale that Peter was crucified upside down. Ehrman also argues that the stories of Paul’s miracle working powers as an apostle are legendary accounts that celebrate his importance. A serious book but vibrantly written and leavened with many colorful stories, Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene will appeal to anyone curious about the early Christian church and the lives of these important figures.

God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question – Why We Suffer

In times of questioning and despair, people often quote the Bible to provide answers. Surprisingly, though, the Bible does not have one answer but many ‘answers’ that often contradict one another. Consider these competing explanations for suffering put forth by various biblical writers: The prophets: suffering is a punishment for sin The book of Job, which offers two different answers: suffering is a test, and you will be rewarded later for passing it; and suffering is beyond comprehension, since we are just human beings and God, after all, is God Ecclesiastes: suffering is the nature of things, so just accept it All apocalyptic texts in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament: God will eventually make right all that is wrong with the world For renowned Bible scholar Bart Ehrman, the question of why there is so much suffering in the world is more than a haunting thought. Ehrman’s inability to reconcile the claims of faith with the facts of real life led the former pastor of the Princeton Baptist Church to reject Christianity. In God’s Problem, Ehrman discusses his personal anguish upon discovering the Bible’s contradictory explanations for suffering and invites all people of faith or no faith to confront their deepest questions about how God engages the world and each of us.

Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible & Why We Don’t Know About Them

Picking up where Bible expert Bart Ehrman’s New York Times bestseller Misquoting Jesus left off, Jesus, Interrupted addresses the larger issue of what the New Testament actually teaches and it’s not what most people think. Here Ehrman reveals what scholars have unearthed: The authors of the New Testament have diverging views about who Jesus was and how salvation works The New Testament contains books that were forged in the names of the apostles by Christian writers who lived decades later Jesus, Paul, Matthew, and John all represented fundamentally different religions Established Christian doctrines such as the suffering messiah, the divinity of Jesus, and the trinity were the inventions of still later theologians These are not idiosyncratic perspectives of just one modern scholar. As Ehrman skillfully demonstrates, they have been the standard and widespread views of critical scholars across a full spectrum of denominations and traditions. Why is it most people have never heard such things? This is the book that pastors, educators, and anyone interested in the Bible have been waiting for a clear and compelling account of the central challenges we face when attempting to reconstruct the life and message of Jesus.

The Reliability of the New Testament

This volume highlights points of agreement and disagreement between two leading scholars on the subject of the textual reliability of the New Testament: Bart Ehrman, James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of the best selling book Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, and Daniel Wallace, Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary and Executive Director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. This conversation between Ehrman and Wallace allows the reader to see in print how each presents his position in light of the other’s. Contributions follow from an interdisciplinary team featuring specialists in biblical studies, philosophy, and theology. The textual reliability of the New Testament is logically prior to its interpretation and thus important for the Christian religion. This book provides interested readers a fair and balanced case for both sides and allows them to decide for themselves: What does it mean for a text to be textually reliable? How reliable is the New Testament? How reliable is reliable enough?

Forged: Writing in the Name of God

It is often said, even by critical scholars who should know better, that writing in the name of another was widely accepted in antiquity. But New York Times bestselling author Bart D. Ehrman dares to call it what it was: literary forgery, a practice that was as scandalous then as it is today. In Forged, Ehrman’s fresh and original research takes readers back to the ancient world, where forgeries were used as weapons by unknown authors to fend off attacks to their faith and establish their church. So, if many of the books in the Bible were not in fact written by Jesus s inner circle but by writers living decades later, with differing agendas in rival communities what does that do to the authority of Scripture? Ehrman investigates ancient sources to: Reveal which New Testament books were outright forgeries. Explain how widely forgery was practiced by early Christian writers and how strongly it was condemned in the ancient world as fraudulent and illicit. Expose the deception in the history of the Christian religion. Ehrman s fascinating story of fraud and deceit is essential reading for anyone interested in the truth about the Bible and the dubious origins of Christianity s sacred texts.

The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations

Bart Ehrman the New York Times bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus and a recognized authority on the early Christian Church and Zlatko Plese here offer a groundbreaking, multi lingual edition of the Apocryphal Gospels, one that breathes new life into the non canonical texts that were once nearly lost to history. In The Apocryphal Gospels, Ehrman and Plese present a rare compilation of over 40 ancient gospel texts and textual fragments that do not appear in the New Testament. This essential collection contains Gospels describing Jesus’s infancy, ministry, Passion, and resurrection, as well as the most controversial manuscript discoveries of modern times, including the most significant Gospel discovered in the 20th century the Gospel of Thomas and the most recently discovered Gospel, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot. For the first time ever, these sacred manuscripts are featured in the original Greek, Latin, and Coptic languages, accompanied by fresh English translations that appear next to the original texts, allowing for easy line by line comparison. Also, each translation begins with a thoughtful examination of key historical, literary, and textual issues that places each Gospel in its proper context. The end result is a resource that enables anyone interested in Christianity or the early Church to understand better than ever before the deeper meanings of these apocryphal Gospels. The Apocryphal Gospels is much more than an annotated guide to the Gospels. Through its authoritative use of both native text and engaging, accurate translations, it provides an unprecedented look at early Christianity and the New Testament. This is an indispensable volume for any reader interested in church history, antiquity, ancient languages, or the Christian faith.