Subject: The Development of the Canon of the New Testament - Writings
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The Development of the Canon of the New Testament

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Apocryphal New
Testament Writings

Gospel of
Thomas
Gospel of
Truth
Gospel
of the Twelve
Gospel of
Peter
Gospel
of Basilides
Gospel
of the Egyptians
Gospel
of the Hebrews
Gospel
of Matthias
Traditions
of Matthias
Preaching
of Peter
Acts of
Andrew
Acts of
Paul
Acts of
John
Epistle
to the Laodiceans
I
Clement
Epistle
of Barnabas
Didache
Shepherd
of Hermas
Apocalypse
of Peter

Apocryphal New Testament Writings

An early Christian writings is considered in this survey if it is
mentioned by name, or quoted from in a "scriptural" context by one of the
Early Christian
Authorities. For a visual summary of the opinions of the writings see
the Cross Reference
Table. Here is a summary of information on the 19 writings included:

Writing

Date CE

Place

Manuscripts

English Translation(s)

Gospel
of Thomas

~150

eastern Syria

Codex II Nag Hammadi (Coptic, Sahidic dialect)
Oxyrhynchus
Papyrus I (Greek)
Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 654 (Greek)
Oxyrhynchus
Papyrus 655 (Greek)

[Robinson]
pp. 126-138
[Elliot]
pp. 135-147
Alexander Walker
Esq. [New Advent]
Stephen
Patterson and Marvin Meyer
Thomas O.
Lambdin
Lambdin and
Layton
W. R.
Schoedel
Stuart D.
Shoemaker
Paterson
Brown
K. C.
Hanson
Berlin
Working Group for Coptic Gnostic Writings
Ecumenical Coptic
Project
Interlinear
Coptic/English
Interlinear
Greek/English

Gospel of
Truth

140-180

Rome ?

Codex I Nag Hammadi (Coptic)

[Robinson]
pp. 40-51
Robert
M. Grant [Gnostic Society Library]
Harold W.
Attridge and George W. MacRae [Gnostic Society Library]

Gospel of
the Twelve

2nd century

?

no surviving fragments

none

Gospel of
Peter

100-130

Syria?

Akhmîm
Fragment (Greek)
fragment discovered at Oxyrhynchus
(Greek)

[Schneemelcher]
v. 1 pp. 223-226
[Elliot]
pp. 135-147
M.R.
James [Noncanonical Homepage]
?? [New
Advent]
Henry Barclay
Swete
??
[Christian Classics Ethereal Library]
Roberts-Donaldson
[Early Christian Writings]
M.R.
James [Early Christian Writings]
Raymond
Brown
Andrew
Bernhard
Sam Gibson

Gospel of
Basilides

2nd century

?

no surviving fragments

none

Gospel
of the Egyptians

first half of
2nd century

Egypt?

fragments quoted by Clement,
Hippolytus, and Epiphanius

[Schneemelcher]
v. 1 pp. 209-212
[Elliot]
pp. 17-19
M.
R. James [Early Christian Writings]

Gospel of
the Hebrews

middle of
2nd century

Egypt

fragments quoted by Cyril of Jerusalem, Clement,
Origen,
and Jerome

[Schneemelcher]
v. 1 pp. 177-178
[Elliot]
pp. 9-10
M.R.
James [Early Christian Writings]
Philipp
Vielhauer and George Ogg [Early Christian Writings]
Burton
H. Throckmorton and Willis Barnstone [Early Christian Writings]

Gospel
of Matthias

first half of
2nd century

Alexandria

fragments quoted by Clement

[Schneemelcher]
v. 1 p. 383
[Elliot]
p. 20

Traditions
of Matthias

"

"

"

"

Preaching of
Peter

100-120

Egypt

fragments quoted by Clement and Origen

[Schneemelcher]
v. 2 pp. 37-40
[Elliot]
pp. 21-24
M.
R. James [Early Christian Writings]

Acts of
Andrew

150-200

?

Liber de miraculis by Gregory
P. Utrech 1
(Coptic)
Armenian Martyrdom
5 Greek recensions of final
part
Extracts handed down in Greek

[Schneemelcher]
v. 2 pp. 118-151
[Elliot]
pp. 245-302
M.
R. James [Early Christian Writings]
M. R.
James [Noncanonical Homepage]
?? [New
Advent]
??
[Christian Classics Ethereal Library]

Acts of
Paul

185-195

Asia Minor

P. of the Hamburg ... (Greek)
P. No. 1 in Heidelberg
(Coptic)
Acta Pauli et Theclae
Corr. between
Corinthians and Paul
Martyrium Pauli

[Schneemelcher]
v. 2 pp. 237-265
[Elliot]
pp. 364-379
M.
R. James [Early Christian Writings]
M. R.
James [Noncanonical Homepage]
?? [New
Advent]
??
[Christian Classics Ethereal Library]
?? [The
Seraphim Files]

Acts of
John

2nd half of
2nd century

East Syria

large stock of Greek texts
Greek P. Oxyrhynchus 850

[Schneemelcher]
v. 2 pp. 172-212
[Elliot]
pp. 310-347
M.
R. James [Early Christian Writings]
M. R.
James [Noncanonical Homepage]
?? [New
Advent]
??
[Christian Classics Ethereal Library]

Epistle
to the Laodiceans

2nd-4th century

?

codex Fuldensis (Latin, 546 CE)
+ 100 other Vulgate
manuscripts

[Schneemelcher]
v. 2 pp. 44-45
[Elliot]
p. 546
M. R.
James [Noncanonical Homepage]
?? [The
Seraphim Files]

I
Clement

95-96

Rome

codex Alexandrinus (Greek)
codex
Hierosolymitanus (Greek)
11th c. MS (Latin)
12th c. NT MS
(Syriac)
4th c. MS (Coptic)
7th c. MS (Coptic)

[LHH]
pp. 28-64
[Richardson]
pp. 43-73
J.
B. Lightfoot [Early Christian Writings]
Charles
Hoole [Early Christian Writings]
Roberts-Donaldson
[Early Christian Writings]
J.
B. Lightfoot [Noncanonical Homepage]
?? [New
Advent]
??
[Christian Classics Ethereal Library]
?? [The
Seraphim Files]

Epistle of
Barnabas

70-135

Alexandria

codex
Sinaiticus, 4th. c. (Greek)
codex
Hierosolymitanus (Greek)
9 late related MSS (Greek)
MS of
unknown date (Latin)

[LHH]
pp. 162-188
J.
B. Lightfoot [Early Christian Writings]
Charles
Hoole [Early Christian Writings]
Kirsopp
Lake [Early Christian Writings]
Roberts-Donaldson
[Early Christian Writings]
J.
B. Lightfoot [Noncanonical Homepage]
?? [New
Advent]
??
[Christian Classics Ethereal Library]
?? [The
Seraphim Files]

Didache

70-200

?

codex
Hierosolymitanus (Greek)

[LHH]
pp. 149-158
[Richardson]
pp. 171-179
J.
B. Lightfoot [Early Christian Writings]
Roberts-Donaldson
[Early Christian Writings]
Charles
H. Hoole [Early Christian Writings]
Kirsopp
Lake [Early Christian Writings]
Ivan Lewis
[Ivan Lewis]
Ben
H. Swett [bswett.com]
J.
B. Lightfoot [Noncanonical Homepage]
?? [New
Advent]
??
[Christian Classics Ethereal Library]
J. B.
Lightfoot [The Seraphim Files]
Charles
H. Hoole [The Orthodox Christian Foundation]

Shepherd of
Hermas

90-175

Rome?

codex
Sinaiticus, 4th. c. (Greek)
codex Athous, 14-15th c.
(Greek)
P. Michigan 129, 3rd c. (Greek)
Vulgate translation
(Latin)
MS (Ethiopic)

[LHH]
pp. 194-290
Roberts-Donaldson
[Early Christian Writings]
J.
B. Lightfoot [Early Christian Writings]
J.
B. Lightfoot [Noncanonical Homepage]
?? [New
Advent]
F.
Crombie [Christian Classics Ethereal Library]
?? [The
Seraphim Files]

Apocalypse
of Peter

~135

Egypt

Akhmîm Fragment (Greek)
MS discovered in 1910 (Ethiopic)

[Schneemelcher]
v. 2 pp. 625-635
[Elliot]
pp. 600-612
M.
R. James [Early Christian Writings]
Roberts-Donaldson
[Early Christian Writings]
M. R.
James [Noncanonical Homepage]
?? [New
Advent]
??
[Christian Classics Ethereal Library]

Four of the above writings -- I Clement, Epistle of Barnabas, Didache,
Shepherd of Hermas -- are part of the collection called the Apostolic
Fathers. English translations of them can be found in other books in
addition to [LHH]. The other
Apostolic Fathers are not in this survey because they were not mentioned
in a scriptural context by any of the Early Christian
Authorities.

Two of the above writings - Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Truth - are
part of the Nag Hammadi library. English translations of all these
writings can be found in [Robinson].
The other Nag Hammadi writings are not in this survey because they were
not mentioned in a scriptural context by any of the Early Christian
Authorities.

There are other apocryphal New Testament writings that are not in the
scope of this survey because they were not mentioned by name by an early
authority, or because any allusions or quotations were not sufficiently
explicit, in my opinion. A writing almost included is The Third Epistle
of Paul to the Corinthians. It was considered scripture by the Syrian
Fathers - Aphraat (~340 CE) and Ephraem (d. 373 CE). Curiously, it forms
part of the composite Acts of Paul, but
neither writing was included in the Syrian Church's version of the Bible -
the Peshitta. Some
other examples are: The Protoevangelium of James, The Infancy
Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Nicodemus, The Acts of
Peter, The Letters of Christ and Abgar, The Apocalypse of
Paul, etc. For much longer lists see [Schneemelcher]
, [Elliot],
the Noncanonical
Homepage, and Early
Christian Writings.

Pages created by Glenn Davis, 1997-2004.
For additions,
corrections, and comments send e-mail to mailto:[email-masked]