New Testament apocrypha

The category of New Testament apocrypha reminds the modern reader of the wide range of responses that were engendered in interpreting the message of Jesus of Nazareth during the first several centuries of the Common Era, as mainstream Christianity emerged. The major character, which the works now termed apocryphal have in common, is that obedient Christians were warned away from these works, many of which were vigorously suppressed and survive only as fragments. In the process of determining the Biblical canon, a large number of works were excluded from the New Testament. These New Testament Apocrypha are generally not accepted by Christians, though the Ethiopian Orthodox Church recognizes Jubilees, Book of Enoch, the Shepherd of Hermas, 1 Clement, Acts of Paul, and some uniquely Ethiopian and Syriac books.

Related Topics:
Jesus of Nazareth - Common Era - Christianity - Apocrypha - Biblical canon - New Testament - Ethiopian Orthodox Church - Jubilees - Book of Enoch - Shepherd of Hermas - 1 Clement - Acts of Paul - Ethiopian - Syriac

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The ordinary stand of mainstream Christians in regard to the books deemed apocryphal was succinctly summed up by Robert M. Grant, claiming to speak not as a theologian but as a historian, in the introduction to A Historical Introduction to the New Testament (1963): Aside from the twenty-seven books in the canon, Grant asserted, "No other literature has anything of value to say about Christian origins and the earliest Christian movement." http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1116&C=1220.

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Books which are not objectively known to have existed in antiquity, such as the mediaeval Gospel of Barnabas, and the Book of Mormon, are usually not considered part of the Apocrypha.

Related Topics:
Gospel of Barnabas - Book of Mormon

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