The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations

617 Pages·2011·27.92 MB·English

by  Bart Ehrman

The Apocryphal Gospels
Texts and Translations
The Apocryphal Gospels
Texts and Translations
Bart D. Ehrman and Zlatko Pleše
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Apocryphal Gospels : texts and translations /
[compiled by] Bart D. Ehrman and Zlatko Pleše.
p.cm.
Coptic, Greek, or Latin, with English translation on facing pages.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-19-973210-4
I. Ehrman, Bart D. II. Pleše, Zlatko.
BS2850.A3A66 2011
229’.804—dc22 2011012770
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America on
acid-free paper
To Liz Clark
Colleague, Friend, and Scholar Extraordinaire
Preface

interest in the apocryphal writings of early Christianity has exploded in recent
years. Although there continue to be debates over just what the term
“apocrypha” (literally: “hidden writings”) means in this context, or what it ought
to mean, the term is most widely used to refer to books of roughly the same
genre as those that came to be included in the canon of the New Testament
(Gospels, Acts, Epistles, Apocalypses) but that were excluded. The majority of
these books are pseudonymous (as are some of those that were included).
The interest in this amorphous body of literature is evident in the widespread
use of collections of apocrypha, both among scholars and graduate students (e.g.,
W. Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha, and J. K. Elliott, Apocryphal
New Testament) and in the general public (e.g., B. Ehrman, Lost Scriptures).
Excellent translations can be found in other European languages besides English:
German (Scheemelcher’s original German edition, Neutestamentliche
Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung, 2 vols.), Dutch (A. F. J. Klijn, Apokriefen
van het Nieuwe Testament, 2 vols.), Spanish (A. de Santos Otero, Los Evangelios
apócrifos), Italian (M. Erbetta, Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento, 3 vols.), and
French (F. Bovon, P. Geoltrain, and J.-D. Kaestli, Écrits apocryphes chrßtiens, 2
vols.), for example. Most of these collections, however, provide translations only
(exception: de Santos Otero). Where is one to go for a collection of these texts in
the original languages? Regrettably, original text editions are sometimes difficult
to track down. This is not true in every instance, of course. The Coptic materials
discovered near Nag Hammadi, for example, are readily available in the handy
five-volume paperback edition by Brill of The Coptic Gnostic Library. Some
individual apocrypha outside of Nag Hammadi have also been published in
original language–English translation editions, such as R. Hock’s edition of The
Infancy Gospels of James and Thomas for the Scholars Bible, or W. Stroker’s
edition of all the assorted agrapha of Jesus, Extracanonical Sayings of Jesus.
Moreover, fragments of apocryphal Gospels have recently become available in
original language text editions (A. Bernhard, Other Early Christian Gospels; E.
Schlarb and D. Lührmann, Fragmente apokryph gewordener Evangelien).
Other apocryphal works have not fared as well, however. Where does one go
to find a Greek edition of the Gospel of Nicodemus? Or a Latin edition of the
Death of Pilate? Or a Coptic version of the Story of Joseph the Carpenter? Or
full English translations of any of these? Where does one turn to have Egerton
Papyrus 2, the Gospel of Mary, and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, in their
original languages, in one handy volume? In some instances one must resort to
Constantine von Tischendorf ‘s volumes (e.g., Evangelia Apocrypha) from the
mid-nineteenth century—a remarkable accomplishment in its time, but
inadequate for the needs of scholars today. And, of course, many texts have been
uncovered since Tischendorf ‘s day, some of them relatively difficult to access.
What is even more remarkable is that there has never been, until now, a
collection of all the noncanonical Gospel materials from early Christianity in an
original language–facing page English translation edition. That is the need that
this volume seeks to redress. In it we have collected nearly all of the apocryphal
Gospels originally written in Greek, Latin, and Coptic (for exceptions, see later),
in the best editions now available, and provided them with fresh and readable
English translations.
Our decision concerning which Gospels to include was quite simple: we
wanted to include everything that a graduate student or scholar working on the
apocryphal Gospels would need or want access to, with one major proviso: since
the Nag Hammadi Library is readily available we have not included the Coptic
texts. But there is a proviso to this proviso: it is our sense that anyone who is
teaching or researching early Christian Gospels will surely want easy access to
the Gospels of Thomas and Mary, which are already included in the Coptic
Gnostic Library (although the Gospel of Mary was not discovered at Nag
Hammadi). We have felt compelled, then, to make exceptions in these two cases,
and to include these texts with fresh translations. We have also chosen not to
include the Coptic Gospel of the Savior, as we are awaiting a final critical
edition of the text currently under way.
Altogether we provide over forty Gospel texts in this collection. Some of
them, of course, are complete Gospels (such as the Gospel of Thomas), others
are surviving large fragments (the Gospel of Peter), others are only small
fragments (Egerton Papyrus 2), and others are known only from the quotations
of church fathers (the Gospel of the Ebionites). For each text we have provided a
brief introduction that deals with important historical, literary, and textual issues.
We have kept our apparatus sparse, intentionally, as we see this as a hand edition
for students and scholars. Nor have we created new critical editions of these
texts. Our model has been the Loeb Classical Library, not Die griechische
christlichen Schriftsteller. We have, however, included cross-references to other
early Christian literature (chiefly the New Testament) and provided notes on
particularly thorny textual or literary problems. Abbreviations follow The SBL
Handbook of Style, ed. Patrick Alexander et al.
This has been a joint project from the outset. One of us has taken
responsibility for the primary work in the translation and introduction of one or
another of these texts, but each of us has reviewed the translations and
introductions of the other.
We would like to extend our thanks to Robert Miller, editor extraordinaire at
Oxford University Press, for being willing to take on this project, one that will
not earn Oxford large quantities of money, but that will, we hope, earn it large
quantities of gratitude—from the editors/translators, if from no one else! Thanks
as well to our graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, Jared Anderson, for his generous assistance, especially in preparing the
work for publication. The authors would like to express their gratitude to two
scholarly institutions—Bart Ehrman to the National Humanities Center,
Research Triangle Park, NC, and Zlatko Pleše to the Lichtenberg-Kolleg at the
Georg-August Universität Göttingen—for their generous support and invaluable
help in the last stages of manuscript preparation.
We have dedicated this book to Elizabeth A. Clark, the John Carlisle Kilgo
Professor of Religion at Duke University, who as a colleague, friend, and scholar
is a beacon to us all.
Contents

Infancy Gospels
1 The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
2 The Infancy Gospel of Thomas C: An Alternative Beginning
3 The Proto-Gospel of James: The Birth of Mary, the Revelation of James
4 The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
5 The Latin Infancy Gospels (J Composition): Arundel Form
6 The History of Joseph the Carpenter
Ministry Gospels
7 The Jewish-Christian Gospels
The Gospel of the Nazareans
The Gospel of the Ebionites
The Gospel according to the Hebrews
8 The Gospel according to the Egyptians
9 A Gospel Harmony: The Diatessaron?
10 Papyrus Berlin 11710
11 Papyrus Cairo 10735
12 Papyrus Egerton 2 (and Papyrus Köln 255)
13 Papyrus Merton 51
14 Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 210
15 Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840
16 Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1224
17 Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2949
18 Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 4009
19 Papyrus Vindobonensis G 2325 (The Fayûm Fragment)
Sayings Gospels and Agrapha
20 The Gospel according to Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas: The Greek Fragments
21 Agrapha