Apocryphicity
A Blog Devoted to the Study of Christian Apocrypha
Gordon Lyn Watley (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) has started a blog called Sibylline Leaves, which concerns “the Jewish & Christian Sibylline Oracles & related literature.”
Last week Stephen Carlson of Hypotyposeis and other bloggers mentioned an article from the BYU (Brigham Young University) web site about new technology that could aid in reading some of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (“Mysteries of Ancient Egyptian Papyri Revealed,” Feb. 14). It appears now that the article was either a case of an overzealous (and confused) reporter or an intentional attempt to mislead readers. The article has been removed from the web site but here is the excerpt that appeared on Carlson’s blog:
Three BYU professors have uncovered mysteries in ancient Egyptian writings aided by new technology that allows people to see inscriptions invisible to the naked eye.
The professors Roger Macfarlane, Stephen Bay and Thomas Wayment, have been working on deciphering these writings on papyrus found in an Egyptian dump where an ancient city known as Oxyrhynchus previously existed. The papyri are now housed at the University of Oxford in England and studied by various scholars around the globe.
The technology developed by BYU called multispectral imaging, can penetrate through dirt, stains and other material on the papyri, making it possible to expose obscured lettering.
. . .
Specific material in these texts include an unidentified Christian apocryphal Gospel, a new ending to the Gospel of Mark, a different version of two verses in the book of Philemon, and a missing section in Luke 22:43-44. In the King James Version, these verses in Luke talk about Christ shedding blood in the Garden of Gethsemane.
When I first read the …
While viewing the contents of a manuscript listed in a catalogue I came across a fragmentary text which appears to discuss the funeral of Jesus. The text begins: "…he was greatly afraid. He said to Joseph: 'I give you, Joseph, the body of Jesus.'" It ends with: "…of the misery of those who do not wish to do good to those faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ…".
Does anyone recognize this text?
Bart Ehrman and Darrell L. Bock (author of The Missing Gospels) are interviewed on The Things That Matter Most (based in Dallas) about the Gospel of Judas. For a recent on-line review of Bock’s book see Mike Aquilina’s The Way of the Fathers Blog.
Jim Davila at Palaeojudaica has a few posts (HERE and HERE) on the new thriller The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori (read a review HERE). The book features a battle between a group of chosen ones, the lamed vovniks, mentioned in the Talmud and a rival group called the Gnoseos. Comparisons to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code are inevitable but there have been plenty of decent biblical or medieval thrillers that are worthy of mention. Ian Caldwell and Diustin Thomason’s The Rule of Four and Lev Grossman’s Codex are both highly readable literary thrillers dealing with efforts to thwart evil efforts to hide important medieval manuscripts. There are numerous Jesus novels that feature apocryphal traditions—far too many to mention.
Another early biblical thriller is the now-infamous The Mystery of Mar Saba written by in James H. Hunter 1940 which some claim inspired Morton Smith to “forge” Secret Mark. For a discussion of the book in connection with the gospel see HERE. Novelist Jeffrey Archer will add to the CA-related fiction next month with his The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot. You can read about it HERE, but here’s a quick publisher’s summary:
…The Gospel According to Judas, by Benjamin Iscariot sheds new light on the the mystery of Judas—including his motives for the betrayal and what happened to him after the crucifixion—by retelling the story of Jesus through the eyes of Judas, using the canonical
In the course of research for an essay on the past 20 years of scholarship on the CA I was led to reading several recent books which critique both the primary texts and the scholars who work on them. Such books include Darrell Bock’s The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities, Ben Witherington’s The Gospel Code: Novel claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Da Vinci, and Philip Jenkins’ Hidden Gospels: How the Search for Jesus Lost Its Way. These books are best described as Christian apologetic. Their aim is to redress the harm they perceive is being done to Christianity as a result of such evils as The DaVinci Code, the Jesus Seminar, Bart Ehrman and other “pseudo-scholarship.” Certainly some material from these books can be useful (particularly Jenkins’ treatment of 19th century apocrypha discoveries, forgeries and the sensationalism that attended them), but the majority of the time the authors’ apologetic interests interfere with their arguments, leading them to make misleading, even erroneous, comments about the texts and CA scholars. Witherington goes so far as to demonize his adversaries in stating, “these scholars, though bright and sincere, are not merely wrong; they are misled. They are oblivious to the fact that they are being led down this path by the powers of darkness” (The Gospel Code, p. 174).
It is in the context of exploring this anti-CA apologetic that I read Craig Evans’ Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels. …
Scholars of Ethiopic Apocrypha may be interested in an article from the SBL Forum by Steve Delamarter (George Fox Evangelical Seminary) titled “The SGD Digital Collection: Previously Unknown and Uncatalogued Ethiopian Manuscripts in North America.” Several apocryphal texts are mentioned in the article.
I have made some changes to the Infancy Gospel of Thomas section of my web site. When I set up the site about six months ago I intended to make available new translations of various versions of the text. I have been slow to do so as the work on these translations has been progressing hand-in-hand with the revisions I am completing on the published version of my Ph. D. thesis. Much of the text-critical work on the book has been completed, so I will be adding new texts to the site within the coming days.
Today I added a new translation of the Syriac manuscripts, the Georgian text, and an English translation of the Ethiopic version graciously provided by Paul-Hubert Poirier. I have also added links to Ron Hock’s translation of the text and a few links to other sites hosting information on the gospel.
More to come…
Prof. April DeConick of Rice University in Houston (and author of Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas) recently launched her blog The Forbidden Gospels. Already she has discussed her views on the Gospel of Judas (adding to the growing number of voices that declare that Judas has been mischaracterized by previous scholars of this text) and the origins of the Gospel of Thomas.
I recently picked up the book Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels by Craig Evans (Acadia Divinity College scholar and participant at last year’s Ottawa Apocrypha Workshop). The book is intended as a response to the controversial scholarship that claims, among other things, that certain apocryphal Christian literature has value for recovering the Historical Jesus. I have been reading many such “responses” lately from such as Ben Witherington III and Darrell L. Bock (both of whom have contributed opening blurbs to the book applauding Evans’ work). Though I don’t have much personally invested in Historical Jesus scholarship, I do take issue with much of what these authors have to say about the Christian Apocrypha. I hope to post something further on this in a few days (perhaps once I finish Evans’ book). For now, read this review from the Two Tack’s Thoughts blog.
Broadwayworld.com reports that an Off-Broadway play called The Busy World is Hushed is moving to Los Angeles. In the course of the article we discover that the play involves some intrigue over a “long-lost gospel.” From the synopsis:
With wisdom, humor and insight, The Busy World is Hushed examines the contradictions we find in our faith, our families and ourselves. Hannah, a widowed Episcopal minister, is hoping to translate a long-lost gospel when she is challenged by both her scholarly assistant and her wayward gay son. But when family secrets are revealed, only the intercession of a stranger can help Hannah find peace.
What’s next? A novel tying Leonardo Da Vinci to the Gnostic Gospels? Nah, no-one would go for that.
Scripta de Divinis is a new blog by Tim Brookins, an M. Div. student and Latin teacher from North Carolina, devoted in part to the Christian Apocrypha.