The Apocryphal Gospels Texts and Translations

621 Pages·2011·2.177 MB·English

by  Bart D. Ehrman, Zlatko Pleše

A G
The pocryphal ospels
Texts and Translations
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A G
The pocryphal ospels
Texts and Translations
Bart D. Ehrman and Zlatko Pleše
3
3
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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
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Preface
I
nterest in the apocryphal writings of early Christianity has exploded in recent
years. Although there continue to be debates over just what the term “apoc-
rypha” (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 (Gos-
pels, 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). Ex-
cellent translations can be found in other European languages besides English:
German (Scheemelcher’s original German edition, Neutestamentliche Apokry-
phen in deutscher Übersetzung, 2 vols.), Dutch (A. F. J. Klijn, Apokriefen van het
Nieuwe Testament, 2 vols.), Spanish (A. de Santos Otero, Los Evangelios apócri-
fos), Italian (M. Erbetta, Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento, 3 vols.), and French
(F. Bovon, P. Geoltrain, and J.-D. Kaestli, Écrits apocryphes chrétiens, 2 vols.), for
example. Most of these collections, however, provide translations only (excep-
tion: de Santos Otero). Where is one to go for a collection of these texts in the
original languages? Regrettably, original text editions are sometimes diffi cult
to track down. This is not true in every instance, of course. The Coptic materi-
als discovered near Nag Hammadi, for example, are readily available in the
handy fi ve-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. Stro-
ker’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 fi nd a Greek edition of the Gospel of Nicodemus? Or a Latin edition of the
vii
viii Preface
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 inade-
quate for the needs of scholars today. And, of course, many texts have been
uncovered since Tischendorf ’s day, some of them relatively diffi cult to access.
What is even more remarkable is that there has never been, until now, a col-
lection 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 Ham-
madi). 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 fi nal 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 frag-
ments (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 is-
sues. 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 (chiefl y 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 responsibil-
ity for the primary work in the translation and introduction of one or another
Preface ix
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 invalu-
able 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.