The New Testament Apocrypha
(Summary of a Lecture by Richard Bauckham on 5 May 1999)
[Richard Bauckham is a Professor of New Testament at the University of St. Andrews. He is a specialist in the Gospel of John; early christology; the Book of Revelation; theological interpretation of scripture; and noncanonical Jewish and Christian literature. He has published numerous books, including a recent collection of essays in the latter area: _The Fate of the Dead: Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses_ (Leiden: Brill, 1998).--JRD]
Terminology and definition
There are two traditional terms for this body of literature: the Apocryphal NT, the title of English collections (Hone 1820, James 1924, Elliott 1993; cf. Sparks' Apocryphal OT), and the NT Apocrypha, title of the German collections and their English translations (since the first edition of Hennecke, 1904).
There are several problems with this terminology:
(1) The term 'NT Apocrypha' might suggest a fixed collection of texts, like the OT apocrypha (= deutero-canonical works), whereas in fact we are dealing with a very open category, potentially inclusive of a very large number of works.
(2) Either term might suggest that the works in question were in some sense candidates for inclusion in the NT canon and at some point in the process of the formation of the NT canon were excluded. This would be very misleading. Only three of these works (Apocalypse of Peter, Acts of Paul, Gospel of the Hebrews) were ever listed among the 'disputed' books (antilegomena) which some treated as canonical (reading them as authoritative Scripture in Christian worship). Many which were written before and during the process of canonization are treated by later authors as 'rejected' (apocryphal) works, but for various reasons were complete non-starters, never seriously considered candidates for canonical status. Many more were written during and after the completion of the canon, not as potentially canonical works or as rivals to the canonical books, but as works functioning to supplement the canon.
(3) The term 'apocrypha,' which came to be used by the Fathers in the sense of 'spurious' or 'rejected' books, suggests literature that was rejected and suppressed in mainstream Christianity. This is true only of some of these works, to a greater or lesser degree, and differently in different periods. The Gnostic works were those first called 'apocrypha' and were vehemently rejected in mainstream Christianity from the second century. But many of the so-called NT apocrypha were not doctrinally unorthodox. Some of these were officially rejected but remained popular in practice. Such works continued to be written by orthodox Chtristians into the early middle ages, and some of the NT apocrypha were extremely popular throughout the middle ages, not suppressed, but not treated as authoritative in the canonical sense (e.g. the infancy Gospels and the apocalypses that revealed the fate of the dead in the afterlife). So the status of these works varies enormously, from those used only by heretics to those used widely by the orthodox, and with varying kinds of authority or usefulness for those who read them.
(4) If the terms 'Apocryphal NT' and 'NT Apocrypha' should not be understood as implying candidature for and exclusion from the NT canon, what kind of relationship to the NT is envisaged? By classifying the apocryphal literature as Gospels, Acts, Epistles, Apocalypses, the collections suggest that these are works in the same genres as those of the NT texts, and that we are dealing with the same kind of literature that we find in the NT. In fact, this is the case with only quite a small minority of the texts called NT Apocrypha. Most of the apocryphal Gospels are not comparable in literary genre with the canonical Gospels; the apocryphal Acts of Apostles resemble the canonical Acts in some ways, but also differ sufficiently to constitute a different literary genre; by contrast with the NT, there are very few apocryphal Epistles; and the apocryphal Apocalypses are mostly more like Jewish apocalypses than like the NT Apocalypse of John. Literary genre is not a satisfactory way of defining the way these texts relate to the NT. I suggest rather: the works in question are either attributed to or about NT characters.
(5) The terms 'Apocryphal NT' and 'NT Apocrypha' cannot, of course, cover works which are either attributed to or about *OT* characters. Christians did write such works (mostly apocalypses, but also narrative works), as well as editing Jewish works of this kind. Such works are included, if anywhere, in editions of the OT Pseudepigrapha. This is potentially misleading, because it suggests that the OT Pseudepigrapha are Jewish and the NT Apocrypha Christian. It is especially misleading if a collection of OT Pseudepigrapha takes (Charlesworth's OTP does) as a criterion of inclusion that a work must preserve Jewish traditions, even if in Christian redaction. This means that Christian OT Pseudepigrapha fall between the two stools, and that the examples that do occur, e.g., in Charlesworth's OTP are usually studied only for the sake of their possible Jewish substratum or contents. (Moreover, if we are looking for early Jewish traditions in Christian works, I think we are as likely to find them in the Apocalypse of Peter or the Apocalypse of Paul, as we are in the Ascension of Isaiah or the Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah.) Most scholarship on the OT Pseudepigrapha has been interested in them as Jewish literature, so that those which are originally Christian or the Christian redaction of others have been seriously neglected. Responding to these problems the CCSA includes both 'NT Apocrypha' and 'Christian OT Pseudepigrapha,' refusing artificial distinctions between them, and prefers the term 'Christian apocrypha' for the whole corpus of literature.
The content of the rest of the lecture will be found (in more detail than as given) in the following three published articles by Richard Bauckham:
- "Gospels (Apocryphal)," in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, ed. J. B. Green, S. McKnight and I. H. Marshall (Downers Grove, Illinois/Leicester: InterVarsity Press, 1992) 286-291.
- "Apocryphal Pauline Literature," in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. G. F. Hawthorne and R. P. Martin (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1993) 35-37.
- "Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal Literature," in Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, ed. R. P. Martin and P. H. Davids (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1997) 68-73.
Select List of Christian Apocrypha, classified by genre
All early and some especially important later works are listed
* = work listed twice in different categoriesGospels
Gospel of Thomas
Gospel of Peter
Papyrus Fragments of Unknown Gospels
Jewish Christian Gospels (Gospels of Hebrews, Nazarenes, Ebionites)
Gospel of the Egyptians
Secret Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate and Descent to Hades)Birth and Infancy Gospels
Protevangelium of James
Infancy Gospel of Thomas
History of Joseph
Infancy Gospel of Matthew
Arabic Infancy Gospel
Latin Infancy GospelPost-Resurrection Gospels (Dialogues and Revelations)
Apocalypse of Peter*
Epistle of the Apostles*
Questions of Bartholomew
Testament of our Lord
Testament of our Lord in Galilee
Apocryphon of James*
Book of Thomas
Sophia of Jesus Christ
Dialogue of the Saviour
First Apocalypse of James
Coptic (Gnostic) Apocalypse of Peter*
Gospel of Mary
Letter of Peter to Philip (2nd part)*
Pistis Sophia
Books of JeuApostolic Acts
Acts of Andrew
Acts of John
Acts of Paul
Acts of Peter
Acts of Thomas
Acts of Peter and the Twelve ApostlesApostolic Epistles
Epistle of the Apostles*
Apocryphon of James*
3 Corinthians (part of Acts of Paul)
Laodiceans
Letter of Peter to Philip (1st part)*
Correspondence of Paul and Seneca
Epistle of TitusOther Apostolic Literature
Preaching of Peter
Prayer of the Apostle Paul
Second Apocalypse of James
Pseudo-Clementine literature
Accounts of the Dormition/Assumption of the VirginApocalyptic and Prophetic Literature
Apocalypse of Peter*
Ascension of Isaiah
Apocalypse of Thomas
Apocalypse of Paul
Coptic (Gnostic) Apocalypse of Paul
Coptic (Gnostic) Apocalypse of Peter*
(Christian) Sibylline Oracles
5 Ezra
6 Ezra
Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah
Apocalypses of the Virgin Mary
Greek Apocalypse of Ezra
Apocalypse of Sedrach
Latin Vision of Ezra
Questions of Ezra
Apocalypses of Daniel
Seventh Vision of EnochWisdom Literature
Teachings of Sylvanus
Hymnic Literature
Odes of Solomon
(c) 1999
Reproduction beyond fair use only on permission of the author.