Wikipedia / List of gospels
Wikipedia / List of gospels
Gospels (Greek: , lit. 'good news'; Latin: ) are the written accounts of Jesus Christ's life and teachings. The term originally referred to the central message of Christianity –the “good news”– before coming to denote the books in which the message was recorded. The term "gospel" refers to a genre of ancient biography found in early Christian literature. The mainstream biblical canon is the New Testament, which includes four canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Other gospels exist but are not included in modern mainstream biblical canons. These additional gospels are referred to as New Testament apocrypha or non-canonical gospels. Some of these texts have had an impact on Christian traditions, including various forms of iconography, by providing alternative narratives and perspectives on the life and teachings of Jesus. This then influenced artistic representations and theological interpretations.
Canonical gospels
Gospel of Mark (including longer ending - see also the Freer Logion)
1st Century - 7th Century AD
Gnostic Gospels
Gospel of Thomas – a gospel of phrases or sayings, also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas
Gospel of Basilides – composed in Egypt around 120–140 AD, thought to be a Gnostic gospel harmony of the canonical gospels
Gospel of Truth (Valentinian) – mid-2nd-century, departed from earlier Gnostic works by defending the physicality of Christ and his resurrection
Gospel of the Four Heavenly Realms – mid-2nd-century, thought to be a Gnostic cosmology, most likely in the form of a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples
Gospel of Mary – a 2nd-century Gnostic text
Gospel of Judas – 2nd-century, documents Gnostic teachings in the form of a dialogue between Jesus and Judas
Greek Gospel of the Egyptians – composed in the second quarter of the 2nd century
Gospel of Philip – a 3rd-century gospel of sayings
Gospel of the Twelve Apostles – a Syriac-language gospel titled the Gospel of the Twelve. This work is shorter than the regular gospels and seems to be different from the lost Gospel of the Twelve
Gospel of Perfection – 4th-century Ophite poem mentioned only once by a patristic source, Epiphanius, and referred to once in the 6th century Syriac Infancy Gospel
Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians – also called Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit
Jewish-Christian Gospels
Gospel of the Hebrews – consisting of seven citations by Epiphanius
Gospel of the Nazarenes – consisting of citations and marginal notes by Jerome and others
Gospel of the Ebionites – a fragmented gospel harmony of the Synoptic Gospels, modified to reflect the theology of the writer
Gospel of the Twelve – a lost gospel mentioned by Origen as part of a list of heretical works
Infancy Gospels
– Gospel of the Nativity of Mary
Latin Infancy Gospel – also known as the "J Composition"
Fragmentary preserved gospels
Fragmentary gospels are those preserved from primary sources.
Gospel of Eve – mentioned only once by Epiphanius around 400 AD, who preserves a single brief passage in quotation
Gospel of Mani – 3rd-century, attributed to the Persian Mani, the founder of Manichaeism
Gospel of the Saviour (also known as the Unknown Berlin Gospel) – a highly fragmentary 6th-century manuscript based on a late 2nd- or early 3rd-century original
Coptic Gospel of the Twelve – late 2nd-century Coptic language work. Although often equated with the Gospel of the Ebionites, it appears to be a retelling the Gospel of John in the pattern of the Synoptics
Gospel of Peter - believed to be an early 2nd-century work
Reconstructed Gospels
Reconstructed gospels are those preserved from secondary sources and commentaries.
Secret Gospel of Mark – legitimacy is debated, as the single source mentioning it was lost before it could be independently authenticated
Gospel of Matthias – a lost text from the New Testament apocrypha; content has been surmised from descriptions by church fathers
Gospel of Marcion – 2nd-century, closely related to the Gospel of Luke
Lost Gospels
Text known only by their mentions in other sources.
Gospel of Cerinthus – around 90–120 AD according to Epiphanius, this is a Jewish gospel identical to the Gospel of the Ebionites. According to the Hebrews, it was apparently a truncated version of the Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Apelles – mid to late 2nd-century, an edited version of Marcion's Gospel
Gospel of Valentinus
Gospel of the Encratites
Gospel of Andrew – mentioned by two 5th-century sources (Augustine and Pope Innocent I) who list it as apocryphal
Gospel of Bartholomew, Gospel of Hesychius, and Gospel of Lucius – mentioned by two 5th-century sources, Jerome and Gelasian Decree, that both list it as apocryphal
Gospel of Merinthus – mentioned only by Epiphanius. It is thought by most to be the Gospel of Cerinthus, with the confusion due to a scribal error
An unknown number of other Gnostic gospels not cited by name
Gospel of the Adversary of the Law and the Prophets
Memoirs of the Apostles – a lost narrative of the life of Jesus, mentioned by Justin Martyr. The passages quoted by Justin may have originated from a gospel harmony of the Synoptic Gospels composed by Justin or his school
Fragments of unknown/lost gospels
These are fragmentary texts whose origins are uncertain or unknown, preserved from primary sources.
Papyrus Egerton 2 – late 2nd-century manuscript of a possibly earlier original; contents parallel sections of the canonical gospels but differ textually. This manuscript also contains an incomplete miracle account, which has no equivalent in the canonical gospels
Fayyum Fragment – a fragment of about 100 Greek letters in 3rd-century script. The text seems to parallel Mark 14:26–31
Oxyrhynchus Papyri – mid-2nd-century fragments; related to and/or paraphrases Mark, Matthew, and Luke, but #840 contains a short vignette about Jesus and a Pharisee not found in any known gospel
Gospel of Jesus' Wife – a fragment based on the Gospel of Thomas, suspected as a modern forgery
Papyrus Berolinensis 1171 – Book of Enoch, 0–6th-century Greek fragment, possibly from an apocryphal gospel or amulet based on John
Papyrus Cairensis 10735 – 6th- or 7th-century Greek fragment, possibly from a lost gospel, may be a homily or commentary
Papyrus Merton 51 – fragment from an apocryphal gospel or a homily on Luke 6:7
Strasbourg Fragment – fragment of a lost gospel, likely related to Acts of John
Hypothesized text sources of canonical gospels
Q source – Q consists of material common to Matthew and Luke, but not found in Mark
M source – M consists of material unique to Matthew
L source – L consists of material unique to Luke
Signs Gospel and Discourses Gospel – the narrative of the Seven Signs and the source of the discourse material, respectively, in John
Medieval gospels
Gospel of the Seventy – a lost 8th or 9th-century Manichean work
Gospel of Nicodemus – a post-10th-century Christian devotional work (or works) in many variants; the first section is highly dependent upon the 5th century Acts of Pilate
Gospel of the Secret Supper – a 12th-century Cathar scripture
Gospel of Barnabas – a 16th-century harmony of the canonical gospels with Islamic elements, probably of Spanish (Morisco) or Italian origin
Modern gospels
19th Century
Life and Morals of Jesus (1820)
The Book of Mormon (1830)
Great Gospel of John (1851–1864)
Oahspe: A New Bible (1882)
20th Century
Gospel of the Childhood of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to St. Peter (1904)
The Fifth Gospel (1908, Steiner)
Jehoshua the Nazir (1917)
Gospel of Josephus (1927)
The Mystical Life of Jesus (1929) – based heavily on The Aquarian Gospel, where entire chapters were plagiarized
Essene Gospel of Peace (1937; 1974)
The Urantia Book (1955)
The Poem of the Man-God (1956)
The Fifth Gospel (1956, Naber)
The Jesus Scroll (1972)
The Gospel Given at Ares (1974)
The Fifth Gospel (1993, Vandenberg), Novel
See also
Notes
Footnotes
References
Wilhelm Schneemelcher, R. M. Wilson. New Testament Apocrypha.
Wilhelm Schneemelcher, R. M. Wilson. New Testament Apocrypha: Gospels and Related Writings.
Charles B. Waite. History of the Christian Religion to the Year Two Hundred.
External links
The Fifth Gospel, five lectures given by Rudolf Steiner in 1913