Why Freak out
…about
noncanonical gospels?
The popularity of Dan
Brown’s book
and movie The
Da Vincia Code along with
the recent news of the pending release of the text of the Gospel of Judas
purchased by National
Geographic has made some Christians freak out as if something is coming
that will tear down their faith. Phooey. This is not news to
Christians—there were all kinds of noncanonical gospels floating around
in the 
first five centuries of the Christian history.
Nobody is trying to hide these gospels from Christians and we have been able to
read them right here online for a long time—nobody seemed to care.
Most are either “the rest of the story” inventions or Gnostic tales that better fit
their aberrant theology than the traditional canonical gospels. Big deal. If you’ve never read these
noncanonical books now is the time to catch up—most students in Freshman
New Testament Survey read some in connection with understanding the need for
the canon. So here’s some summer reading to catch you up if you’ve
forgotten what you read as a freshman that warm Fall day years ago.
To read how Jesus got his ear grabbed by a teacher for laughing you only have to read the first few verses of the Gospel of Thomas. To read the story of how Jesus (while still an infant in his cradle) spoke to his mother announcing he was the Logos, son of God you’d find it at the beginning of the Arabic Gospel of The Infancy.
To get a story of how Mary, mother of Jesus was in the temple before she visited her cousin read the Gospel of James, or Protevangelium. Or to read more on Mary’s life being brought up in the temple check out the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary. Even some of these gospels have detractors in other gospels—in the preface to the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew the above gospel is rejected as apocryphal and “contrary to the faith” and considers it likely that some of the stories are pure inventions by the writer Seleucus. Pseudo-Matthew then goes on with 42 chapters telling its own story of Mary and her life.
You can’t read the first part of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene because it is lost but you can read the last part to hear how Mary reports on Jesus’ teaching (and how a strong-headed Peter opposed her).
In the Gospel of Nicodemus we read another account of the death of Jesus (also called the Acts of Pilate—part I) and an elaborate account of the descent into Hell (Part II). The Gospel of Bartholomew also tells Jesus’ “evangelistic” descent into hell, the annunciation and various stories of the devil.
You can read an anti-Jewish
gospel casting doubt on the bodily sufferings of Jesus in the Gospel
of Peter which was much better suited to the Gnostic teaching that the body
is evil and thus Jesus could not have had a “real” body. If you want to read about the “secret
saying of Jesus to Thomas (Didymos)
you can find them in the Gospel
of Thomas.
Or you could read the Gospel of Philip which Dan Brown would love for it tells how Jesus used often to kiss Mary Magdalene on the mouth thus offending the disciples.
Reading the Gospel of the Lord by Marcion wouldn’t tell you much you don’t already know from the four canonical gospels—indeed it might be the sort of “Gospel” you might write if you were washed up on an island and had only your memory from which to recreate some of the gospel stories.
You can’t read all of it until it is found but you can read a letter by Clement of Alexandria quoting the Secret Gospel of Mark.
There is no conspiracy to
hide these noncanonical gospels—they are widely available to any
Christians, indeed
along with their 13 Noncanonical
Gospels.
No need to freak out. The media hype around the DaVinci Code movie and the surfacing of the Gospel of Judas creates a “teachable moment” for the church in how we got our canon.