The Apocryphal Jesus: Legends of the Early Church [Abridged] [Hardcover]

J. K. Elliott (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0198263856 | ISBN-13: 978-0198263852 | Edition: Abridged

Jesus' birth in a cave, his childhood, escapades, his secret sayings, and his descent to the underworld; the torments in Hell; Saint Paul baptizing a lion; the death of Pontius Pilate and Saint Peter being crucified upside down. These are among the fascinating stories found in this present selection. They all come from early Christian legends which did not get into the Bible, yet have had a profound influence on art, literature, and theology from the second century through the Middle Ages and even modern times. Some of the stories included here, especially those involoving the Virgin Mary, have affected matters of doctrine; others have influenced the church's teaching on the after life - whilst from the apocryphal Acts there are some of the best examples of accounts of the lives of Christianity's earliest saints. In this book Dr Elliott provides introductions to each of the most important and significant of these remarkable and often bizarre apocryphal texts.;This book is intended for undergraduate theology students (1st-3rd years) of New Testament studies, early church history and/or patristics, Christian doctrine - all supplementary reading. Essential reading for students of the

Editorial Reviews

Review

`Wonderfully readable and ... untendentious, accurate, and often literarily clever ... an important, reliable, attractive, and enduring contribution to the study of early Christian literature ' Novum Testamentum

`Attractively produced, with a short general introduction and comments on each of the groups of extracts, this offers a splendid insight into some of the stories which Christians in the second and third centuries read. ' The Expository Times

`Provides a splendid way of giving students as well as the general reader access to texts that are so important for an appreciation of the breadth of religious practice and imagination in the early Christian period ... Highly recommended for scholarly as well as general libraries. ' Religious Studies Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Edited by J. K. Elliott, University of Leeds.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Abridged edition (January 4, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198263856
• ISBN-13: 978-0198263852
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,698,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Boring, April 23, 2004

By 

Jason (Morenci, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Apocryphal Jesus: Legends of the Early Church (Paperback)

While some of the stories do tend to be moderately entertaining, this book consists mainly of nice safe stories that are often simply speculation on (and expansion of) stories found in the canonized New Testament. Even the Gospel of Thomas is reduced down to sayings that can pretty much be found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The author/editor goes to lengths to avoid anything Gnostic or otherwise "heretical" and always warns the reader if something that comes close to that category will be mentioned. Basically it is just clean and friendly reading for the cautiously rebellious Christian. No worries of burning in hell for reading this one. In fact, you might as well just read the New Testament again.
The one slightly redeeming quality, which was likely not intended, is that it allows the reader to see where the roots of much anti-Semitism and persecution of all non-Christian thought has it's origin. More than a few of the stories harp on how evil Jews are or how stupid Pagans are.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Colourful and entertaining, February 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Apocryphal Jesus: Legends of the Early Church (Hardcover)

The Apocryphal Jesus is a wonderful and colourful collection of stories gleaned around the early Church. I found much that I hadn't come across before. If it were only for this it would be worth buying, but it is more. Elliott has done a masterful job in clearly presenting the stories against their contemporary settings. However, after reading the wonderful and revelatory account of "The Autobiography of Jesus of Nazareth and the Missing Years" by Richard G. Patton I now view most 'authenticated' offerings around the man we know as Jesus with a degree of skepticism. Elliott's "Apocryphal Jesus" is a colorful delight but is up against the wonderful and profound offering by Richard G. Patton.