Hidden Sayings of Jesus: Words Attributed to Jesus Outside the Four Gospels (Paperback)

by William G. Morrice (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This is a unique collection of the sayings attributed to Jesus that are not recorded in the four biblical gospels. They have been specially translated for this book from Coptic, Greek, and Arabic sources, drawing particularly on the Gospel of Thomas in the Nag Hammadi Library.

Hidden Sayings of Jesus forms a reliable guide to the range of sayings, introducing them for a broad, non-specialist audience and setting them in their historical and scriptural background with authoritative quotations from scholars. Each saying is given in full, graded as to its possible authenticity and accompanied by a short commentary. William Morrice examines what they can tell us about Jesus and his early followers and why they have aroused so much interest today.

About the Author
The Reverend Dr. William Morrice taught in the Department of Theology at Durham University from 1975 to 1995.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565632893
• ISBN-13: 978-1565632899
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,274,864 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent study of alleged quotes..., September 12, 1999

By A Customer

These are my thoughts that I wrote" This work is a highly interesting one, in that the author carefully brings alleged sayings under a microscope. Focusing mainly on the 'Gospel of Thomas' which is not even a gospel, but a group of sayings, he examines each one carefully, bringing previous scholarship to bear. Since these are sayings and not a narrative, some of the sayings may have come from one of the four gospels, from eyewitnesses, from later writers, from an oral tradition, from the alleged "Q" or from opponents to the faith. Morrice informs us that the Gospel of Thomas may not even be of Gnostic origin. The original to this gospel may have come from Syria, and from a non-Gnostic Syriac Christian tradition having roots in Edessa. Along with 'Thomas' are other writings such as the Acts of Thomas, the Diatessaron, and maybe the Odes of Solomon. These all contain an extreme form of asceticism known as encratism and do not contain the usual Gnostic language and definitions. This discussion alone is worth the price of the book. Some of the Thomas sayings of Jesus are almost word for word renditions of well known 'four gospel' passages." CriticalReviews.com