These works, that are attributed to Jesus (Gospel), and are NOT included in The New Testament, contain writings that represent some of the same events, quotes, language and tone that are in the currently published New Testament, and they should not be ignored, but read and studied in any manner possible. This book makes that study possible. According to scholarly estimates, there were at least twenty gospels and many epistles that were removed from the biblical canon by various councils, such as The Council of Nicea, over a thousand years ago. Luckily, several that appeared to be missing have been found recently. The most important point is that the canon was edited for political and cultural reasons, to form a narrative that is different from actual events, and a full understanding of Christianity or CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY is not complete without a study of these additional works. The authors and councils that compiled and edited The New Testament texts got some of their information from earlier writings. Modern scholars call these earlier writings "sources", and have determined that there were probably three of them. These three lost sources may have been the first gospels. Their ancient names are unknown, so they are usually identified by modern names, specifically the Lost Q Source, the Pre- Markan Passion Narrative, and the Signs Gospel. Because no copies of any of them have been found, they are sometimes called hypothetical gospels. Other gospels have been discovered more directly, because actual physical remains have been found. Examples include The Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Mary, and the Gospel of Judas. All of these were discovered in modern times. These rediscovered gospels are named after Simon Peter, Mary Magdalene, and Judas Iscariot. The Gospel of Mary has recently been verified in both ink and type of papyrus. Ancient writers mentioned a number of other gospels which existed. These include but are not limited too: The Gospel of Matthias, The Gospel of Perfection, The Gospel of the Seventy, The Dialogue of the Savior, The Gospel of the Twelve, The Book of the Hebrews, The Gospel of the Nazarenes, The Gospel of Bartholomew, The Secret Gospel of Mark, and The Gospel of Eve. Other gospels may have also existed. In addition early church leaders intentionally destroyed some books in order to cover up embarrassing facts about the origins of Christianity. These texts are a must read for those who wish to know the whole story surrounding the "New Testament."
About the Author: Original texts from the period of The New Testament including translated fragments. Many scholars that specialize in the hermeneutics of the New Testament agree that due to numerous flawed interpretations of The New Testament, that was written in Konoi Greek and Aramaic, were mistranslated. Christianity is the religion about Jesus rather than the religion of Jesus. However, scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the Biblical accounts of Jesus, and the only two events subject to "almost universal agreement" are that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. Christ's given name, commonly Romanized as Yeshua, was quite common in first-century Galilee. (Jesus comes from the transliteration of Yeshua into Greek and then English.) Christ would have also been known as Yeshua Ben Joseph of Nazareth. Some of the arguments attributed to many scholars are that: 1.The gospels were written many decades or even a century after Jesus' estimated year of death, by individuals who likely never met Jesus, and then were edited or forged over the centuries by unknown scribes with their own agendas. One notable discrepancy is Luke 1:5 dates the birth of Jesus in the "days of Herod, King of Judea," who died in 4 B.C., in response to a census called when "Quirinius was governor of Syria." As historians know, "the one and only census conducted while Quirinius was legate in Syria affected only Judaea, not Galilee, and took place in A.D. 6-7, a good ten years after the death of Herod the Great." 2.There are no surviving historic records about Jesus of Nazareth from any non-Jewish author until the second century and Jesus left no writings or other archaeological evidence. In these days where people kill for their beliefs, it should be the highest priority to better understand our common humanity and spirituality. The purpose of this series of books on Christianity is to embrace our common humanity and spirituality and eliminate the divisiveness that exists within the ongoing religious struggles. This book is designed to be a state of the art, superb academic reference work and provide an overview of the topic at the most affordable price possible. The accuracy and knowledge represents the most current knowledge on the topic, based on the date of publication.