Читать книгу The Gospels of Jesus Christ. Collected Early and Later Gospels, Including the History of the Bible онлайн
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Introduction
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Our image of Jesus Christ is mostly based upon the tradition which can be found in the New Testament. The four canonical gospels share the same basic outline of the life of Jesus. Preached for centuries by priests, monks, theologians, etc. biblical image of Jesus is deeply incised into the collective memory through out the Christian world and beyond.
Bearing this in mind, it should be noted however, that most of the testimonies regarding Jesus' life and work written by his contemporaries or persons who lived immediately after his death, never made it to the New Testament. These texts compose the so called New Testament apocrypha. Those are writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives.
The New Testament apocrypha offer a somewhat different image of Jesus from the one that is familiar to the most of us. Most of these texts are not opposed to the canonical gospels but they provide additional information regarding Jesus' life. Therefore, the best way to observe the New Testament apocrypha is to observe them as a missing puzzle. Jointly, with the canonical gospels they will help us fully to perceive Jesus and to get closer to his human nature.