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THE OTHER GOSPELS

What was left out of the Bible? Elaine Pagels, author of The Gnostic Gospels, explains the importance of the material purposely left out of the Bible. Discovered in 1945 by an Arab peasant, more than 52 documents serve to raise awareness of the complexity of the contents of the Bible. The Gospel of Thomas implies that Jesus had a twin brother named Thomas. The Gospel of Philip criticizes the virgin birth and bodily resurrection as naive misunderstandings of the actual events. A text entitled the Testimony of Truth recounts the story of the Garden of Eden from the point of view of the serpent. These texts from the early Christian era (350-400 A.D.) are translations of earlier documents that some theologians have dated to around 50-100 A.D. But why were they hidden to be discovered much later in history? Pagels hypothesizes and interprets some of the findings in this site, an excerpt from her book, The Gnostic Gospels.

Sun, 23 Apr 2000 12:37:12 -0700

Submitted by: Stephanie Anagnoson