The Gospel of the Unknown Jesus: the Secret Teachings of Jesus from the Apocryphal and Gnostic Gospels
Richard J. Hooper (Editor)
During the fourth and fifth centuries of the Common Era - in an attempt to wipe out “heresy” - hundreds of early Christian texts were destroyed by order of the Roman emperor, Constantine, and the bishops of the Church of Rome. Thought to have been lost for all time, many of these “heretical” gospels, epistles, apocalypses, and apocryphons (hidden books) have been re-discovered during modern times.
In addition to the fabulous collection of manuscripts known as The Nag Hammadi Library, discovered in Egypt in 1945, other Gospels like The Gospel of Mary and The Gospel of Judas, have been discovered independently. Many other non-canonical texts have survived - in whole, or in part - as a result of being copied and passed down through the centuries. As a group, these texts are collectively known as the New Testament Apocrypha, or “hidden books” of the New Testament period. The Church deemed such texts valuable enough to save, but not worthy enough to be considered part of the official canon of the New Testament.
A third category of early Christian literature is collectively known as “Agrapha”. These are fragments from texts which are still lost to us, and they contain many isolated sayings attributed to Jesus. Some of these saying were discovered in places like Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, others come to us from the writings of the early Church fathers who sometimes quoted from “heretical” texts.
Now for the first time ever, the most profound and eloquent of Jesus’ lost teachings from more than fifty different sources have been brought together in a single volume to form a new “Gospel” - The Gospel of the Unknown Jesus. In mystical language reminiscent of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, this Gospel “harmony” brings a unique and timely message for all humanity. - From the Publisher |
