mountainman

What are the NT related Christian texts described as
"Non Canonical" and how are they classified?

The major categories as I understand things
are usually something like these:

1) Acts
2) Apocryphal
3) Gospels
4) Other New Testament related literature
5) Other Noncanonical Early Christian Literature


Can anyone advise if this presentation of categories
has been improved upon, or perhaps disputed, for any
reasons?

The following are the detailed texts associated respectively
with the above five categories. Is anyone able to point out
an omission from these lists, or a mis-categorisation?


New Testament Acts

The Acts and Martyrdom of Andrew
The Acts and Martyrdom of Matthew
The Acts of Andrew and Matthew
The Acts of Andrew
The Acts of Barnabas
The Acts of John the Theologian
The Acts of John
The Acts of Paul and Thecla
The Acts of Paul
The Acts of Peter and Andrew
The Acts of Peter and Paul
The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles
The Acts of Peter
The Acts of Philip
The Acts of Thaddaeus
The Acts of Thomas
The Book of John Concerning the Death of Mary
The Book of Thomas the Contender
The Consummation of Thomas
The Death of Pilate
The Giving Up of Pontius Pilate
The History of Joseph the Carpenter
The Martyrdom of Matthew
The Mystery of the Cross-Excerpt from the Acts of John
The Passing of Mary
The Report of Pontius Pilate to Tiberius


New Testament Apocryphal / Apocalypse

The Apocalypse of Adam
The Apocalypse of James - First
The Apocalypse of James - Second
The Apocalypse of Paul - and fragments
The Apocalypse of Peter - and fragments
The Revelation of Esdras
The Revelation of John the Theologian
The Revelation of Moses
The Revelation of Paul
The Revelation of Peter
The Vision of Paul

New Testament Gospels

An Arabic Infancy Gospel
The Gospel of Bartholomew
The Gospel of James
The Gospel of Judas (added April 21, 2006)
The Gospel of Mary [Magdalene]
The Gospel of Nicodemus [Acts of Pilate]
The Gospel of Peter
The Gospel of Philip
The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
The Gospel of the Lord [by Marcion]
The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary
The Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas - A 5th Century Compilation

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas [Greek Text A]
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas [Greek Text B]
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas [Latin Text]

The Secret Gospel of Mark - Now recognized as a 20th century hoax
by Stephen C. Carlson in The Gospel Hoax:
Morton Smith's Invention of Secret Mark
(Waco: Baylor University Press, 2005).



Other New Testament related Non Canonical Writings

Community Rule
John the Evangelist
Nag Hammadi Codices *******
The Apocryphon of James
The Apocryphon of John
The Avenging of the Saviour
The Book of Thomas the Contender
The Correspondence of Jesus and Abgar
The Correspondence of Paul and Seneca
The Epistle of the Apostles
The Epistle to the Laodiceans
The Letter of Peter to Philip
The Letter of Pontius Pilate to the Roman Emperor
The Narrative of Joseph of Arimathaea
The Pistis Sophia - Excerpts
The Prayer of the Apostle Paul
The Report of Pilate to Caesar
The Report of Pilate to Tiberius
The Sophia of Jesus Christ
The Teachings of Addeus the Apostle
The Three Steles of Seth


Other Noncanonical Early Christian Literature

Fathers of the Christian Church (Eusebius)
The Works of Josephus
Philo of Alexandria


Best wishes,


Pete Brown

Toto

Josephus and Philo are not usually counted as "non-canonical" primarily because they have no pretense of being Christian. Eusebius is also not counted as non-canonical, I think because he is too late to be an early Christian.

Otherwise, all classification systems are a bit arbitrary. What is your point here?

mountainman

The above classifications and grouping were derived from
the "Wesley Center for Applied Theology" - as indicated above.

THEY obviously included the literature of Philo and Josephus
as being "related" to christianity --- in some historical sense --
and having stemmed from the first century for sure. (cf: there
is no similar certitude for the century with all christian literature,
whether canonical or non-canonical).

I am well aware that neither author is christian, and that neither
author (ignoring the TF) mentions Jesus, Christ, Christians, etc.


The "Wesley System" above would probably include Eusebius
on the basis of completeness of the field of studies (with
respect to christian theology). The Ante-Nicene "Fathers"
are not dealt with anywhere else, independent of Eusebius.

Thus in an overall system to classify "NT Christian Literature",
some place must be reserved for EUsebius.

Hence one of the reasons for this question.

NT "Scholarship" must understand it has a certain set of texts
to deal with, outside of the canonical texts bound within the
C-Bible. My questions are to try and determine how these
other texts -- all the non-canonical texts as a set -- relate
to the canonical texts.



What other classification systems are there?
Who is considered an "expert" in these NC texts?
What classification system is employed by the "scholars"?

Or is it just all over the shop without heed for anything?

Hundreds of years of scholarship are trying to tell us that
the canonical texts were written by unknown authors
in an unknown century in antiquity.

Well what I'd like to know is the relationship between this
set of unknown authors, and the set of unknown authors
who wrote the (sometimes corresponding) non-canonical
texts --- also in some unknown century.



To learn.


Best wishes,



Pete Brown

mountainman

NON-CANONICAL NT CHRISTIAN LITERATURE


Greetings All,


I have examined a half a dozen of the non-canonical
Acts of the Apostles, and each of them appear to
have a common non-christian theme.

Acts of Philip (syriac): Is Philip annoying or what?
TAOPATTA: The Acts of Peter and the (11, 12 or was it 13?) Apostles
The Acts of Andrew and Matthew: Casting lots for world dominion.
The Acts of Peter and Andrew - Aggressive wizards, camels, needles.
The Acts of Thomas: Judas disobeys Jesus; Jesus sells him into slavery
The Act of Peter: Peter forgets to heal his own daughter.

They are IMO all demonstrably
parodies against christianity.

Any strong political parody against christianity must by definition
have been written after christianity was made ths state religion.
Before that time (c.325 CE) it was not known enough to parody.
This is not about the invention of christianity necessarily.

This is about the changes which happened under Constantine.
We know he made christinaity the state religion.
And that he enforced the prohibition of pagan sacrifice.
This would have made momentous changes in tradition.

It appears that (at least the above) non-canonical literature
was generated in opposition to the implementation of christianity,
and likely, by the educated greeks which it displaced.
I thought this was a forum for textual critics
of new testament literature. I understand the
expertise is necessarily in the "Canonical" texts.


However, hey, I could be wrong.
I may have a warped sense of humor!
You may find nothing humorous "behind"
any of the above 6 texts.

Most academic authorities, following Eusebius,
date many of the non-canonical texts to the
2nd or 3rd century, while some are in fact
considered dated to the fourth.

Would anyone like to comment on this assertion ...

If the signature of parody is detected in a non-
canonical text, then it is likely the parodist
wrote after christianity became a state religion.



Best wishes,


Pete Brown

Gold Dragon

The website Early Christian Writings divides them into the following headings and subheadings. Some writings fall into multiple categories.

Apocrypha
-Gospels
-Gospel fragments
-Apostolic Acts
-Martyrologies

Gnostic Writings
-Dialogues with Jesus
-Apocalypses
-Acts
-More Nag Hammadi
-Quoted Authors
-More quoted Authors

Church Fathers
-Apostolic Fathers
-Apologists
-Quoted Authors
-More quoted Authors

Others
-Pagan and Jewish
-Jewish/Christian
-Hypothesized sources

Dirge

http://reluctant-messenger.com/didache.htm
The Didache: Teachings of the 12 Apostles

Nimes

This from pedants' corner. In the context that you write "apocryphal" doesn't seem right. I think it should be "apocalyptic".

Roger Pearse

Just try classifying the term 'gospel' based on all this stuff, much of it of no conceivably common genre. All the classifications are arbitrary.

mountainman

The fact that many texts fall into multiple categories
makes the analysis of this set of texts complex.

That's why I would have though that the preliminary
identification of consistent polemic or parody within
six of the "Acts" might have aroused more interest.

They are scattered in their estimated chronology all
over the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries.

The signature of non-christian polemic suggests
a fourth century origin, irrespective of any
compulsion to date them earlier.


Best wishes,


Pete Brown

mountainman

You may well be correct about this.
I am no expert on the classification of this material.

Here are some notes on "apocryphal" and "apocalyptic".

It seems that both serve as different ways to classify
the material. Does anyone know if these two categories
are mutually exclusive, for example?

From WIKI:

Apocrypha (from the Greek word ἀπόκρυφα, meaning "those having been hidden away"[1]) are texts of uncertain authenticity or writings where the authorship is questioned. In Judeo-Christian theology, the term apocrypha refers to any collection of scriptural texts that falls outside the canon. Given that different denominations have different ideas about what constitutes canonical scripture, there are several different versions of the apocrypha.

Apocalypse (Greek: Ἀποκάλυψις -translit. apoca'lipsis, meaning literally: the lifting of the veil), is a term applied to the disclosure to certain privileged persons of something hidden from the majority of humankind. Today the term is often used to mean "End of planet Earth", which may be a shortening of the phrase apokalupsis eschaton which literally means "revelation at the end of the aeon, or age".

Another provided definition is: Apocalypse apoc·a·lypse Pronunciation: \ə-ˈpä-kə-ˌlips\
Etymology: Middle English, revelation, Revelation, from Anglo-French apocalipse, from Late Latin apocalypsis, from Greek apokalypsis, from apokalyptein to uncover, from apo- + kalyptein to cover. Date:13th century.


1: a) one of the Jewish and Christian writings of B.C. 200 to A.D. 150 marked by pseudonymity, symbolic imagery, and the expectation of an imminent cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous to life in a messianic kingdom; b) capitalized : the Book of Revelation.
2: a) something viewed as a prophetic revelation; b) armageddon.
3: great disaster (an environmental apocalypse).


Best wishes,


Pete Brown