THE BIBLE

"Lost Books" of the New Testament

After the apostles, the church fathers dispersed their own writings to the young church. Unfortunately, false writings crept in as well. Some are interesting reads, while others are outright heresy.

Day One: The Pseudepigrapha
The pseudepigrapha are the books that attempt to imitate Scripture but that were written under false names. The term pseudepigrapha comes from the Greek pseudo, meaning "false," and epigraphein, meaning "to inscribe," thus, "to write falsely"...
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See Also: "The Lost Gospel"

Day Two: The Apocalypse of Peter
The Apocalypse of Peter, also known as the Revelation of Peter, is a piece of literature believed to have been written around the middle of the second century A.D. The Apocalypse of Peter should not be confused with the Gnostic Gospel of Peter, a completely different work...
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See Also: "Is The Divine Comedy / Dante's Inferno a biblically accurate description of heaven and hell?"

Day Three: The Shepherd of Hermas
"The Shepherd of Hermas" was a religious literary work of the second and third centuries and was considered a valuable book by many early Christians...
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See Also: "What is Christian ethics?"

Day Four: The Gospel of Peter
The Gospel of Peter is a pseudepigraphal work that purports to be written by Peter but in fact relates a false view of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Peter contains 60 verses and deals with events surrounding the end of Jesus' life...
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See Also: "What are Docetism, Apollinarianism, Ebionism, and Eutychianism?"

Day Five: The Gospel of Barnabas
It's important that we not confuse the gospel of Barnabas (ca. A.D. 1500) with the Epistle of Barnabas (ca. A.D. 70–90)...The gospel of Barnabas, however, has absolutely no apostolic support and was written 1400 years after the time of Barnabas...
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See Also: "The Gospel of Barnabas"

Image Credit: "The Akhmim Fragment of the Apocryphal Gospel of St. Peter"; Public Domain