This collection of freshly translated texts leads to a new appreciation of the richness and variety of the religious world within which Christianity emerged as a powerful new force. Bringing together for the first time under a single cover documents from Jewish, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Syrian, and little-known early Christian sources, the material is arranged to bring out as clearly as possible the ways in which early Christian worship of Jesus Christ as Savior and God both echoed contemporary worship of other savior gods and at the same time stood in sharp contrast to such worship. This revised and enlarged edition contains a new introduction on texts and traditions in late antiquity, a reworked translation of The Gospel of Peter, selections from Ovid's Metamorphoses, plus such documents as Papyrus Egerton 2, Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 840, and The Apocryphon of James. In addition, the table of contents has been expanded to allow easier access to the documents contained herein.
David L. Dungan is Professor of Religion at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. David R. Cartlidge is Professor of Religion at Maryville College, Maryville, Tennessee.
Preface to the Revised and Enlarged Edition Note on the Translations Introduction Part 1: The Christian Savior The Coptic Gospel of Thomas The Acts of the Holy Apostle Thomas Jesus after the Resurrection The Gospel of Philip The Gospel of Peter Fragment of an Uncanonical Gospel A Letter from Pilate to Claudius and The Trail of Pilate in Rome Jesus' Medical Correspondence with King Abgar The Infancy Gospel of Thomas The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew The Birth of Jesus Fragments of an Unknown Gospel The Gospel of James The Apocryphon of James Part 2: Greek, Jewish, and Roman Parallels Illustrating the Milieu of the Gospels Prefaces The Sacred History of Asklepios Twh Prefaces from Arrian Isocrates Birth and Youth The Birth of Plato (1) The Birth of Plato (2) The Birth of Alexander the Great The Birth of Augustus The Birth and Childhood of Phthagoras The Birth of Herakles Teachings Aesop's Fables Rabbinic Parables Sayings of Thales, Aristippos, And Aristotle Sayings of Alexander and Others Epictetus Two Stories from Epictetus Miracles Asklepios Phthagoras Vespasian A Syrian Exorist Chanina ben Dosa A Jewish Boy Calms the Sea The Rabbis Reject Miracles The Murder of Julius Caesar The Wine Miracle of Dionysos Sacraments The Salvation of Lucius The Messianic Banquet at Qumran Apocalyptic Predictions 2 Esdras A Roman "Messianic" Prophecy Virgil The Footsteps of the Messiah Martyrdom Zeno Eleazar Rabbi Akiba Ascensions and Epiphanies Romulus The Dream of Scipio Apotheosis of Antinous Herakles Part 3: Greek and Jewish "Gospels" The Life of Apollonios of Tyana Poimandres The Life of Moses Alexander the False Prophet Ovid
