List of gospels

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The canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John can be found in most Christian Bibles

Gospels (Greek: εὐαγγέλιον; Latin: evangelium) are written records detailing the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, each told by a different author, who either directly have lived and witnessed Christ's works or have been educated enough to scribe it down around that time. Template:Sfn The term originally referred to the Christian message that was preached, but it later came to refer to the books in which the message was written. Template:Sfn

Gospels are a genre of ancient biography in early Christian literature. The gospels are considered as one of the oldest forms of preserved historical evidence of the history and way of people in Judea, Jerusalem. The New Testament includes four canonical gospels, (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) but there are many gospels that not included in the biblical canon. These additional gospels are referred to as either New Testament apocrypha or pseudepigrapha. Some of these texts have impacted Christian traditions, including many forms of iconography.

Canonical gospels

• Synoptic gospels
  • Gospel of Matthew
  • Gospel of Mark
    • Longer ending of Mark (see also the Freer Logion)
  • Gospel of Luke
• Gospel of John

Hypothesized sources of the synoptic gospels

• Q source – Q is a material common to Matthew and Luke, but not found in Mark
• M source – M is a material unique to Matthew
• L source – L is a material unique to Luke

Hypothesized sources of the Gospel of John

• Signs Gospel – narrative of the Seven Signs
• Discourses Gospel – source of the discourse material

Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha

Closely related to the Canonical Gospels

• Gospel of Marcion – 2nd century, closely related to the Gospel of Luke with modifications to suit Marcionism

Gnostic gospels

• Gospel of Thomas – also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas, and is a gospel of non-canonical sayings
• Gospel of Basilides – composed in Egypt around 120-140 AD, thought to be a Gnostic gospel harmony of the canonical gospels
• Gospel of Truth (Valentinian) – mid-2nd century, departed from earlier Gnostic works by admitting and defending the physicality of Christ and his resurrection
• Gospel of the Four Heavenly Realms – mid-2nd century, thought to be a Gnostic cosmology, most likely in the form of a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples
• Gospel of Mary – 2nd century Gnostic text.
• Gospel of Judas – 2nd century, documents Gnostic teachings in the form of a dialogue between Jesus and Judas
• Greek Gospel of the Egyptians – composed second quarter of the 2nd century
• Gospel of Philip – 3rd-century non-canonical sayings gospel
• Gospel of the Twelve Apostles – a Syriac language gospel titled the Gospel of the Twelve, this work is shorter than the regular gospels and seems to be different from the lost Gospel of the Twelve
• Gospel of Perfection – 4th century, an Ophite poem that is only mentioned once by a single patristic source, Epiphanius, and is referred to once in the 6th century Syriac Infancy Gospel
• Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians – also called Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit

Jewish-Christian gospels

• Gospel of the Hebrews – consisting of seven citations by Epiphanius, GE-1 to GE-7
• Gospel of the Nazarenes – consisting of citations and marginal notes by Jerome and others (GN-1 to GN-36)
• Gospel of the Ebionites – a fragmented gospel harmony of the Synoptic Gospels, modified to reflect the theology of the writer
• Gospel of the Twelve – a lost gospel mentioned by Origen as part of a list of heretical works

Infancy gospels

• Armenian Infancy Gospel
• Protoevangelium of James
• (Gospel of the Nativity of Mary)
• Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
• History of Joseph the Carpenter
• Infancy Gospel of Thomas
• Latin Infancy Gospel (also known as the "J Composition")
• Syriac Infancy Gospel

Other gospels

• Gospel of the Lots of Mary (Coptic collection of 37 oracles; around 500 AD)

Partially preserved gospels

• Gospel of Peter

Fragmentary preserved gospels

Fragmentary gospels are those preserved from primary sources.

• Gospel of Eve – mentioned only once by Epiphanius around 400 AD, who preserves a single brief passage in quotation
• Gospel of Mani – 3rd century – attributed to the Persian Mani, the founder of Manichaeism
• Gospel of the Savior (also known as the Unknown Berlin gospel) – highly fragmentary 6th century manuscript based on a late 2nd or early 3rd century original, a dialogue rather than a narrative, heavily Gnostic in character in that salvation is dependent upon possessing secret knowledge
• Coptic Gospel of the Twelve – late 2nd century Coptic language work – although often equated with the Gospel of the Ebionites, it appears to be an attempt at retelling the Gospel of John in the pattern of the Synoptics; it quotes extensively from the Gospel of John

Reconstructed gospels

Reconstructed gospels are those preserved from secondary sources and commentaries.

• Secret Gospel of Mark – legitimacy is a subject of debate, as the single source mentioning it is considered by many to be a modern forgery, and was lost before it could be independently authenticated
• Gospel of Matthias – a lost text from the New Testament apocrypha. The content has been surmised from descriptions in works by church fathers

Lost gospels

• Gospel of Cerinthus – around 90-120 AD according to Epiphanius, this is a Jewish gospel identical to the Gospel of the Ebionites, and apparently a truncated version of the Gospel of Matthew, according to the Hebrews
• Gospel of Apelles – mid to late 2nd century, a further edited version of Marcion's edited version of Luke
• Gospel of ValentinusTemplate:Efn
• Gospel of the EncratitesTemplate:Efn
• Gospel of Andrew – mentioned by only two 5th century sources (Augustine and Pope Innocent I) who list it as apocryphal.Template:Efn
• Gospel of Bartholomew – mentioned by only two 5th century sources, Jerome and Gelasian Decree, that both list it as apocryphalTemplate:Efn
• Gospel of Hesychius – mentioned only by Jerome and the Gelasian Decree, both of which list it as apocryphalTemplate:Efn
• Gospel of Lucius – mentioned only by Jerome and the Gelasian Decree, which list it as apocryphal
• Gospel of MerinthusTemplate:Efn – mentioned only by Epiphanius; thought by most to be the Gospel of Cerinthus, with the confusion due to a scribal error
• An unknown number of other Gnostic gospels not cited by nameTemplate:Efn
• Gospel of the Adversary of the Law and the Prophets
• Memoirs of the Apostles – a lost narrative of the life of Jesus, mentioned by Justin Martyr; the passages quoted by Justin may have originated from a gospel harmony of the Synoptic Gospels composed by Justin or his school

Fragments of possibly unknown or lost (or existing) gospels

Fragmentary gospels are those preserved from primary sources.

• Papyrus Egerton 2 – late 2nd century manuscript of a possibly earlier original; contents parallel John 5:39–47, 10:31–39; Matthew 1:40–45, 8:1–4, 22:15–22; Mark 1:40–45, 12:13–17; and Luke 5:12–16, 17:11–14, 20:20–26, but differ textually; it also contains an incomplete miracle account which has no equivalent in the canonical Gospels.
• Fayyum Fragment – a fragment of about 100 Greek letters in 3rd century script; the text seems to parallel Mark 14:26–31
• Oxyrhynchus Papyri – fragments #1, 654, and 655 appear to be fragments of Thomas; #210 is related to Matthew 7:17–19 and Luke 6:43–44 but not identical to them; #840 contains a short vignette about Jesus and a Pharisee not found in any known gospel, the source text is probably mid-2nd century; #1224 consists of paraphrases of Mark 2:17 and Luke 9:50
• Gospel of Jesus' Wife – modern forgery based on the Gospel of Thomas
• Papyrus Berolinensis 1171, Book of Enoch 0-6th century Greek fragment, possibly from an apocryphal gospel or amulet based on John
• Papyrus Cairensis 10735 – 6th or 7th century Greek fragment, possibly from a lost gospel, may be a homily or commentary
• Papyrus Merton 51 – fragment from apocryphal gospel or a homily on Luke 6:7
• Strasbourg Fragment – fragment of a lost gospel, likely related to Acts of John

Medieval gospels

• Gospel of the Seventy – a lost 8th or 9th century Manichean work
• Gospel of Nicodemus – a post-10th century Christian devotional work (or works) in many variants; the first section is highly dependent upon the 5th century Acts of Pilate
• Gospel of the Secret Supper – a 12th century Cathar scripture
• Gospel of Barnabas – a 16th century harmony of the four canonical gospels, probably of Spanish (Morisco) origin, or possibly Italian

Modern gospels

19th Century

• Life and Morals of Jesus (1820)
• The Book of Mormon (1830)
• Ur-Gospel of the Essenes (1848)Template:Efn
• Great Gospel of John (1851–1864)
• The Gospel of the Holy Twelve (1881)
• Oahspe: A New Bible (1882)
• The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ (1894)

20th Century

• Gospel of the Childhood of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to St. Peter (1904)Template:Efn
• Crucifixion of Jesus, by an Eyewitness (1907)Template:Efn
• The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ (1908)
• The Fifth Gospel (1908, Steiner)Template:Efn
• Jehoshua the Nazir (1917)Template:Efn
• Gospel of Josephus (1927)
• The Mystical Life of Jesus (1929)Template:Efn – based heavily on The Aquarian Gospel where entire chapters were plagiarized
• Essene Gospel of Peace (1937; 1974)
• The Urantia Book (1955)
• The Poem of the Man-God (1956)
• The Fifth Gospel (1956, Naber)Template:Efn
• The Jesus Scroll (1972)
• The Gospel Given at Ares (1974)
• Gospel of Jesus According to Gabriele Wittek (1977)Template:Efn
• The Fifth Gospel (1993, Vandenberg), Novel

See also

• Acts of the Apostles (genre)
• Agrapha
• Development of the New Testament canon
• Diatessaron
• Gnosticism
• The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
• The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
• The Gospel of Wealth
• The Gospel of Buddha
• Injil
• List of New Testament papyri
• The Missing Gospels
• New Testament epistles
• Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible
• Textual criticism
• Toledot Yeshu – medieval Jewish version of the story of Jesus

References

• New Testament Apocrypha, by Wilhelm Schneemelcher, R. M. Wilson.
• New Testament Apocrypha: Gospels and Related Writings, by Wilhelm Schneemelcher, R. M. Wilson.
• History of the Christian Religion to the Year Two Hundred, by Charles B. Waite.

External links

• The Fifth Gospel Five lectures given by Rudolf Steiner in 1913