I. Bibliographies
II. Guides to Abbreviations
III. Repertories, Websites, and Journals
IV. Surveys and Collections of Essays
V. Collections of Texts and Translations; Concordances
VI. Studies
- Comprehensive
- Rabbinic Legends
- Biblical Folklore
- Biblical Figures Outside the Bible
- Genesis Apocrypha and Folklore
- Cain and Abel
- Seth
- Noah
- Tower of Babel
- Lives of Prophets and Acts of Apostles
- Life of Christ
- Harrrowing of Hell
- Mary
VII. Apocrypha in the Middle Ages
VIII. Iconography
Note: This is essentially a reference bibliography intended to facilitate access to the subject. It does not as rule list editions of, or secondary literature on, individual apocryphal texts, but rather the bibliographies, repertories, handbooks, surveys, and other tools that will lead one to the primary texts and the scholarship. Only major collective editions and translations covering apocrypha generally or major sub-genres are cited here, with a particular focus on the Latin tradition. Some general and representative studies of apocrypha and apocryphal themes in other traditions, including Western European vernaculars, are listed, but for medieval vernacular translations or adaptations of particular apocryphal texts one must consult the standard bibliographies and repertories of each vernacular literature.
Secondary literature on issues relating to canonicity, apocryphicity, and Fälschung generally, as well as on methodological and terminological issues relating to the definitions of “apocrypha” and “pseudepigrapha,” is generally not covered here.
Conventionally, the term “apocrypha” (“secret writings”) has been used to designate non-canonical narrative supplements to or expansions of the Bible (whether Old or New Testament) by Christian authors, and “pseudepigrapha” (“pseudonymous writings”) has been used to designate non-canonical narrative supplements to or expansions of the Hebrew Bible by Jewish authors (whether pseudonymous or not). The Jewish or Christian origins of some “pseudepigrapha” are, however, uncertain and debated.
The categories “Old Testament” and “New Testament” are used here because much of the scholarship on apocrypha and pseudepigrapha has been organized according to the distinction between the canons of the Christian New Testament and the Jewish “Old Testament,” the latter understood either as the Hebrew Bible (properly so called), or as the Hebrew Bible re-represented as the “Old Testament” in Christian tradition and Christian Bibles. The term “Early Christian apocrypha” is, however, generally now preferred to “New Testament apocrypha.”
Many resources listed in the separate bibliography on The Bible and Its Interpretation will also be relevant, but will not be repeated here unless they deal specifically or extensively with apocryphal literature.
I. Bibliographies
Comprehensive:
Bulletin de l’AELAC (Association pour l’Étude de la Littérature Apocryphe Chrétienne). Each print Bulletin includes a bibliography, “Travaux signalés par les membres et correspondants de l’AELAC.” These bibliographies are not included in the online pdfs, but the cumulative AELAC bibliographies are included in the database La Bibliographie Biblique Informatisée de Lausanne (BiBIL). For instructions on how to search BIBL for relevant bibliography, see the AELAC Bibliography page.
Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, ed. Christine Helmer et al. (Leiden, 2009- ). 17 print volumes to date (Aaron to Nazoreans); the online version has many additional articles from later parts of the alphabet. Covers major apocryphal writings; each entry includes a bibliography.
Dictionnaire encyclopédique de la Bible, ed. P.-M. Bogaert et al., 3rd ed. (Turnhout, 2000). . In the online version (which includes updates) see the bibliographies for individual entries under the headings “Apocryphes de l’A.T.” and “Apocryphes du N.T.”
David A. deSilva, “Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha,” Oxford Bibliographies (Biblical Studies).
John W. Marshall, “Pseudepigraphy, Early Christian,” Oxford Bibliographies (Biblical Studies).
ATLA Religion Index. Indexes “journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion, with coverage from 1949 and retrospective indexing for several journal issues as far back as the nineteenth century.”
Index Religiosus. “[B]egins from the basis of two existing bibliographies: the bibliography of the Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique and the Elenchus Bibliographicus from the journal Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses. … The Index Religiosus covers the full range of disciplines in Theology and Canon Law: History of Theology, History of Religions, Old and New Testaments, Fundamental and Dogmatic Theeology, Sacramentology and Liturgy, Moral and Pastoral Theology, and Canon Law. All aspects of Church History are also widely covered: Institutions; Orders; Congregations; Influential Figures; Hagiography; Political, Social and Economic History; Archaeology; Art History; Music; Architecture; Relations with Islam and Judaism; and more …”
Index to the Study of Religions. “[T]he online version of the Brill journal Science of Religion. The English language abstracts published in the Index to the Study of Religions are drawn from a wide range of journals in various languages and reflect an array of complementary disciplines.”
Catherine Murphy, Classical Apocalypticism. Bibliography. Covers Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism from 300 BCE to 600 CE.
Old Testament/Jewish:
Merhav (National Library of Israel database). Results in RAMBI: The Index of Articles on Jewish Studies for “Apocrypha. Criticism, interpretation, etc.”
Orion Dead Sea Scrolls Bibliography
A. Lehnhardt, Bibliographie zu den jüdischen Schriften aus hellenistisch-römischer Zeit (Gütersloh, 1999).
Lorenzo DiTommaso, A Bibliography of Pseudepigrapha Research, 1850-1999, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series 39 (London, 2001).
James R. Davila, OT Pseudepigraph Classified Bibliographies
James H. Charlesworth, The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research, with a Supplement (Chico CA, 1981).
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (1976- ). From 1998 see the annual Book List, section 9. Apocrypha and Post-Biblical Studies, which continues the Book List of the Society for Old Testament Study (London, 1946-). See the cumulative volumes, Eleven Years of Bible Bibliography: The Book Lists of the Society for Old Testament Study 1946-56, ed. H. H. Rowley (Indian Hills CO, 1957); A Decade of Bible Bibliography, ed. G. W. Anderson (Oxford, 1967); Bible Bibliography 1967-1973, ed. P. R. Ackroyd (Oxford, 1974).
New Testament/Christian:
James H. Charlesworth, The New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha: A Guide to Publications, with Excurses on Apocalypses (Metuchen NJ, 1987).
Rémi Gounelle, “Christian Apocryphal Literature: A Bibliography,” in The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Latin Christianity: Proceedings of the First International Summer School on Christian Apocryphal Literature (ISCAL), Strasbourg, 24-27 June 2012 (Turnhout, 2014), pp. 127-36.
Tony Burke, “Christian Apocrypha,” Oxford Bibliographies
William H. Shepherd, “Early Christian Apocrypha: A Bibliographic Essay,” Theological Librarianship 3 (2010), 40-47.
James K. Elliott, “Apocryphal Gospels,” Oxford Bibliographies
Tony Burke, “Apocryphal Acts,” Oxford Bibliographies
Nag Hammadi Bibliography Online
Serial:
Bibliographia Patristica: Internationale Patristische Bibliographie (Berlin, 1959- ). . Comprehensive coverage of the period 1956-90; ceased publication with vol. 33-35.
Medioevo Latino. See “Fortleben: Biblia Sacra: Apocrypha”; or search the title of a text in the Mirabile database.
Many other serial bibliographies listed in the separate bibliography on The Bible and Its Interpretation will be relevant here as well.
Some Individual Scholars:
M. R. James On the foundational scholarship of M. R. James on apocrypha, see Lorenzo DiTommaso, “Pseudepigrapha Notes II: 3. The Contribution of the Manuscript Catalogues of M. R. James,” Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 18.2 (2008), 83-160.
In academia.edu, entering “Apocrypha” in the Search field will bring up a pull-down menu of relevant topical fields.
II. Guides to Abbreviations
For standard abbreviations of the names of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal texts as well as of relevant scholarly journals and series, see:
Internationales Abkürzungsverzeichnis für Theologie und Grenzgebiete: Zeitschriften, Serien, Lexika, Quellenwerke mit bibliographischen Angaben = International Glossary of Abbreviations for Theology and Related Subjects: Periodicals, Series, Encyclopaedias, Sources with Bibliographical Notes, 3rd ed., ed. Siegfried M. Schwertner (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014).
III. Repertories, Websites, and Journals
Repertories:
Friedrich Stegmüller, Repertorium biblicum medii aevi, 11 vols. (Madrid, 1950- ). Vol. I lists apocryphal works; see also the Supplement volume VIII. Includes versions and translations in vernacular languages.
Jean-Claude Haelewyck, Clavis Apocryphorum Veteris Testamenti, Corpus Christianorum (Turnhout, 1998). Includes versions and translations in vernacular languages.
Maurice Geerard, Clavis Apocryphorum Novi Testamenti, Corpus Christianorum (Turnhout, 1992). Includes versions and translations in vernacular languages.
Brepols has reprinted Haelewyck and Geerard in a single volume:
Jean-Claude Haelewyck and Maurice Geerard, Claves apocryphorum Veteris et Novi Testamenti, Corpus Christianorum Scholars Version (Turnhout, 2013).
Wayne Grudem, “Alphabetical Reference List for Old Testatment Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha,”
Websites:
Old Testament/Jewish:
The Orion Centre for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature
The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha
James R. Davila, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Web Page
4 Enoch: The Online Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism, and Christian and Islamic Origins
Typology of anonymous and pseudepigraphic Jewish literature in antiquity, c. 200 BCE to c. 700 CE
New Testament/Christian:
Association pour l’étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne (AELAC).
The North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature (NASSCAL).
Apocryphicity: A Gateway to the Study of Christian Apocrypha
Early Christian Apocrypha Research Guide (Emory University).
New Testament Apocrypha (Tony Burke). Includes an Annotated Bibliography for the New Testament Apocrypha and links to online books and dissertations relating to the Apocrypha.
Journals:
Apocrypha: Revue internationale des littétratures apocryphes (1990- ). Vol. 1 includes a general bibliography, pp. 13-67. The website includes a list of contents of vols. 1-8.
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha (1987- ).
Henoch. Historical and Textual Studies in Ancient and Medieval Judaism and Christianity (1979- ). Many issues deal with pseudepigrapha, especially 1 Enoch and Jubilees.
Relevant literature also appears in journals focused on biblical studies, Judaism, Christianity, theology, and medieval studies. See the list of journals in The SBL Handbook of Style for Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies.
IV. Surveys and Collections of Essays
Comprehensive:
The Embroidered Bible: Studies in Biblical Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in Honour of Michael E. Stone, ed. Lorenzo DiTommaso, Matthias Henze, and William Adler, Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha (Leiden, 2017).
Old Testament/Jewish:
The Literature of the Jewish People in the Period of the Second Temple and the Talmud, Section 2: Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period, vol. 2: Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Qumran Sectarian Writings, Philo, Josephus, ed. Michael E. Stone, Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum (Leiden, 1984).
Albert-Marie Denis et al., Introduction à la littérature religieuse judéo-hellénistique, 2 vols. (Turnhout, 2000).
G. W. E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah: A Historical and Literary Introduction, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis, 2005).
James H. Charlesworth, “A History of Pseudepigrapha Research: The Re-Emerging Importance of the Pseudepigrapha,” in Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt Part II: Principat,19.1 (Berlin, 1979), pp. 54-88.
James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament: Prolegomena for the Study of Christian Origins, Society for New Testament Studies Monography Series 54 (London, 1985), pp. 6-26.
Lorenzo DiTommaso, “Pseudepigrapha Research and Christian Origins after the OTP,” in The Pseudepigrapha and Christian Origins: Essays from the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, ed. Gerbern S. Oegema and James H. Charlesworth, Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies 4 (New York, 2008), pp. 30-50. Includes a survey of Pseudepigrapha research, 1985-2007.
J. Verheyden, “Les Pseudépigraphes d’Ancien Testament: Textes Latins,” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 71 (1995), 383-420.
Robert Kraft, “The Pseudepigrapha in Christianity,” in Tracing the Threads: Studies in the Vitality of Jewish Pseudepigrapha, ed. John C. Reeves (Atlanta GA, 1994), pp. 55-86.
James R. Davila, “Jewish Pseudepigrapha and Christian Apocrypha: (How) Can We Tell Them Apart?”
New Testament/Christian:
The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha, ed. Andrew Gregory and Christopher Tuckett (Oxford, 2015).
Tony Burke, Secret Scriptures: A New Introduction to the Christian Apocrypha (Grand Rapids MI, 2013).
Tony Burke, “Entering the Mainstream: Twenty-five Years of Research on the Christian Apocrypha,” in Rediscovering the Apocryphal Continent: New Perspectives on Early Christian and Late Antique Apocryphal Texts and Traditions, ed. Pierluigi Piovanelli and Tony Burke, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 349 (Tübingen, 2015), pp. 19-66.
James H. Charlesworth, “Research on the New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha,” in Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, Part II: Principat 25.5 (Berlin, 1988), pp. 3919-3968. Includes an extensive bibliography.
Rémi Gounelle, La littérature apocryphe chrétienne et les Ecritures juives, Publications de l’Institut Romand des Sciences Bibliques 7 (Prahins, 2015).
Christian Apocrypha. Receptions of the New Testament in Ancient Christian Apocrypha, ed. Jean-Michel Roessli and Tobias Nicklas, Novum Testamentum Patristicum 26 (Göttingen, 2014).
The Other Side: Apocryphal Perspectives on Ancient Christian “Orthodoxies”, ed. Candida R. Moss et al., Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus / Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments 117 (Göttingen, 2017).
Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier: The Christian Apocrypha in North American Perspectives: Proceedings from the 2013 York University Christian Apocrypha Symposium, ed. Tony Burke (Eugene OR, 2012).
Apocryphal Gospels:
Stephen Gero, “Apocryphal Gospels: A Survey of Textual and Literary Problems,” Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, Part II: Principat 25.5 (Berlin, 1988), pp. 3969-96.
Hans-Josef Klauck, Apocryphal Gospels: An Introduction, trans. Brian McNeil (London, 2003).
The Apocryphal Gospels with the Context of Early Christian Theology, ed. Jens Schröter, Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 260 (Leuven, 2013).
Non-Canonical Gospels, ed. Paul Foster (London, 2008).
For infancy gospels see below under “VI. Studies: Life of Christ.”
Apocryphal Acts:
Rémi Gounelle, “Actes apocryphes des apôtres et Actes des apôtres canoniques. État de la recherche et perspectives nouvelles,” Revue d’histoire et de philosophie religieuses 84 (2004), 3-30; 419-41.
Jean-Daniel Kaestli, “Les principales orientations de la recherche sur les Actes apocryphes des Apôtres,” in Les Actes apocryphes des Apôtres: Christianisme et monde païen, ed. François Bovon et al., Publications de la Faculté de Théologie de l’Université de Genève 4 (Geneva, 1981), pp. 49-67.
Hans-Josef Klauck, The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: An Introduction, trans. Brian McNeil (Waco TX, 2008).
François Bovon et al., Les Actes apocryphes des Apôtres: Christianisme et monde païen, Publications de la Faculté de Théologie de l’Université de Genève 4 (Paris, 1981).
The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, ed. François Bovon, Ann Graham Brock, and Christopher R. Matthews, Harvard Divinity School Studies (Cambridge, 1999).
The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Latin Christianity: Proceedings of the First International Summer School on Christian Apocryphal Literature, Strasbourg 2012, ed. Els Rose (Leiden, 2014).
François Bovon, “Canonical and Apocryphal Acts of Apostles,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 11 (2003), 165-94; repr. in Bovon, New Testatment and Christian Apocrypha, ed. Glenn E. Snyder (Grand Rapids MI, 2009), pp. 197-222.
Rosa Söder, Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und die romanhafte Literatur der Antike (Stuttgart, 1932).
Els Rose, Ritual Memory: The Apocryphal Acts and Liturgical Commemoration in the Early Medieval West (c. 500-1215), Mittellateinische Studien und Texte 40 (Leiden, 2009).
Els Rose, “Authorship and Authority in the Latin Acts of the Apostles,” in Felici curiositate: Studies in Latin Literature and Textual Criticism from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century in Honour of Rita Beyers, ed. Guy Guldentops, Christian Laes, and Gert Partoens (Turnhout, 2017), pp. 71-84.
Apocryphal Epistles:
Andrew Gregory, “Non-Canonical Epistles and Related Literature,” in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha, ed. Andrew Gregory and Christopher Tuckett (Oxford, 2015), pp. 90-114.
Richard Bauckham, “Pseudo-Apostolic Letters,” in The Jewish World around the New Testament (Grand Rapids MI, 2008), pp. 123-150.
Apocryphal Apocalypses:
Richard Bauckham, “Non-Canonical Apocalypses and Prophetic Works,” in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha, ed. Andrew Gregory and Christopher Tuckett (Oxford, 2015), pp. 115-37.
James H. Charlesworth, The New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha: A Guide to Publications, with Excurses on Apocalypses (Metuchen NJ, 1987).
The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature, ed. John J. Collins (Oxford, 2014).
Lorenzo DiTommaso, “Apocalypses and Apocalypticism in Antiquity,” Currents in Biblical Research 5 (2007), 235-86; 367-432. Part I; Part II.
Richard Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead: Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (Leiden, 1998).
Apocalypse: The Morphology of a Genre, ed. J. J. Collins, Semeia 14 (Missoula MT, 1979).
Apocalyptic Thought in Early Christianity, ed. Robert Daly (Grand Rapids MI, 2009).
Christopher Rowland, The Open Heaven: A Study of Apocalyptic in Judaism and Early Christianity (London, 1982).
The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity, ed. James C. VanderKam and William Adler, Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum III/4 (Minneapolis MN, 1996).
G. S. Oegema, Zwischen Hoffnung und Gericht. Untersuchungen zur Rezeption der Apokalyptik im frühen Christentum und Judentum, Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament 82 (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1999).
H. Weinel, “Die spätere christliche Apokalyptik,” in Ευχαριστηριον: Studien zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments. H. Gunkel zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. H. Schmidt, 2 vols. (Göttingen, 1923), 2:141-173.
Bernard McGinn, Visions of the End: Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages (New York, 1979).
G. S. Oegema, Apokalypsen, Jüdische Schriften aus hellenistische-römischer Zeit 6 1/5 (Gütersloh, 2001).
Paul Julius Alexander, The Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition, ed. Dorothy DeF. Abrahamse (Berkeley CA, 1985).
Paul Julius Alexander, “The Diffusion of Byzantine Apocalypses in the Medieval West and the Beginnings of Joachimism,” in Prophecy and Millenarianism. Essays in Honour of Marjorie Reeves, ed. Ann Williams (Harkow, Essex, 1980), pp. 57–71.
Klaus Berger, Die griechische Daniel-Diegese: Eine altchristliche Apokalypse. Text, Übersetzung und Kommentar, Studia Postbiblica 27 (Leiden, 1976). Particularly valuable for its extensive comparanda from a wide range of apocryphal apocalypses.
Lenka Jiroušková, Die Visio Pauli. Wege und Wandlungen einer orientalischen Apokryphe im lateinischen Mittelalter unter Einschluß der alttschechischen und deutschsprachigen Textzeugen (Leiden 2006).
Signs of Judgment:
Klaus Berger, “Hellenistisch-heidnische Prodigien und die Vorzeichen in der jüdischen und christlichen Apokalyptik,” in Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 2/23,2 (Berlin, 1980), pp. 1470-1506.
H. Weinel, “Die spätere christliche Apokalyptik,” in Ευχαριστηριον: Studien zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments. H. Gunkel zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. H. Schmidt, 2 vols. (Göttingen, 1923), 2:141-173.
Michael E. Stone, Signs of the Judgement, Onomastica Sacra, and The Generations from Adam, University of Pennsylvania Armenian Texts and Studies 3 (Chico CA, 1981).
W. W. Heist, The Fifteen Signs before Doomsday (East Lansing, 1952).
Lost Apocrypha:
M. R. James, The Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament: Their Titles and Fragments (London, 1910).
The Lost Apocrypha of the New Testament Project, dir. Robert Kraft
Robert A. Kraft, “Reviving (and Refurbishing) the Lost Apocrypha of M. R. James,” in Things Revealed: Studies in Honor of Michael E. Stone, ed. Esther G. Chazon, David Satran, and Ruth Clements (Leiden, 2004), pp. 37-51.
V. Collections of Texts and Translations; Concordances
Comprehensive:
Corpus Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum
Apocryphes. Collection de poche de l’AELAC
Old Testament/Jewish:
Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture, ed. Louis H. Feldman, James L. Kugel and Lawrence H. Schiffman (Lincoln NE, 2013).
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols., ed. James H. Charlesworth (New York, 1983-85). . Table of Contents.
Steve Delamarter, with a contribution by James. H. Charlesworth, A Scripture Index to Charlesworth’s The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Sheffield, 2002).
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, vol. 1, ed. R. Bauckham, J. R. Davila, and A. Panayatov (Grand Rapids MI, 2013).
H. F. D. Sparks, The Apocryphal Old Testament (Oxford, 1984).
R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1913). Vol.1; Vol. 2.
Albert-Marie Denis with Yvonne Janssens, Concordance grecque des Pseudépigraphes d’Ancien Testament (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1987).
Albert-Marie Denis, Concordance latine des pseudépigraphes d’Ancien Testament. Concordance, Corpus des textes, Indices, Corpus Christianorum, Thesaurus Patrum Latinorum, Supplementum (Turnhout, 1993).
Wilfried Lechner-Schmidt, Wortindex der lateinisch erhaltenen Pseudepigraphen zum Alten Testament (Tübingen, 1990).
New Testament/Christian:
Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung (AcA), I: Evangelien und Verwandtes, 7th ed., ed. Christoph Markschies and Jens Schröter with Andreas Heiser, 2 vols. (Tübingen, 2012). Table of Contents. New edition in progress; for an earlier edition translated into English in the following item.
Edgar Hennecke and Wilhelm Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha, trans. R. McL. Wilson, revised ed., 2 vols. (Louisville KY, 1991).
Contents:
Vol. 1:
General Introduction / Wilhelm Schneemelcher
1. The concepts: canon, testament, apocrypha
2. On the history of the New Testament canon
a) Canon catalogues
b) Testimonies of Church Fathers from the 3rd and 4th Centuries
3. New Testament apocrypha
4. The continuance and influence of the New Testament apocrypha
5. On the history of research into the apocryphal literature
A. Gospels: Non-Biblical Material About Jesus
Introduction / Wilhelm Schneemelcher
I. Isolated Sayings of the Lord / Otfried Hofius
II. Fragments of Unknown Gospels / Joachim Jeremias and Wilhelm Schneemelcher
Introduction
1. Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 840
2. Papyrus Egerton 2
3. Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1224
4. Papyrus Cairensis 10 735
5. The so-called Fayyum Fragment
6. The Strasbourg Coptic Papyrus
Appendix: the ‘secret Gospel’ of Mark
III. The Coptic Gospel of Thomas
IV. Jewish Christian Gospels
Introduction: The Testimonies of the Early Church regarding Jewish-Christian Gospels
1. The Gospel of the Nazareans
2. The Gospel of the Ebionites
3. The Gospel of the Hebrews
V. The Gospel of Philip
VI. The Gospel of the Egyptians
VII. The Gospel of Peter
VIII. Dialogues of the Redeemer
Introduction
1. The Book of Thomas
2. The Freer Logion
3. Epistula Apostolorum
4. The Apocryphon of James
5. The Dialogue of the Saviour
6. The First Apocalypse of James
7. The Second Apocalypse of James
8. The Letter of Peter to Philip
IX. Other Gnostic Gospels and Related Literature
Preliminary Note
A. Gospels under general titles
1. The Gospel of the Four Heavenly Regions
2. The Gospel of Perfection
3. The Gospel of Truth
B. Gospels under the name of an Old Testament figure
C. Gospels current, directly or indirectly, under the name of Jesus, and similar works
1. The Sophia Jesu Christi
2. The Dialogue of the Redeemer
3. The Pistis Sophia
4. The two Books of Jeu
D. Gospels attributed to the Apostles as a group
1. The Gospel of the Twelve (or: of the Twelve Apostles)
2. The (Kukean) Gospel of the Twelve
3. The Memoria Apostolorum
4. The (Manichean) Gospel of the Twelve Apostles
5. The Gospel of the Seventy
6. Other ‘Gospels of the Twelve Apostles’
E. Gospels under the name of an Apostle
1. The Gospel of Philip
2. The Coptic Gospel of Thomas
3. The Book of Thomas
4. The Gospel according to Matthias. The Traditions of Matthias
5. The Gospel of Judas
6. The Apocryphon of John
7. The Fragments of a Dialogue between John and Jesus
8. The Apocryphon of James (Apocryphon Jacobi)
9. The Gospel of Barthomew
F. Gospels under the names of holy women
1. The Questions of Mary
2. The Gospel of Mary
3. The ‘Genna Marias’
G. Gospels attributed to an arch-heretic
1. The Gospel of Cerinthus
2. The Gospel of Basilides
3. The Gospel of Marcion
4. The Gospel of Apelles
5. The Gospel of Bardesanes
6. The Gospel of Mani
Appendix
H. Gospels under the names of their users
X. Infancy Gospels
General Introduction
1. The Protevangelium of James
2. The Infancy Story of Thomas
3. Gnostic Legends
4. Later Infancy Gospels
a) Extracts from the Arabic Infancy Gospel
b) Extracts from the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
c) Extract from the Latin Infancy Gospel in the Arundel Manuscript
d) Extract from the Life of John according to Serapion
XI. The Relatives of Jesus
XII. The Work and Sufferings of Jesus
1. The Witness of Josephus (Testimonium Flavianum)
2. The Abgar Legend
3. The Gospel of Nicodemus. Acts of Pilate and Christ’s Descent into Hell
4. The Gospel of Bartholomew
Introduction
a) The Questions of Bartholomew
b) Coptic Bartholomew Texts
5. The Gospel of Gamaliel
Vol. 2:
B. Writings Relating to the Apostles
Introduction
XIII. The Picture of the Apostle in early Christian Tradition
1. The concept of the Apostle in primitive Christianity
2. The Apostles as bearers of the tradition and mediators of revelation
3. ‘Apostolic’ as a norm for orthodoxy
XIV. Apostolic Pseudepigrapha
Introduction
1. The Kerygma Petri
2. The Epistle to the Laodicians
3. The Correspondence Between Seneca and Paul
4. The Pseudo-Titus Epistle
XV. Second and Third-Century Acts of Apostles
Introduction
1. The Acts of Andrew
2. The Acts of John
Appendix
3. The Acts of Paul
4. The Acts of Peter
5. The Acts of Thomas
XVI. The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles
XVII. Later Acts of Apostles
XVIII. The Pseudo-Clementines
Introduction
1. Introductory Writings
2. The Clement Romance
3. Kerygma Petrou
C. Apocalypses and Related Subjects
Introduction
XIX. Apocalyptic in Early Christianity
Introduction
1. The Ascension of Isaiah
2. Apocalypse of Peter
XX. Apocalyptic Prophecy in the Early Church
Introduction
1. The Fifth and Sixth Books of Ezra
2. Christian Sibyllines
3. The Book of Elchasai
XXI. Later Apocalypses
Introduction
1. The Coptic Gnostic Apocalypse of Paul
2. The Coptic Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter
3. Apocalypse of Paul
4. Apocalypse of Thomas
J. K. Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation based on M. R. James (Oxford, 1993).
New Testament Apocrypha: More Non-canonical Scriptures, vol. 1, ed. Tony Burke and Brent Landau (Grand Rapids MI, 2016). Whoops! It looks like you forgot to specify your html tag. Table of Contents.
Écrits apocryphes chrétiens, 2 vols., Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, ed. François Bovon and Pierre Geoltrain (Ligugé, 1997). French translations with notes and bibliography. Table of Contents, vol. 1; Table of Contents, vol. 2. See the review essay by Tobias Nicklas, “Écrits apocryphes chrétiens: ein Sammelband als Spiegel eines weitreichendes Paradigmenwechsels in der Apokryphenforschung.” Vigiliae Christianae 61 (2007), 70-95.
Alexander Walker, trans., Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, and Revelations, Ante-Nicene Christian Library 16 (Edinburgh 1873).
The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations, ed. Bart D. Ehrman and Zlatko Pleše (Oxford, 2011). Table of Contents.
Gospel Fragments, ed. Tobias Nicklas, Michael J. Kruger, and Thomas J. Kraus, Oxford Early Christian Gospel Texts 2 (Oxford, 2009).
D. Lührmann, Fragmente apokryph gewordener Evangelien in griechischer und lateinischer Sprache, Marburger Theologische Studien 59 (Marburg, 2000).
William D. Stroker, Extracanonical Sayings of Jesus (Atlanta GA, 1989).
James H. Charlesworth and Craig A. Evans, “Jesus in the Agrapha and Apocryphal Gospels,” in The Historical Jesus: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, vol. 4: Lives of Jesus and Jesus Outside the Bible, ed. Craig A. Evans (London, 2004), pp. 210-62.
Apocryphal Acts:
Richard A. Lipsius, Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. Ein Beitrag zur altchristlichen Literaturgeschichte, 2 vols. in 3 (Braunschweig, 1883-87); with an Ergänzungsheft (Braunschweig, 1890). Vol. 1; Vol. 2.
Richard A. Lipsius and Maximilien Bonnet, Acta apostolorum apocrypha, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1898-1903). . Vol. 1; Vol. 2.
VI. Studies
Comprehensive:
James L. Kugel, Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible as it Was at the Start of the Common Era (Cambridge, MA, 1998).
The Reception and Interpretation of the Bible in Late Antiquity, ed. Lorenzo DiTommaso and Lucian Turcesu (Leiden, 2008).
M. E. Stone, Selected Studies in Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha with Special Reference to the Armenian Tradition (Leiden, 1991).
Biblical Folklore:
The Bible in Folklore Worldwide, I: A Handbook of Biblical Reception in Jewish, European Christian, and Islamic Folklores (Leiden, 2016), ed. Eric Ziolkowski.
Oskar Dähnhardt, Natursagen, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1907-12).
For medieval vernacular languages see:
Rabbinic Legends:
Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, 6 vols. (Philadelphia, 1909).
Louis Ginzberg, Die Haggada bei den Kirchenvätern und in der apokryphischen Litteratur (Berlin, 1900).
Max Grünbaum, Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sagenkunde (Leiden, 1893).
See also the section “Jewish Biblical Commentaries and Exegesis” in The Bible and Its Interpretation.
Biblical Figures Outside the Bible:
Lorenzo DiTommaso, “Pseudepigrapha Notes I: 1. Lunationes Danielis; 2. Biblical Figures outside the Bible,” Journal for the Study of Pseudepigrapha 15.2 (2006), 116-44. Superb bibliography includes a section on specific biblical figures from Aaron to Tobit.
Michael E. Stone and Theodore A. Bergen, eds., Biblical Figures Outside the Bible (Harrisburg, 1998).
Charlotte Touati and Claire Clivaz, “Apocryphal Texts about Other Characters in the Canonical Gospels,” in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha, ed. Andrew Gregory and Christopher Tuckett (Oxford, 2015), pp. 48-65. Covers Mary, Joseph, the Magi, John the Baptist and Zechariah, Mary Magdalene, and Pontius Pilate.
James R. Davila, Divine Mediator Figures in the Biblical World: Annotated Basic Bibliography. Section 1.0 Individual Figures includes Enoch, Melchizedek (Michael), Moses, Solomon, Elijah, The Teacher of Righteousness, Apollonius of Tyana, The Future Davidic Ruler, Philo of Alexandria’s Logos.
Genesis Apocrypha and Folklore:
Eve’s Children: The Biblical Stories Retold and Interpreted in Jewish and Christian Tradition, ed. Gerard P. Luitikhuizen (Leiden, 2003).
Brian Murdoch, The Medieval Popular Bible: Expansions of Genesis in the Middle Ages (Woodbridge, 2008).
Brian Murdoch, The Fall of Man in the Early Middle High German Biblical Epic (Göppingen, 1972).
Brian Murdoch, The Recapitulated Fall: A Comparative Study in Mediaeval Literature (Amsterdam, 1974).
Fergus Kelly, and Brian Murdoch, The Irish Adam and Eve Story from Saltair na Rann. 2 vols. (Dublin, 1976).
Lutz Röhrich, Adam und Eva: Das erste Menschenpaar in Volkskunst und Volksdichtung (Stuttgart, 1968).
La Vie d’Adam et Ève et les traditions adamiques. Actes du quatrième colloque interbational sur les littératures apocryphes juive et chrétienne, Lausanne – Gebève, 7-10 janvier 2014, éd. Frédéric Amsler et al. (Lausanne, 2017).
M. E. Stone, A History of the Literature of Adam and Eve (Atlanta GA, 1992).
M. E. Stone, Apocryphal Adam Books (Leiden, 1996).
Gary A. Anderson and Michael E. Stone, A Synopsis of the Books of Adam and Eve, 2nd revised ed., Society of Biblical Literature. Early Judaism and its Literature 17 (Atlanta GA, 2001).
Vita latina Adae et Evae, ed. Jean-Pierre Pettorelli, completed by Jean-Daniel Kaestli; Synopsis Vita Adae et Evae latine, graece, armeniace et iberice, ed. Albert Frey, Jean-Daniel Kaestli, Bernard Outtier and Jean-Pierre Pettorelli, Corpus Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum 18-19 (Turnhout, 2012).
Gary A. Anderson, Michael Stone, and Johannes Tromp, Literature on Adam and Eve, Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha 15 (Leiden, 2000).
Daphna Arbel, J. R. C. Cousland, and Dietmar Neufeld, ‘… And So They Went Out’: The Lives of Adam and Eve as Cultural Transformative Story (Edinburgh, 2010).
The Apocryphal Lives of Adam and Eve, ed. Brian Murdoch and Jacqueline Tasioulas, Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies (Exeter, 2002).
Cain and Abel:
John Byron, Cain and Abel in Text and Tradition: Jewish and Christian Interpretations of the First Sibling Rivalry (Leiden, 2011).
Victor Aptowitzer, Kain und Abel in der Agada den Apokryphen, der hellenistischen, christlichen und muhammedanischen Literatur (Vienna and Leipzig, 1922).
Johannes Bartholdy Glenthøj, Cain and Abel in Syriac and Greek Writers (4th-6th Centuries), Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 567, Subsidia 95 (Louvain, 1997).
O. F. Emerson, “Legends of Cain, Especially in Old and Middle English,” PMLA 21 (1906), 831-929.
Ruth Mellinkoff, The Mark of Cain (Berkeley CA, 1981).
Ruth Mellinkoff, “Cain’s Monstrous Progeny in Beowulf,” Anglo-Saxon England 8 (1979), 143-62; 9 (1981), 183-97.
Ricardo J. Quinones, The Changes of Cain: Violence and the Lost Brother in Cain and Abel Literature (Princeton, 1991).
Anna Ulrich, Kain und Abel in der Kunst: Untersuchungen zur Ikonographie und Auslegungsgeschichte (Bamberg, 1981).
Seth:
Esther Quinn, The Quest of Seth for the Oil of Life (Chicago, 1973).
A. F. J. Klijn, Seth in Jewish, Christian and Gnostic Literature, Supplements to Novum Testamentum 46 (Leiden, 1977).
Gedaliahu A. Stroumsa, Another Seed: Studies in Gnostic Mythology, Nag Hammadi Studies 24 (Leiden, 1984).
Noah:
Noah and His Books, ed. Michael E. Stone, Aryeh Amihay, and Vered Hillel, SBL Early Judaism and Its Literature 28 (Atlanta GA, 2010).
J. P. Lewis, A Study of the Interpretation of Noah and the Flood (Leiden, 1968).
F. Lee Utley, “Noah, His Wife, and the Devil,” in Studies in Biblical and Jewish Folklore, ed. R. Patai, F. Lee Utley, and D. Noy (Bloomington IN, 1960), pp. 59-91.
Don Cameron Allen, The Legend of Noah: Renaissance Rationalism in Art, Science, and Letters, Illinois Studies in Language and Literature 33/3-4 (Urbana IL, 1963).
Alan Dundes, ed. The Flood Myth (Berkeley CA, 1988).
Tower of Babel:
A. Borst, Der Turmbau von Babel, 4 vols. (Stuttgart, 1957).
Tristan Major, Undoing Babel: The Tower of Babel in Anglo-Saxon Literature (Toronto, 2017).
Lives of Prophets and Apostles:
Lorenzo DiTommaso, The Book of Daniel and the Apocryphal Daniel Literature, Studia in Veteris Testamenti pseudepigrapha 20 (Leiden, 2005).
Lorenzo DiTommaso, “The Apocryphal Daniel Apocalypses: Works, Manuscripts, and Overview,” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 94 (2018), 275-316.
Richard A. Lipsius, Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. Ein Beitrag zur altchristlichen Literaturgeschichte, 2 vols. in 3 (Braunschweig, 1883-87); with an Ergänzungsheft (Braunschweig, 1890).
Theodor Schermann, Prophetarum vitae fabulosae, indices apostolorum discipulorumque Domini (Leipzig, 1907).
Theodor Schermann, Propheten und Apostellegenden nebst Jüngerkatalogen des Dorotheus und verwandten Texte, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 31 (Leipzig, 1907).
François Dolbeau, Prophètes, apôtres et disciples dans les traditions chrétiennes d’Occident: Vies brèves et listes en latin, Subsidia hagiographica 92 (Brussels, 2012).
Virtutes apostolorum (“Pseudo-Abdias”):
Êcrits apocryphes chrétiens 2:735-864 (French trans.).
Els Rose, “Pseudo-Abdias and the Problem of Apostle Apocrypha in the Latin Middle Ages: A Literary and Liturgical Perspective,” in Sanctorum. Rivista dell’associazione per lo studio della santità, dei culti e dell’agiografia 4 (2007), 129-46.
Els Rose, “Virtutes apostolorum: Origin, Aim, and Use,” Traditio 68 (2013), 111-50.
Els Rose, “Virtutes apostolorum: Editorial Problems and Principles,” Apocrypha 23 (2012), 11-45.
Life of Christ:
J. K. Elliott, The Apocryphal Jesus: Legends of the Early Church (Oxford, 2008).
Jean-Daniel Dubois, Jésus apocryphe, Jésus et Jésus-Christ (Paris, 2011).
Jesus in apokryphen Evangelienüberlieferung: Beiträge zu außenkanonischen Jesusüberlieferungen aus verschiedenen Sprach- und Kulturtraditionen, ed. Jörg Frey and Jens Schröter, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 254 (Tübingen, 2010).
J. K. Elliott, A Synopsis of the Apocryphal Nativity and Infancy Narratives (Leiden, 2006). Includes a bibliography of editions, translations, and studies (pp. xxi-xxvii).
De infantia Iesu euangelium Thomae graece, ed. Tony Burke, CCSA 17 (Turnhout, 2010).
Infancy Gospels: Stories and Identities, ed. Claire Clivaz et al. (Tübingen, 2011).
Stephen J. Davis, Christ Child: Cultural Memories of a Young Jesus (New Haven CN, 2014).
The Christ Child in Medieval Culture: Alpha es et O!, ed. Mary Dzon and Theresa M. Kenney (Toronto, 2012).
Mary Dzon, The Quest for the Christ Child in the Later Middle Ages (Philadelphia, 2017).
James DeQuincey Donehoo, The Apocryphal and Legendary Life of Christ (New York, 1903).
Walter Bauer, Das Leben Jesu im Zeitalter der neutestamentlichen Apockryphen (Tübingen, 1909).
Thomas N. Hall, “Apocryphal Lore and the Life of Christ in Old English Literature,” unpubl. Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, 1990.
Achim Masser, Bibel, Apokryphen, und Legenden: Geburt und Kindheit Jesu in der religiösen Epik des deutschen Mittelalters (Berlin, 1984).
Rémi Gounelle, “Les origines littéraires de la légende de Véronique et de la Sainte Face: la Cura sanitatis Tiberii et la Vindicta Saluatoris,” in Sacre impronte e oggetti «non fatti da mano d’uomo» nelle religioni. Atti del Convegno Internationale – Torino, 18-20 maggio 2010, ed. A. Monaci Castagno, Collana di Studi del Centro di Scienze Religiose (Turin, 2011), pp. 231-51.
Rémi Gounelle, “La résurrection du Christ dans les apocryphes,” Le Monde de la Bible 125 (2000), 38-42.
Harrowing of Hell
Rémi Gounelle, La descente du Christ aux enfers. Institutionnalisation d’une croyance, Collection des Études Augustiniennes, Série Antiquité 162 (Paris, 2000).
J. A. MacCulloch, The Harrowing of Hell: A Comparative Study of an Early Christian Doctrine (Edinburgh, 1930).
J. H. Charlesworth, “Exploring the Origins of the descenus ad inferos,” in Earliest Christianity within the Bounds of Judaism: Essays in Honor of Bruce Chilton, ed. Alan J. Avery-Peck et al. (Leiden, 2016), pp. 372-95.
John the Baptist’s Prayer, Or, ‘The Descent Into Hell’ from the Exeter Book: Text, Translation and Critical Study, ed. Mary R. Rambaran-Olm (Cambridge, 2014).
Karl Tamburr, The Harrowing of Hell in Medieval England (Cambridge, 2007).
The main apocryphal source for the Harrowing of Hell was one recension of the Gospel of Nicodemus:
The Gospel of Nicodemus: Gesta Salvatoris, ed. H. C. Kim, Toronto Medieval Latin Texts 2 (Toronto, 1973).
Rémi Gounelle and Zbigniew Izydorczyk, L’Évangile de Nicodème ou les Actes faits sous Ponce Pilate (recension latine A), suivi de La lettre de Pilate à l’ empereur Claude, Apocryphes 9 (Turnhout, 1997).
Zbigniew Izydorczyk, Manuscripts of the Evangelium Nicodemi: A Census, Subsidia Mediaevalia 21 (Toronto, 1993).
Les recensions byzantines de l’Évangile de Nicodème, ed. Rémi Gounelle, CCSA Instrumenta 1 (Turnhout, 2008).
A Gospel of Nicodemus Preserved in Poland, ed. Zbigniew Izydorczyk and Wiesław Wydra, CCSA Instrumenta 3 (Turnhout, 2007).
The Medieval Gospel of Nicodemus: Texts, Intertexts, and Contexts in Western Europe, ed. Zbigniew Izydorczyk (Tempe AZ, 1997). Includes a “Thematic Bibliography of the Acts of Pilate” by Izydorczyk and Rémi Gounelle (pp. 419-532); see also their “Addenda and Corrigenda” in Apocrypha 11 (2000), 259-92.
Rémi Gounelle, “Pourquoi, selon l’Evangile de Nicodème, le Christ est-il descendu aux Enfers?,” in Le mystère apocryphe: introduction à une littérature méconnue, 2nd. ed., ed. Jean-Daniel Kaestli and Daniel Marguerat, Essais bibliques 26 (Geneva, 2002), pp. 95-112.
Two Old English Apocrypha and Their Manuscript Source: The Gospel of Nichodemus and The Avenging of the Saviour, ed. J. E. Cross et al., Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 19 (Cambridge, 1996).
Mary:
Stephen J. Shoemaker, Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption, Oxford Early Christian Studies (Oxford, 2002). The Bibliography of “Narratives of the Dormition of the Virgin from before the Tenth Century,” pp. 420-28, provides a comprehensive listing of versions in different languages, with sigla, editions, translations, and secondary studies. Appendices include translations of the Ethiopic Liber Requiei, the earliest Greek Dormition Narrative, Syriac Fragments of Six Book Apocryphon, the Ethiopic Six Book Apocryphon, the Sahidic Coptic Homily (Evodius of Rome), and Jacob of Serug, Homily on the Dormition.
Some Major Editions/Translations:
Constantin Tischendorf, ed., Apocalypses Apocryphae (Leipzig, 1866), pp. 113-23 [Pseudo-Joseph of Arimathea, Transitus E = L3; called Transitus A by Tischendorf, but Transitus A is properly that edited as the “Archaic Transitus” by Wenger]; pp. 124-36 [Transitus B1 = L1].
Antoine Wenger, L’Assomption de la T. S. vierge dans la tradition byzantine du VIe au Xe siècle, Archives de l’Orient Chrétien 5 (Paris, 1955). [Latin texts: “Archaic Transitus” = Transitus A = L4, pp. 243-56; Paris lat. 3550, pp. 258-59; Cosmas Vestitor, Homilies on the Dormition = L5, pp. 315-33; John of Arezzo, Homily on the Dormition = L6, pp. 337-62; Transitus Laurentiana = L8, pp. 357-62]
André Wilmart, “L’ancien récit latin de l’Assomption,” in Wilmart, Analecta Reginensia (Vatican City, 1933), pp. 325-57 [Transitus W = L2]; pp. 357-62 [Transitus D]
Bernard Capelle, “Vestiges grecs et latins d’un antique “Transitus” de la Vierge,” Analecta Bollandiana 67 (1949), 21-48 at 44-48. [Transitus C; sometimes called Transitus W]
Mary Clayton, The Apocryphal Gospels of Mary in Anglo-Saxon England, Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 28 (Cambridge, 1998). [Includes abbreviated variant text of Wilmart’s Transitus W, pp. 328-33; reprints text of Transitus B2 from Haibach-Reinisch, pp. 334-43].
Monika Haibach-Reinisch, ed., Ein neuer ‘Transitus Mariae des Pseudo-Melito’ (Rome, 1962) pp. 63-87 [Pseudo-Melito = Transitus B2 = L1]
William Wright, “The Departure of My Lady from This World,” The Journal of Sacred Literature and Biblical Record n.s. 6-7 (1865), 417-48, 108-60. [Syriac Six Books Apocryphon; English trans. pp. 129-60]
Marius Chaîne, Apocrypha de Beata Maria Virgine, 2 vols., Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, Scriptores Aethiopici 22-23 (Louvain, 1955). [Ethiopic Six Books Apocryphon]
William Wright, ed., Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament (London, 1865), pp. 42-51, 10-16. [Syriac Obsequies; see also Wenger, pp. 63-64 n. 1]
Victor Arras, De transitu Mariae apocrypha aethiopice, 2 vols., Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, Scriptores Aethiopici 342-43, 351-52 (Louvain, 1973). [Ethiopic Liber Requiei]
Hans Förster, Transitus Mariae. Beiträge zur koptischen Überlieferung, Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte n.f. 14: Neutestamentliche Apokryphen, II (Berlin, 2006).
Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament, “Appendix: The Assumption of the Virgin,” pp. 689-724. English translations or summaries of major Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Latin versions.
Some Major Studies:
Simon Claude Mimouni, “Transitus Mariae,” Dictionnaire de Spiritualité 15 (1991), 1160-74.
Michel van Esbroeck, “Les textes littéraires sur l’assomption avant le Xe siècle,” in Les actes apocryphes des apôtres, ed. François Bovon (Geneva, 1981), pp. 265-85.
Michel van Esbroeck, Aux origines de la Dormition de la Vierge: Études historiques sur les traditions orientales (Brookfield VT, 1995).
Enrico Norelli, Marie des apocryphes: enquête sur la mère de Jésus dans le christianisme antique (Geneva, 2009).
Simon Claude Mimouni, Les traditions anciennes sur la Dormition et l’Assomption de Marie. Etudes littéraires, historiques et doctrinales (Leiden, 2011).
Stephen J. Shoemaker, “Between Scripture and Tradition: The Marian Apocrypha of Early Christianity,” in The Reception and Interpretation of the Bible in Late Antiquity, ed. Lorenzo DiTommaso and Lucian Turcesu (Leiden, 2008), pp. 491-510.
Stephen J. Shoemaker, “Mary in Early Christian Apocrypha: Virgin Territory,” in Rediscovering the Apocryphal Continent: New Perspectives on Early Christian and Late Antique Apocryphal Texts and Traditions, ed. Pierluigi Piovanelli and Tony Burke, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 349 (Tübingen, 2015), pp. 175-90.
VII. Apocrypha in the Middle Ages
Comprehensive:
Brian Murdoch, “Biblical Apocrypha,” Oxford Bibliographies
Edina Bozky, “Les apocryphes bibliques,” in Le Moyen Age et la Bible, ed. Pierre Riché and Guy Lobrichon (Paris, 1998), pp. 429-48.
André Vernet, La Bible au Moyen Age: Bibliographie (Paris, 1989).
What constituted “apocrypha” in the Middle Ages was largely determined by the judgments expressed by patristic authorities, by the lists of proscribed apocryphal writings in the pseudo-Gelasian decree, and indirectly by various lists of canonical books:
Edmon L. Gallagher, “Writings Labelled ‘Apocrypha’ in Latin Patristic Sources,” in Sacra Scriptura: How “Non-Canonical” Texts Functioned in Early Judaism and Christianity, ed. James H. Charlesworth and Lee Martin McDonald with Blake A. Jurgens, Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies (London, 2014), pp. 1-14.
Ernst von Dobschütz, Das Decretum Gelasianum de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis, Texte und Untersuchungen 38/4 (Leipzig, 1912).
Edmon L. Gallagher, John D. Meade, The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity: Texts and Analysis (Oxford, 2017).
Pierre-Maurice Bogaert, “Aux origines de la fixation du Canon: Scriptoria, listes et titres. Le Vaticanus et la Stichométrie de Mommsen,” in The Biblical Canons, ed. J.-M. Auwers and H. J. de Jonge (Leuven, 2003), pp. 153-76.
Les apocryphes. Digitized older editions of Armenian, Coptic, and Ethiopic apocryphal texts.
Anglo-Saxon:
Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture: The Apocrypha, ed. Frederick M. Biggs (Kalamazoo MI, 2010).
Kathryn Powell and Donald G. Scragg, Apocryphal Texts and Traditions in Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge, 2003).
Brandon W. Hawk, Preaching Apocrypha in Anglo-Saxon England (Toronto, 2018).
Mary Clayton, The Apocryphal Gospels of Mary in Anglo-Saxon England, Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 28 (Cambridge, 1998).
Two Old English Apocrypha and Their Manuscript Source: The Gospel of Nichodemus and the Avenging of the Saviour, ed. J. E. Cross, Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 19 (Cambridge, 2007).
Rudolf Willard, Two Apocrypha in Old English Homilies, Beiträge zur englischen Philologie 30 (Leipzig, 1935).
Armenian:
S. J. Voicu, “Gli apocrifi armeni,” Augustinianum 23 (1983), 161-80.
Vahan S. Hovhanessian, “New Testament Apocrypha and the Armenian Version of the Bible,” in The Canon of the Bible and the Apocrypha in the Churches of the East, ed. Vahan S. Hovhanessian (New York, 2012), pp. 63-87, 97-105.
Armenian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Includes a bibliography of the works of Michael E. Stone.
Michael E. Stone, “The Armenian Apocryphal Literature–Translation and Creation” (2012).
Michael E. Stone, “The Apocryphal Literature in the Armenian Tradition,” Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 4 (1969), pp. 59–77.
Apocryphes arménians: Transmission, traduction, création, iconographie. Actes du colloque international sur la literature apocryphe en langue arménienne, ed. Valentina Calzolari Bouvier, Jean-Daniel Kaestli, and B. Outtier (Lausanne 1999).
Michael E. Stone, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and Armenian Studies. Collected Papers, 2 vols., Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 144 (Leuven, 2006).
Michael E. Stone, “The Armenian Apocryphal Literature of the Old Testament in the Twentieth Century,” in Armenian Philology in the Modern Era: From Manuscript to Digital Text, ed. Valentina Calzolari and Michael E. Stone (Leiden, 2014), pp. 247–63.
Valentina Calzolari, “The Editing of Christian Apocrypha in Armenian: Should We Turn Over a New Leaf?”, in Armenian Philology in the Modern Era: From Manuscript to Digital Text, ed. Valentina Calzolari and Michael E. Stone (Leiden, 2014), pp. 264–91.
Michael E. Stone, Armenian Apocrypha Relating to Angels and Biblical Heroes (Atlanta GA, 2016).
Armenian Apocrypha Relating to Adam and Eve, ed. Michael E. Stone (Leiden, 1996).
Michael E. Stone, Adam and Eve in the Armenian Tradition, Fifth through Seventeenth Centuries (Atlanta GA, 2013).
Michael E. Stone, Armenian Apocrypha Relating to Abraham, Society of Biblical Literature, Early Judaism and Its Literature 37 (Atlanta GA, 2012).
Michael E. Stone, Armenian Apocrypha Relating to the Patriarchs and Prophets (Jerusalem, 1982).
Écrits apocryphes sur les apôtres. Traduction de l’édition arménienne de Venise, ed. Louis Leloir, 2 vols. CCSA 3-4 (Turnhout, 1986-92).
Valentina Calzolari, Les Apôtres Thaddée et Barthélemy. Aux origines du christianisme arménien. Martyre et Découverte des reliques de Thaddée. Martyre et Découverte des reliques de Barthélemy par Maroutha, Apocryphes. Collection de poche de l’AELAC 13 (Turnhout, 2011).
The Armenian Apocalyptic Tradition: A Comparative Perspective, ed. Kevork B. Bardakjian and Sergio La Porta (Leiden, 2014).
Byzantine:
Évelyne Patlagean, “Remarques sur la diffusion et la production des apocryphes dans le monde byzantine,” Apocrypha 2 (1991), 155-63.
Paul Magdalino, “The End of Time in Byzantium,” in Endzeiten. Eschatologie in der monotheistischen Weltreligionen, ed. Wolfram Brandes and Felicitas Schmieder (Berlin, 2008), pp. 119-33.
Coptic:
CMCL: Corpus dei manoscritti Copti letterari. Includes a database (registration required) with a Bibliography that covers apocrypha.
Coptica. Includes direct access to Tito Orlandi, Bibliographie copte (2011).
Gonzalo Aranda Perez, “Apocryphal Literature,” in Coptic Encyclopedia, vol. 1 (New York, 1991), pp. 161-69.
Tito Orlandi, “Gli apocrifi copti,” Augustinianum 23 (1983), 57-71.
W. Grossouw, “De Apocriefen van het Oude en Nieuwe Testament in de koptische Letterkunde,” Studia Catholica 10 (1933-34), 434-46; 11 (1935-36), 19-36.
E. O. Winstedt, “Some Coptic Apocryphal Legends,” Journal of Theological Studies 9 (1907-1908), 372-87; 10 (1908-1909), 389-412.
P. Lacau, Fragments d’apocryphes coptes (Cairo, 1904).
E. A. Wallis Budge, Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt (London, 1913).
Forbes Robinson, Coptic Apocryphal Gospels, Texts and Studies 4/2 (Cambridge, 1896).
Frank H. Hallock, “Coptic Apocrypha,” Journal of Biblical Literature 52.2/3 (1933), 163-74.
Alin Suciu, Patristics, Apocrypha, Coptic Literature and Manuscripts
Ethiopic:
Daniel Assefa, “Apocryphal Gospels in the Ethiopic Tradition,”
P. Marrassini, “Gli apocrifi etiopici: alcune osservazioni,” in Corso di perfezionamento in Storia del Cristianesimo Antico diretto da Luigi Cirillo e Giancarlo Rinaldi. Atti. Napoli marzo-giugno 1996, ed. N. del Gatto, Serie didattica 2 (Naples, 1999), pp. 238-66.
Tedros Abraha and Daniel Assefa, “Apocryphal Gospels in the Ethiopic Tradition,” in Jesus in apokryphen Evangelienüberlieferung: Beiträge zu außenkanonischen Jesusüberlieferungen aus verschiedenen Sprach- und Kulturtraditionen, ed. Jörg Frey and Jens Schröter, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 254 (Tübingen, 2010), pp. 611-53.
Pierluigi Piovanelli, “Les aventures des apocryphes en Éthiopie,” Apocrypha 4 (1994), 97-224; English trans., “The Adventures of the Apocrypha in Ethiopia,” in Languages and Cultures of Eastern Christianity: Ethiopian, ed. A. Bausi, Variorum, The Worlds of Eastern Christianity (300.–1500) 4 (Farnham, Surrey, 2012), pp. 87-109 Includes “An Inventory of Ethiopian Apocrypha,” pp. 101-3.
Michael A. Knibb, “The Ethiopic Book Of Enoch In Recent Research,” in Knibb, Essays on the Book of Enoch and Other Early Jewish Texts and Traditions, Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha 22 (Leiden, 2008), pp. 15-38.
Pierluigi Piovanelli, “Exploring the Ethiopic “Book of the Cock”, An Apocryphal Passion Gospel from Late Antiquity,” The Harvard Theological Review 96 (2003), 427-54.
Witold Witakowski, “The Miracles of Jesus: An Ethiopian Apocryphal Gospel,” Apocrypha 6 (1995), 279-98.
Alessandro Bausi, “Towards a Re-Edition of the Ethiopic Dossier of the Apocalypse of Peter: A Few Remarks on the Ethiopic Manuscript Witnesses,” Apocrypha 27 (2016), 179-196.
Irish:
Martin McNamara, The Apocrypha in the Irish Church (Dublin, 1975).
Donnchadh Ó Corráin, Clavis Litterarum Hibernensium: Medieval Irish Books & Texts (c. 400 – c. 1600). 3 vols. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017.
John Carey, “The Reception of Apocryphal Texts in Medieval Ireland,” in The Other Side: Apocryphal Perspectives on Ancient Christian “Orthodoxies”, ed. Candida R. Moss, Tobias Nicklas, Christopher Tuckett, and Joseph Verheyden, Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus / Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments 117 (Göttingen, 2017), pp. 251-69.
David N. Dumville, “Biblical Apocrypha and the Early Irish: A Preliminary Investigation,” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 73C (1973), 299-338.
Martin McNamara, The Bible and the Apocrypha in the Early Irish Church (A.D. 600-1200). Collected Essays, Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia 66 (Turnhout, 2015).
Irish Biblical Apocrypha: Selected Texts in Translation, trans. Máire Herbert and Martin McNamara (Edinburgh, 1989).
Martin McNamara, “Jesus in (Early) Irish Apocryphal Gospel Traditions,” in Jesus in apokryphen Evangelienüberlieferung: Beiträge zu außenkanonischen Jesusüberlieferungen aus verschiedenen Sprach- und Kulturtraditionen, ed. Jörg Frey and Jens Schröter, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 254 (Tübingen, 2010), pp. 685-739.
Apocrypha Hiberniae I. Evangelia Infantiae, ed. Martin McNamara, et al., CCSA 13 (Turnhout, 2001).
Apocrypha Hiberniae. II. Apocalyptica 1. In Tenga Bithnua – The Ever-New Tongue, ed. John Carey , CCSA 16 (Turnhout, Brepols, 2009).
Apocalyptic and Eschatological Heritage: The Middle East and Celtic Realms, ed. Martin McNamara (Dublin, 2003).
The End and Beyond: Medieval Irish Eschatology, ed. John Carey, Emma Nic Cárthaigh, and Caitríona Ó Dochartaig, 2 vols. (Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2014).
Scandinavian:
Mattias Tveitane, “Irish Apocrypha in Norse Tradition? On the Sources of Some Medieval Homilies,” Arv: Tidskrift för Nordisk Folkminnesforskning 22 (1966), 111-35.
James W. Marchand, “The Old Norwegian Christmas Homily and the Question of Irish Influence,” Arv: Tidskrift för Nordisk Folkminnesforskning 31 (1975), 23-34.
Dario M. Bullitta, Niðrstigningar Saga: Sources, Transmission, and Theology of the Old Norse “Descent into Hell,” (Toronto, 2017).
Slavic:
Alexander Kulik and Sergey Minov, Biblical Pseudepigrapha in Slavonic Tradition (Oxford, 2016).
Versiones Slavicae. Catalogue of medieval Slavonic translations and their Greek sources
Aurelio De Santos Otero, Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der Altslawischen Apokryphen, 2 vols., Patristische Texte und Studien 20 (Berlin, 1978). See the important reviews by Francis Thomson, “Apocrypha Slavica,” Slavonic and East European Review 58 (1980), 256-68; “Apocrypha Slavica II.,” Slavonic and East European Review 63 (1985), 73-98.
Émile Turdeanu, Apocryphes Slaves et Roumains de l’Ancien Testament (Leiden, 1981).
Andrei Orlov, The Slavonic Pseudepigrapha Project
A. Alexeev, “Apocrypha Translated from Hebrew within the East Slavic Explanatory Palaea,” Jews and Slavs 9 (2001), 147-54.
The Old Testament Apocrypha in the Slavonic Tradition: Continuity and Diversity, ed. Lorenzo DiTommaso and Christfried Böttrich, Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 140 (Tübingen, 2011).
Syriac:
Syri.ac: An annotated bibliography of Syriac resources online. OT Pseudepigrapha; NT Apocrypha.
A Comprehensive Bibliography on Syriac Christianity. OT Apocrypha; NT Apocrypha.
D. Bundy, “Pseudepigrapha in Syriac Literature,” SBL Seminar Papers, 1991, ed. E. H. Lovering, Jr. (Atlanta GA, 1991), pp. 745-65.
Les apocryphes syriaques, ed. Muriel Debie, Études syriaques 2 (Paris, 2005).
Witold Witakowski, “Syriac Apocalyptic Literature,” in The Armenian Apocalyptic Tradition: A Comparative Perspective, ed. Kevork B. Bardakjian and Sergio La Porta (Leiden, 2014), pp. 667-87.
VIII. Iconography
David R. Cartlidge and J. Keith Elliott, Art and the Christian Apocrypha (London, 2001).
Robin M. Jensen, “The Apocryphal Mary in Early Christian Art,” in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha, ed. Gregory and Tuckett, pp. 289-305.
Charles D. Wright: cdwright@illinois.edu
last updated 7/18