Preserving our Christian Heritage since 2001.
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Preserving our Christian Heritage since 2001.
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| Title: Lost Books of the Bible, The |
| Author: Hone, William |
| Format: Hardcover: 320 pages |
| Publisher: Testament Books; Bell 1979 ed edition, June, 1979 |
| ISBN: 0517277956 |
| Review Date: August 25, 2004 |
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| Book Description: Suppressed by the early church fathers who compiled the Bible, these apocryphal books have been shrouded in silence for centuries. Here are the Apostles' Creed, the girlhood and betrothal of Mary, the childhood of Jesus-told in all their warmth, intimacy and humanity. Translated from the Original Tongues, with 32 illustrations from Ancient Paintings and Missals. |
Review:
I first came across this book at my local area public library when I was about 12. Growing up in a Christian home gave The Lost Books of the Bible a certain forbidden fruit appeal to the book. One that a curious young mind could not resist, so I checked the book out. Even at that young of an age I could tell why most of the documents contained in this volume were considered to be forgeries by the early Christians. The story about Jesus as a child striking dead a boy who knocked him over was just to comical. Then there was the part where Jesus makes clay sparrows come to life, it was just like classic material from a B Movie. I remember thinking, that was a rather pointless miracle. . .
At any rate, I digress, this book suffers from the lack of much recent scholarship. It was originally printed back in 1820 under the title of The Apocryphal New Testament. It has since gone through several different editions, this 1979 edition by Testament Books being the latest. With each printing it seems that the subsequent introductions have become more and more liberal to the point of being conspiracy theorists. In the introduction by Dr. Frank Crane, he states that while some may object to the printing of these books, he is quite certain that anyone with some common sense will be able to decide for themselves if these are authoritative books or not. He also states that he hopes that the publishing will help to remove the veil of secrecy that has surrounded this issue in regards to the layman's point of view in the past.
Fast forward to the latest printing, and we see sound bites like, "suppressed by the early Church fathers," and edited out "as the Bible was compiled," etc. You have to wonder about the gullibility of anyone who ever thought that these documents were ever accepted as being reliable. Some were accepted by early heretics and sects. How the Apostles' Creed can ever be called lost is beyond me, as it has been a stable in the liturgy of many Churches since antiquity (Rich Mullens even wrote a song based on it.) Others such as the Shepard of Hermas (an early book in the style of Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan) have been know about since they were written, but never considered cannon by Christianity, although they may have been considered profitable for reading in certain local areas. But once again, I do not mean to digress in the subject of cannon in the early Church. I am just saying that a reader should be cautious of much that is presented in the commentary of these books.
As far as the translations of the books, this is a cheap way to obtain them. The books greatest weakness: (its age), becomes its strength at this point, because it is cheaply re-printable as it is not under copyright and there are no royalties to pay out. This particular edition may be picked up in hardback cover for around $10, which is a steal considering that the other, more scholarly tomes of pseudepigraphal works run for well over $100. So if you are interesting in seeing what all the hype is concerning "lost Bible books," this is a good starting point. If not, well, spend your $10 on something less sensationalist.
