The Apocryphal New Testament includes new translations of the most significant and famous of the non-canonical Christian works. These apocryphal texts reveal the popular legends of Christians after the New Testament era, and throw light on the origins of many later beliefs and practices.



This collection of apocryphal writings supersedes the best-selling edition by M. R. James, first published in 1924. Since then, several new works have come to light, and the textual base for some of the works previously translated by James is now more secure. In this volume, J. K. Elliott presents new translations of the texts into modern English, together with a short introduction and bibliography for each of them. The collection is designed to give readers the most important and famous non-canonical Christian writings, many of them popular legends with an enormous influence on later, particularly medieval, art and literature, as well as on later beliefs and practices of the Church.