New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures,volume 2: A panel review

Abstract

The canonical texts of the New Testament are well known and studied, but the variety and number of extant early Christian noncanonical texts, also known as New Testament Apocrypha, have not been as widely recognized. Thanks to the stellar work of numerous translators and the editorial work of Tony Burke, many more of these texts are now available with introductions in English translation through two volumes (soon to be three) of New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures. In the series of articles in this special section of Studies in Religion, three early Christian scholars (Ronald Charles, Sean Hannan and Mona Tokarek LaFosse) review the second volume of the series, published by Eerdmans in 2020, which is followed by a detailed response by Tony Burke. The reviews and response were originally presented at a joint session at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies and Canadian Society of Patristic Studies/Association canadienne des études patristiques in May 2022. The reviews and response encourage scholars of religion to consider how these ancient texts might contribute to larger contemporary conversations around coloniality, diversity, pedagogy and storytelling, demonstrating the value of collaborative scholarship.

Those who study the history of Christianity, especially those who study the early Christ followers and Christian origins, have largely tended to focus on the texts of the New Testament. This makes sense, given their canonical status and their proximity in time with the earliest Christ followers. But there are many more texts not found in the canon that reveal the depth and breadth of the Christian tradition and remain largely unknown – texts that expand on well-known characters and plots, reveal or tell new or revised stories, and reflect the development of Christian piety and thought. Readers may be familiar with better-known noncanonical texts like the Gospel of Thomas or Acts of Paul and Thecla, and/or J K Elliott’s classic 1993 volume The Apocryphal New Testament. But Tony Burke and a number of international translators have been working to open a whole new world of noncanonical texts for English-language readers in a series of volumes entitled New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures.

For scholars steeped in the field of noncanonical texts, this series expands the available texts from various regions and languages. Volume 1 (edited by Tony Burke and Brent Landau) was published by Eerdmans in 2016. Reviewers of the first volume called it ‘magnificent’ (Paul Foster), ‘a rigorous but highly accessible volume’ (Bart D Ehrman) and ‘a must-have collection’ (April D DeConick). ¹ Volume 2 (edited by Tony Burke) was published in 2020, and a third volume (also edited by Tony Burke) is due to be published in 2023.

As in the first volume, the second volume follows four widely recognized categorizations of apocryphal texts – ‘Gospels and related traditions of New Testament figures’, ‘Apocryphal acts and related traditions’, ‘Epistles’ and ‘Apocalypses’ – and adds a fifth category: ‘Church orders’. This second volume features 29 texts – including The Adoration of the Magi and The Life of Mary Magdalene – each of which is carefully introduced, copiously annotated and translated into English by eminent scholars.

In May 2022, three scholars – Ronald Charles, Sean Hannan and Mona Tokarek LaFosse – reviewed the second volume as part of a joint session at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies and Canadian Society of Patristic Studies/Association canadienne des études patristiques, with a response by Tony Burke. The following are revised versions of those reviews and Burke’s response. It is our hope that this discussion will encourage scholars, instructors and students of early Christianity to consider the immense value of these rich texts, which have been painstakingly translated and expertly presented in these volumes.

Ronald Charles joined the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto (St George) as an Associate Professor in January 2022. He did his PhD in the Department in 2014. Charles is the author of Paul and the Politics of Diaspora (Fortress Press, 2014), Traductions bibliques créoles et préjugés linguistiques (L’Harmattan, 2015) and The Silencing of Slaves in Early Jewish and Christian Writings (Routledge, 2020). His research and teaching interests are the interdisciplinary study of ancient Christian literature, Mediterranean identity and race in antiquity, slaves in the Greek and Roman world, classical reception, and method and theory in the academic study of religion.

Sean Hannan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities at MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta. He is the author of On Time, Change, History, and Conversion  (Bloomsbury, 2020) and, with W Ezekiel Goggin, Mysticism and Materialism in the Wake of German Idealism  (Routledge, 2022). His forthcoming publications connect Augustine’s thought to the work of WEB Du Bois, post-colonial debates about universalism, and the experience of migrants both ancient and modern. He is also the secretary of the American Cusanus Society.

Mona Tokarek LaFosse is Assistant Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Studies at Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto. Her interests include age, aging and intergenerational relationships in the late first and early second centuries, and orality and performance criticism (and sometimes zombies). Her forthcoming book, Honouring Age: The Social Dynamics of Age Structure in 1 Timothy, will be published with McGill-Queen’s University Press in the series Studies in Christianity and Judaism, sponsored by the Canadian Corporation for the Study of Religion. She is also president of the Canadian Society of Patristic Studies/Association canadienne des études patristiques.

Tony Burke is Professor of Early Christianity at York University, Toronto, and two-time winner of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies’ Frank W Beare Award for his work on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, one of the most well-known apocryphal gospels. Along with editing the New Testament Apocrypha series, he is the editor of three volumes of proceedings of the York University Christian Apocrypha Symposium (convened in 2011, 2013 and 2015), founding president of the North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature, and senior editor of the electronic resource e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha.