Lost Gospels and Rediscovered Christianities

The 2006-2007 Weltin Lecture in Early Christianity

In addition to the familiar accounts of Jesus’ life in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, there are over forty Gospels that did not make it into the New Testament. These include Gospels named after (or allegedly written by) Jesus’ disciples Peter, Thomas, and Philip, his female follower Mary Magdalene, and—more recently discovered—his betrayer Judas Iscariot. What are the controversial teachings of these lost—and now found—Gospels? Why were they not included in the New Testament? And what do they tell us about the views of Jesus’ early followers, many of whom were later condemned as “heretics”?

Professor Bart D. Ehrman (PhD Princeton Seminary, 1985) is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He has published extensively in the fields of New Testament and Early Christianity. Among his most recent books are Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend (Oxford University Press, 2006), Misquoting Jesus: The Story of Who Changed the New Testament and Why (Harper San Francisco, 2005), and The Text of the New Testament: Its Origin, Corruption, and Restoration, 4th edition (co-authored with Bruce Metzger, Oxford University Press, 2005). Prof. Ehrman currently serves as co-editor of the series New Testament Tools and Studies (E. J. Brill) and on several other editorial boards for monographs in the field.