So I’m watching, The Da Vinci Code…
And it suddenly dawns on me there are books which weren’t included in the Bible that I need to read. Yes, Virginia, I have read the Bible, as well as the Koran.
Anyway, I’ve decided to track down these remaining books simply because I want to be thorough… You know, in case there’s any more Commandments that need to be bent just a tad. Like I said, thorough.
Try finding a copy of the Aramaic bible.
Neanderpundit’s world is waiting for the news…
Look for a bible with Apocrypha.
I’ve been thinking something the like. I think the Gnostic Gospels are available on Gutenberg, but that could just be a brain fart.
M
The Catholic Bible has the Apocrypha in it. It also has minor changes in the wording of some of the scriptures. For a fun study, get hold of a parallel Bible. Usually four different translations side by side so you can see where they differ.
What’s amazing is how many “lost” books there are
Book of Jasher
Book of the Wars of the Lord
The book of Samael the Seer..
and quite a few more.
There’s more “missing” books than you can shake a stick at. And that’s the ones we still know about. How many more have passed into oblivion once they were left out of the Bible? And how accurate are the translations of the missing books? The Canon has teems of scholars watching for accuracy, and even they differ; maybe the translator of the Gospel of Thomas had more leeway, and who’s watching the watchdog there?
Instead of hunting down books that were left out because they may have been irrelevant, or heretical even to the Early Church, there’s a lot of accepted stuff to keep you busy for a lifetime. The Catholic and Orthodox churches say not just the Bible, but 1) the Bible, 2) Holy Tradition (beliefs held since the early church, i.e. catechism, not cultural traditions like what priests wear), and 3) the Liturgy (Mass) are all three the sources of the Faith. After all, for the first 300 years, there were no Bible-based churches (sola scriptura), since the Bible was not finalized quite yet.
Og, who said he’s been to Seminary, can tell you whether I’m blowing smoke on this. Are you *sure* you want to go on this epic journey?
I read a story once about Biblical Scholar Bruce Metzger. He was confronted by someone trying to prove a point of doctrine (specifically regarding Escatology (the End Times — WOW, imbedded parens!) IIRC) to him using the Gospel of Thomas. The person asked (with a sneer) “You HAVE read the Gospel of Thomas, haven’t you?” to which he replied “My dear, I TRANSLATED it from the COPTIC”.