Rick Brannan’s Two New Books on Apocryphal Gospels

Logos is about to publish a great couplet of books on Apocryphal Gospels by Rick Brannan.

Brannan, Rick. (ed.). Greek Apocryphal Gospels, Fragments, and Agrapha: Introductions and Translations. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2013.

Brannan, Rick. (ed.). Greek Apocryphal Gospels, Fragments, and Agrapha: Texts and Transcriptions. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2013.

This is a great resource for users of Logos. Brannan provides Greek texts of the Apocryphal Gospels, Gospel Fragments, and Agrapha in a nice neat easy to read lay out. Then in the accompanying volume he gives brief introductions to the various infancy Gospels, Passion Gospels, Post-Resurrection Gospels, Gospel Fragments, and Agrapha. The translations  for Apocryphal Gospels are based largely on M.R. James, but Brannan does his own translation for the Gospel Fragments and Agrapha.

Now these are not critical editions by any stretch, but they are useful resources for being able to look up Greek and English texts of the Apocryphal Gospels and get a heads up on what they are about. Brannan is fairly careful in how he uses fragments as witnesses to Gospels, for example, he notes that P.Oxy 1224 only has a tentative connection with the Gospel of Peter.

The Apocryphal Gospels are significant for what they tell us about the Gospel tradition and Christian origins. These two books on Apocryphal Gospels by Rick Brannan are a great pair of resources for anyone who wants immediate access to reliable texts, translations, and introductions on their PC or tablet of non-canonical Jesus literature. So well done to Rick!