Some of these writings were cited as scripture by early Christians, but since the fifth century a widespread consensus has emerged limiting the New Testament to the 27 books of the modern canon.
[2][3] Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant churches generally do not view the New Testament apocrypha as part of the Bible.
Often used by scholars is the term pseudepigrapha, meaning 'falsely inscribed' or 'falsely attributed', in the sense that the writings were written by an anonymous author who appended the name of an apostle to his work, such as in the Gospel of Peter or the Ethiopic Apocalypse of Enoch: almost all books, in both Old and New Testaments, called "apocrypha" in the Protestant tradition are pseudepigrapha.
[6] That some works are categorized as New Testament apocrypha is indicative of the wide range of responses to the ministry of Jesus.
Books that were not accepted into the canons are now termed apocryphal; some were vigorously suppressed and survive only as fragments, or only in mention in the writings of those condemning them.
[7] Western Syrians have added the remaining five books to their New Testament canons in modern times[7] (such as the Lee Peshitta of 1823).
[10] New translations by M. R. James appeared in 1924, and were revised by J.K. Eliott, The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford University Press, 1991.
The "standard" scholarly edition of the New Testament Apocrypha in German is that of Schneemelcher,[11] and in English its translation by Robert McLachlan Wilson.
[12] Constantin von Tischendorf and other scholars began to study New Testament apocrypha seriously in the 19th century and produce new translations.
Among these are the Libellus de Nativitate Sanctae Mariae (also called the "Nativity of Mary") and the Latin Infancy gospel.
[citation needed] Information about the childhood of Jesus was supplied by a number of 2nd-century and later texts, known as infancy gospels, none of which were accepted into the biblical canon.
The standard edition of Schneemelcher describes the texts of three Jewish–Christian gospels as follows:[17] Some scholars consider that the two last named are in fact the same source.
[18] A number of gospels are concerned specifically with the "Passion" (from the Latin verb patior, passus sum; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.
These were judged by the Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople in the ninth century to be full of folly, self-contradiction, falsehood, and impiety.
Among historians of early Christianity, the books are considered invaluable, especially those that almost made it into the final canon, such as Shepherd of Hermas.