Posted on 05/13/2014 8:25:08 AM PDT by Salvation
Featured Term (selected at random:
APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS
Spurious narratives of the life of Christ, written between the first and third centuries. Many of these exist, and new manuscripts of some of them have been discovered in the twentieth century. These apocrypha are of different types. Some may embody at least a few trustworthy oral traditions, e.g., the Gospel of Peter, and According to the Hebrews. Others are openly heretical and sought to expound erroneous, especially Gnostic views, e.g., the Gospels of Thomas, Marcion, the Twelve Apostles, and Philip. A third group of writings are pious tales, composed to satisfy popular curiosity, and deal mainly with the childhood of Christ; such as the Childhood Gospel of Thomas, the History of Joseph the Carpenter, and the Departure of Mary. There is record of twenty-one apocryphal Gospels, some available in their full narrative text.
All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
Catholic Word of the Day Ping!
If you aren’t on this Catholic Word of the Day Ping list and would like to be, please send me a FReepmail.
Two of the most valuable books I've ever read on the early Church, recommended to me by a now-deceased priest...another "towering intellect," are these.
EUSEBIUS (A.D. c260-399): The History of the Church
and
RICHARD M. HOGAN: Dissent From the Creed Heresies Past and Present
I reread them every once in a while and PARTS because they are so clear and full of factual information.
Eusebius didn't have a bibliography or index, of course. :o)
======================================
One interesting tidbit in Eusebius' book:
There is a copy of a letter written by Abgar the Toparch to Jesus and sent to Him at Jerusalem by the courier Ananias, followed by JESUS' REPLY to the Toparch Abgar also sent by the courier Ananias.
I had to look up "toparchy."
You can google all of the above.
My, isn't the Internet fabulous?
Looks like fascinating but deep reading.
Fascinating but not too deep. Otherwise I wouldn't have read them and reread them. I'm not "erudite" in any way but my squash game. :o) You would enjoy them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.