[<1/1,000,000th%]

Crown Publisher's published a book in 1979 called, "The Lost Books of The Bible", that includes the gospels of Peter and Nicodemus and the 2 accounts of Christ's infancy. I'm hunting around for an electronic copy.

Supposedly, the gospels of Peter and Nicodemus would've been included in the canon except that Iranaeus insisted that, "...just as there are 4 winds, there must be 4 Gospels, for the Holy Spirit, the inspiration for all divine writing, is embodied in the wind." (from "Adversus haereses" translated by Solomon J. Schepps)

The Gospel of Thomas was rejected as heresy. The accounts of Christ's infancy were excluded because they didn't portray Him in a good light.

There is also a Gospel of the Birth of Mary, but I don't have any explanation as to why it was left out.

If I find this anywhere I'll post it.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so very much! I do hope you find them because they sound very interesting and I'd love to read them, as I imagine those following this discussion would also. Hugs!

[Nataku X]

Yes, I remember the infancy gospels that my teacher talked about. There were two infancy gospels, IIRC, one about Mary as a child, and the other about Jesus as a child. Apparently the infancy gospel protrayed child-Jesus as a selfish little boy abusing His powers, zapping people he didn't like.

This is a striking contrast to the Jesus we read in the Bible, where His own family thought that He was a nutcase. If my child could turn people into trees, you bet I'd listen to his claims of his divinity.

The Infancy Gospel of James is here: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-mrjames.html . It is the "Mary" gospel that <1/1,000,000th spoke about. Basically it focuses almost entirely on Mary's childhood, and protrays her in a very pro-Catholic way that places Mary in a pedestal above every other person in the Bible (besides Jesus, of course). Her birth was divinely announced, and all that.

I don't remember the name of the other infancy gospel, but IIRC, my professor also made fun of it. Here's the translation of the Gospel of Peter I found on Google: Gospel of Peter

Hope you enjoy the reading! :-)

[Doctor Stochastic]

Couldn't Iraneus have called for seven gospels in analogy with the seven cardinal virtures, seven deadlyly sins, seven days of he week, seven (ancient) planets, seven (ancient) metals, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, seven seas, Seven Ways from Sundown, Seven Voyages of Sinbad, etc.?