Harris, Stephen L. “Chapter 11: The Other Gospels” The New Testament: A Student’s Introduction.
This chapter deals with the gospels that can not be found in the Bible. They are referred to as “the other Gospels”, mainly because they are not as popular as the canonical Gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These Gospels deal with different topics, including contrasting portrayals of Jesus and Jesus’ Infancy and Childhood. The Gospel’s that are discussed in this chapter are: the Gospel of Thomas, the Secret Mark, the Gospel of Peter and the Infancy Gospel of James. This is an important chapter in Harris’ book because it offers different portrayals of Jesus, different perspectives on Jesus’ teachings and show diverse viewpoints of Jesus’ life, which is not always known to people, because they are not books that are in the Bible.
As Harris talks about, these “other Gospels” portray Jesus differently in each Gospel. One such example of this deals with views of Jesus’ death in the canonical Gospels Mark and John. Harris refers to Marks view by saying, “Mark’s Jesus, after begging God to spare him, dies a painful and humiliating death” 1. However,
“For the Johannine Jesus, crucifixion was not a shameful ordeal, but an ‘hour of glory’…John’s Jesus does not experience an agony of terror in Gethsemane, much less feel the absence of God; he dies knowing that he has ‘accomplished’ his divine ordained task.” 2
These Gospels discuss the death of Jesus, as do the other two canonical Gospels, but the Gospel of Thomas is different. The Gospel of Thomas does not talk about the death of Jesus at all in the book. However, the Gospel of Thomas includes 114 sayings of Jesus. According to the opening statement, “These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded”3. The Gospel of Thomas has some similarities to the Gospel of John of realizing Jesus’ message and immortality. One such similarity appears is John 8:51-52, “In very truth I tell you, if anyone obeys my teachings he shall never know what it is to die.” This relates to Thomas because his book is referred to as “secret” because “their true meaning is evident only to those who can understand them correctly, a life-giving ‘interpretation’ that saves them spiritually aware persons from ‘tasting death’”4
The Secret Mark Gospel was found in 1958. It is now regarded as “a genuine fragment of an otherwise unknown Gospel associated with canonical Mark.”5. Secret Mark is also similar to the canonical Gospels. One such story that is similar in the Secret Mark is the story of Jesus resuscitating a young man, or as it appears in John’s version, Lazarus. This story appears in John 11.
Another Gospel that is not a part of the synoptic Gospels is the Gospel of Peter. This Gospel resembles Matthew’s Gospel in different areas, including Pilate’s posting Roman soldiers to guard Jesus’ grave (found on page 259 of Harris). The Gospel of Peter also differs from the canonical Gospels. One such time in Peter is when Jesus was crucified. Peter describes Jesus during his crucifixion as being silent, which implies that he did not feel physical pain. Another instance is in the crucifixion in Mark and Matthew where Jesus says God has forsaken him. In Peter, he says that his “Power” has deserted him “perhaps indicating the departure of the supernatural Being that had previously dwelt within him”6. In the Gospel of Peter 2:1; 5:5, “Jesus’ death is expressed euphemistically, for he is described as ‘taken up’ implying a divine rescue or escape to the spirit world”7.
The Gospel of Peter and Secret Mark are similar in ways to the Gospels that appear the Bible, but they also give a brief description into mysteries and miracles that the canonical Gospels just briefly talk about. These Gospels are important because they give people different incites and descriptions of accounts of Jesus, which we can use to form our view of who we believe Jesus was.
The key terms and things to remember from this chapter are: orthodoxy, heresy, Coptic, Gospel of Thomas, Secret Mark, Gospel of Peter, Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and Infancy Gospel of James. Orthodoxy means the correct teachings. Heresy is defined as an opinion or doctrine contrary to official church teaching. Coptic is a term relating to the church or liturgical language of the Copts, a people who reputedly descended from the ancient Egyptians who preserved an early for of Christianity. The Gospel of Thomas, Secret Mark and Gospel of Peter were all Gospels that are similar to the canonical Gospels, but offer different incites to portrayal of Jesus, and the events of his life. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas focuses of the childhood of Jesus. However, James’ Infancy Gospel focuses on the genealogy of Jesus, gives background information of Jesus’ parents before his birth and also includes his birth. In Matthew and Luke both “trace Jesus’ Davidic ancestry through his presumed father, Joseph”8. However, in the Infancy Gospel of James, it sates that Mary also descended from David.
In
this chapter, there are no illustrations that could help the author cite his
main idea. However, because this chapter
deals with different portrayals of Jesus from other Gospels, it is important to
take a look at any of the passages that are in the book. There are several passages that appear on
pages 254-257 that are from the Gospel of Thomas. The story of the Roman soldier at Jesus’ tomb
appears in
The most interesting point raised in this chapter of Harris is the fact that there are different Gospels. I knew this before reading the chapter, but sometimes people forget that there are different Gospels that do not appear in the Bible, whether because they are not accepted or for any other reason. This is important because sometimes we read the Bible and take it too seriously, or do not take all views of the story, which is what these Gospels can do.
The most important concept to realize for our studies is the fact that there is no definitive known view of what Jesus was like. We can use as much information as we can gather to form our own opinion, but we do not know which view is the correct one. This is why reading and understanding that all of these Gospels will help us realize that we need to form our own view of what Jesus was like.
One concept that still remains unclear to me is the Secret Mark. Is this related at all to the canonical Gospel of Mark? Was it written by the same author, or collective groups of people? It gives some insight in the chapter, and it probably is not known, but I don’t understand if there is any relationship at all between the two.
When reading the passages chosen by the author, I do not really see too many interpretations that I do not agree with, but there are some passages where I do not see what the author means, or do not agree with the way the author organizes it. The main disagreement is on page 258, and deals with the story of Lazarus being resuscitated. In this part the author discusses the story, but he bounces back and forth between the different Gospels. First he takes a line from Mark, then Secret Mark, then John and Luke. I understand that it makes it easier to understand the differences, but it is confusing in the way that he discusses it.
The three main contributions to understanding this chapter are: the fact that there are different Gospels than the Canonical Gospels, these Gospels give different insights to who Jesus was and what he did and that each Gospel is different from others, they are different for certain reasons also. The fact that these Gospels are fairly unknown, I think that because there are several Gospels to talk about, and there is only a certain amount of pages to talk about them in, we can not get a full understanding of each Gospel. Which I think is a limitation to the chapter.
1.
Harris, Stephen L. “Chapter 11: The Other Gospels” The New Testament: A Student’s Introduction. 5th Edition .
2. Ibid., 251
3. Ibid., 253
4. Ibid., 253
5. Ibid., 258
6. Ibid., 259
7. Ibid., 259
8. Ibid., 261