Gallimard Publishes Second Volume of Christian Apocrypha

Éditions Gallimard has released the second volume of "Écrits apocryphes chrétiens" in its prestigious Pléiade collection. This two-thousand-page tome compiles a vast array of early Christian texts excluded from the canonical New Testament, including the History of Joseph the Carpenter, the Gospel of Mary (described as an early feminist pamphlet), Lives of the Prophets, and documents concerning Pontius Pilate. The editors note that many more narratives about Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the apostles could not be included, and many remain undiscovered. The texts, composed between the 4th and 8th centuries in various languages, originate from across the Middle East, the Greek world, Byzantium, and Latin Christendom. They display remarkable freedom of invention, with contradictory accounts of Pilate's fate—executed by Tiberius, suicide, exculpation, or condemnation. The volume represents extensive research and translation efforts by its editors. Jacques Henric reviews the publication, highlighting the sheer volume of Christian fictional corpus.