Our image of Jesus Christ is mostly based upon the tradition which can be found in the New Tes-tament. The four canonical gospels share the same basic outline of the life of Jesus. Preached for centuries by priests, monks, theologians, etc. biblical image of Jesus is deeply incised into the col-lective memory through out the Christian world and beyond.

Bearing this in mind, it should be noted however, that most of the testimonies regarding Jesus' life and work written by his contemporaries or persons who lived immediately after his death, never made it to the New Testament. These texts compose the so called New Testament apocrypha. Those are writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives.

The New Testament apocrypha offer a somewhat different image of Jesus from the one that is fa-miliar to the most of us. Most of these texts are not opposed to the canonical gospels but they pro-vide additional information regarding Jesus' life. Therefore, the best way to observe the New Tes-tament apocrypha is to observe them as a missing puzzle. Jointly, with the canonical gospels they will help us fully to perceive Jesus and to get closer to his human nature.

The intention of this book is to shed light to Jesus' life entirely and to bring him closer to the readers of these passages. After reading this book one will meet the real Jesus Christ as he truly was.

Contents:

Infancy Gospels

The Gospel of the Birth of Mary

The Gospel Called the Protevangelion

The First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ

The Second, or St. Thomas's Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ

The History of Joseph the Carpenter

Passion Gospels

The Gospel of Nicodemus, Formerly Called the Acts of Pontius Pilate

The Gospel of Peter

Dialogues With Jesus

The Gospel of the Egyptians

General Texts Concerning Jesus

The Letter of Lentulus

Pistis Sophia