Anyone have a resource of books banned from the bible?

[Archbob]

I've been trying to find certain books online that were not included in the canonical bible.

In particular, a book that is entitled "The story of Adam and Eve".

I know some of you are thinking "Thats just Genesis". But no, there is actually a much more detailed account of the creation story entitle "the story of adam and eve". I can find many other books like the Book of Thomas and Peter's Apocalypse, but I have not been able to find this one. Anyone got a link?

 

[Birdjaguar]

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/

This is a pretty good source for Early Christian writings.

 

[Archbob]

Good resource, but it only has NT pieces that were let out, not the OT pieces that were left out, which is what I'm looking for.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Do you mean the The Life of Adam and Eve, also known as the Apocalypse of Moses? (That is just the Wikipedia entry on this pseudepigraphical book, not an actual link to the text. Having the right name might help you find it though.)

 

[Archbob]

Thanks, thats the one I was looking for.

 

[El_Machinae]

Does this have Lilith in it?

 

[Integral]

A good starting point for the Old Testament is the companion site, www.earlyjewishwritings.com

 

[DaveShack]

An OT thread that actually produced something?

To stay on-topic in this topical off-topic thread...

I thought that the 1st 5 books of the OT were just translated from the corresponding Torah books. I've also heard (in a Bible as lit class) that there were similar creation and eden stories from other cultures of the time.

 

[Maimonides]

Good resource, but it only has NT pieces that were let out, not the OT pieces that were left out, which is what I'm looking for.

Those writings come from the NT period, not the OT period. They are too recent to be considered "left out" of the OT.

Supposedly, all of the variations are based on a single, lost source so it makes sense that they were all left out of the Christian Bible. If the original is ever found, Christians will have a big decision to make. It would be interesting to Jews, too.

An OT thread that actually produced something?

To stay on-topic in this topical off-topic thread...

I thought that the 1st 5 books of the OT were just translated from the corresponding Torah books. I've also heard (in a Bible as lit class) that there were similar creation and eden stories from other cultures of the time.

Yes. The five books of the Torah were translated into Greek by some rabbis in Alexandria in antiquity. That 1st Greek version is called the Pentateuch & is the basis for what Christians call the "Old Testament." Other books like Daniel, Judges, Kings & Maccabees were tacked on. What books are in your Old Testament (& New Testament) depend on what sect of Christianity you ascribe to.

The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) includes Judges, Kings & Daniel, but the story of the Maccabees is a megillah in Judaism. A megillah is an ancient extrabiblical Hebrew text that's too recent to be included in the Jewish Bible, but too important to be forgotten. The writings the OP is asking about are too recent to even be a megillah.

I don't know about creation or paradise stories, but Mesopotamia had a flood story very similar to Noah & his ark & Egypt took a very brief stab at monotheism shortly before Judaism appeared in the historical & archaeological record.

EDIT: This thread should be merged into the Ask a Theologian II thread.

 

[Sharwood]

An OT thread that actually produced something?

To stay on-topic in this topical off-topic thread...

I thought that the 1st 5 books of the OT were just translated from the corresponding Torah books. I've also heard (in a Bible as lit class) that there were similar creation and eden stories from other cultures of the time.

Most of the creation myths in the Semitic part of the world are incredibly similar. The Epic of Gilgamesh immediately springs to mind, which predates Genesis. And the copy we have is an Assyrian reproduction of a Sumerian epic, so who knows how different it was originally.

 

[classical_hero]

http://www.magictails.com/creationlinks.html

Here is a link that shows al the various creation myths and stories. You can see that there are plentyy around.

 

[Dachs]

Most of the creation myths in the Semitic part of the world are incredibly similar. The Epic of Gilgamesh immediately springs to mind, which predates Genesis. And the copy we have is an Assyrian reproduction of a Sumerian epic, so who knows how different it was originally.

Don't forget that connection that high-school religion teachers always love to draw between Marduk carving Tiamat's flesh in half and the "firmament" of the first chapter of Genesis.

 

[Masada]

Don't forget that connection that high-school religion teachers always love to draw between Marduk carving Tiamat's flesh in half and the "firmament" of the first chapter of Genesis.

I had a teacher who was convinced that was evidence of plagiarism in the Bible. I thought about it for a long time... and then happened to mention the similarities between Māui and Jesus and inquired which was the copy

 

[Sharwood]

I had a teacher who was convinced that was evidence of plagiarism in the Bible. I thought about it for a long time... and then happened to mention the similarities between Māui and Jesus and inquired which was the copy

Who's Maui?

@Dachs: I didn't, but Gilgamesh is more well-known. Especially on a Civ board.

 

[Masada]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Māui_(mythology)

It amused me to draw bad parallels and achieved my goal of sidetracking the teacher