One of the things I’m really excited about with Logos 10 is some increased support for learning more about Christian writings related to the New Testament, specifically writings grouped as “Christian Apocrypha” or “New Testament Apocrypha.”
One organization that has been at the forefront of researching and publishing this material is the North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature (NASSCAL, on the Twitter as @NASSCALtw).
NASSCAL, under the editorship of Tony Burke, have created a phenomenal resource they call e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. It contains summaries, manuscript witnesses, and multilingual bibliographies of scads of writings classified as Christian Apocrypha. It is a hugely valuable resource. And they licensed the material (which is frequently added to, revised, and updated) with an open license.
So after talking with folks at NASSCAL about Logos republishing the e-Clavis material for Logos Bible Software, I worked for a bit to retrieve all of their material and faithfully reproduce it so that Logos users could access it within Logos and even go to the e-Clavis itself if they wanted to. The version in Logos Bible Software is called “The NASSCAL Handbook of Christian Apocryphal Literature” and looks like this (on the right):
On left, NASSCAL e-Clavis material in the Factbook. On right, the material within the Handbook resource.
We hope to update the Logos version perhaps quarterly. In addition to the e-Clavis material, for articles where writings are also available in Logos Bible Software (in one resource or another) we have added a list of Related Articles with links to the writings in the library.
As I said earlier, I’m really excited about this particular resource. It allows careful, accurate, well-researched material on these valuable writings to be accessed within the context of Logos when you run into questions or mentions and need more information.
Thanks to NASSCAL, to Tony Burke, and to the numerous editors and contributors to the e-Clavis for their work.
(Disclaimer: I’m a member of NASSCAL, have contributed to the e-Clavis, and am currently on the board of NASSCAL as the independent scholars representative.)
Today, October 10 (aka 10/10 !) is the day the Logos 10 arrives. We’ve been at work on it for awhile, and that means it’s time for me to write a post about some of the areas I contributed to (as is my custom; see posts on Logos 9 and Logos 8).
As with Logos 9, Logos 10 (and Verbum 10) will be released with complete packages and localizations in Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Korean, and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional). New editions of the iOS and Android versions of Logos as well as a new edition of the web version of Logos are also part of this release. In other words: We’re updating everything. Lots of work, but totally worth it.
Factbook, Factbook, Factbook
As with Logos 9, an emphasis for Logos 10 is the Factbook. For Logos 10, we spent a lot of time laying the groundwork to make linking into Factbook directly from resources a whole lot easier. “Factbook Tags” are places in resources that are tagged directly to Factbook. If the visual filter for Factbook Tags is turned on, a light blue underline appears below text. This indicates a point of contact with material in Factbook. Hover, and a hover card displays. If plain text, click, and you’ll open Factbook. If the text is an existing hyperlink (popup, article jump) right-click and you can navigate to Factbook using the context menu.
For the Logos 10 launch, we have evaluated most of the library for unambiguous names and theological terms (we’re working on making this more comprehensive). Hover and get information on them. Click and read the Factbook article (likely from one of your higher rated sources).
One area I worked on for launch was supporting Factbook tags for Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, so if you’re reading a commentary (or journal, or systematic or Biblical theology) in any language and there’s Greek or Hebrew in there, you can hover to see the lemma and then link to Factbook for a lexicon article.
Now, this is where it gets REALLY COOL if you remember some of the work I did for Logos 9. That work involved supporting NT, LXX, and Hebrew Bible manuscripts in Factbook.
So for Logos 10, a chunk of my work involved adding Factbook Tags to critical apparatuses to provide access to more manuscript information where manuscripts are cited. At launch we have Factbook Tags in the NA27, NA28, UBS5, and Tyndale House GNT apparatuses; at some time after launch we will have tags in a whole lot more (for NT: Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, Metzger’s TCGNT, Comfort’s NTTTC, Hodges & Farstad, NET Bible v1 Notes, maybe NOBTS’s apparatuses; for LXX: Rahlf’s LXX, Swete’s LXX, volumes of the Göttingen LXX).
It looks like the below (using the UBS5 apparatus). Hover the “33” for the card to show. For more information, right-click the 33, select the manuscript item in the left section of the context menu, and then navigate there with “Factbook” in the right column.
From the Factbook page (on left) you can get more information on the manuscript, and for several even navigate to page images. Note that many page images require an account at the NTVMR, but an email query to the address specified in the resource should result in an account for you, though it may take a few days for a response (this is managed by the NTVMR folks, not Faithlife, so please be patient with them).
I’m not sure if you realize how important this type of linkage is to people interested in the text of the New Testament. It means that, for most things cited in modern apparatuses, images for the reading in the cited manuscript are just a few clicks away.
Creeds, OT Pseudepigrapha, and Christian Apocrypha, Oh My!
These are Factbook-related as well. But we’ve assembled resources to help users navigate and learn more about these particular areas. I’ll break these into two groups. The first group involves:
The NASSCAL Handbook of Christian Apocryphal Literature
The NASSCAL Handbook of Christian Apocryphal Literature is an edition of the e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha which is produced by the North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature (NASSCAL). It contains summaries of several Christian Apocryphal writings as well as extensive manuscript listings and bibliographies. The Logos edition also includes supplemental links to editions of Christian Apocryphal writings in resources for Logos Bible Software. It is an absolute treasure of a resource and we all need to thank the folks at NASSCAL for creating this work and for making it publicly available.
The second group involves:
Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms: A Guide
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: A Guide
These resources provide information about creeds and OT Pseudepigrapha as well as provide an index to locations in Logos resources that present editions or discuss them. They are designed to point you to more information in Factbook or potentially elsewhere in your library regarding the writings you’re interested in.
The Creeds resource has been translated into Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Korean, and Chinese (both Simplified and Traditional) for launch. We hope to translate the OT Pseudepigrapha guide into several languages over the next few months.
A Play on Words? That’s Wordplay
I worked very closely with my colleague James (Jimmy) Parks on Wordplay in the Bible. I wrote code to look for instances of wordplay discussed in commentaries; Jimmy analyzed all of that data to isolate and describe the instances. We then added links to areas where commentaries discussed the wordplay in the verse. The result is a resource, ordered like a commentary, that gives insight to wordplay going on in the original languages that may be helpful when studying the verse.
Wordplay in the Bible has been translated into French, Portuguese, and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) for release. Translations to German, Spanish, and Korean are forthcoming.
Thanks!
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! It is my hope that you’ll find Logos (whatever version you’re running) useful for the context you use it in.
In the “news you probably haven’t heard yet” department, I was recently nominated to serve on the board of the North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature (NASSCAL, website, Twitter) as the “Independent Scholars Representative.” I happily accepted and have since been confirmed to the position. The appointment runs through 2023.
The NASSCAL board created the position because they wanted the interests of independent scholars represented within the society. As an independent scholar, I’m thrilled the board acted in this way to support the work of independent scholars in the area of Christian Apocrypha.
But this all causes me, the person to directly represent these interests to the society, to wonder what your specific interests and needs of a professional academic society like NASSCAL might be.
So I’m asking: Do you consider yourself an independent scholar? Do you research or work in Christian Apocrypha or an adjacent area? I would enjoy talking with you further, particularly if you have insight, direction, or requests for ways in which NASSCAL can support independent scholars working in the area of Christian Apocrypha. You can comment here or use the blog contact form to reach me. I’m happy to email, chat by video over Zoom or Meet, or whatever else might work.
About NASSCAL
The North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature is a scholarly organization dedicated to the study of the Christian Apocrypha, a vast assortment of texts that feature tales of Jesus, his family and his immediate followers but, for various reasons, are not included in the New Testament. These texts were composed as early as the first century, and the creation of apocrypha continues even to today. The society was founded in 2014 with the goal of fostering collaboration between scholars in the field and cognate disciplines, both within North America and abroad. It welcomes participation from scholars at all stages of their careers, including graduate study.
The society is currently involved in two projects: e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha (a comprehensive database featuring manuscript listings and bibliographical resources for each apocryphal text) and Early Christian Apocrypha (a series of pocket-size texts-in-translation published in conjunction with the Westar Texts and Translation Series).
It’s that time. Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week. Christians have written about these events and how they worship for centuries.
from The Hague Medieval illuminated manuscripts, The Hague, KB, 78 D 38 II Gospels Fol. 186v
I’d like to point you to posts I’ve written in previous years for some reading this week:
Holy Week in Early Christian Papyri. This is a series of five posts, each examining different early Christian papyri that have something to do with Holy Week.
Supplementary Easter Reading: The Acts of Pilate. This post gives brief information on the Acts of Pilate, which recount the trial and crucifixion of Jesus and also the “Harrowing of Hell.” Links to PDFs of an English translation of the material are also included.
If you’ve celebrated Easter as a Christian, you’re familiar with the story as it is presented in the canonical gospels.
But you also probably have questions. What was the trial really like? Who were the other two dudes crucified next to Jesus? What was with Joseph of Arimathea and why did he want Jesus’ body? What was Hades like? How did the “harrowing of hell” happen? Was the repentant criminal on the cross actually saved?
Early Christians had these questions too. So they wrote about them. This is not canonical, this is not authoritative, but if you want to see some of the ways the early church filled these gaps, then you want to read the Acts of Pilate and the Descent of Christ to Hades.
If you’re not familiar with these stories, then take some time this Easter to read them. For those who don’t read Greek, I’m posting translations here today.
Will you be at SBL in Denver this year? Have you been itchin’ to purchase an Appian Way Press book — like one of our excellent Greek readers — but you want a deal? Hey, I get it. I postpone book purchases until SBL in hopes of a sweet deal.
Well, the Appian Way Press won’t have a booth at SBL this year (or likely any year, for that matter). But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a SWEET SBL SALE. That’s right. We’ve got five books in print, and we’ll have deals on our Greek Reader series at SBL. So here’s the SWEET SBL SALE deal:
Important: This sale is only valid for people attending the conference. I will deliver the books to you personally in Denver. These prices don’t work with shipping and handling, I’d lose money. We’re all better off if you just use your Amazon Prime and order from them if you can’t make SBL.
Step 2: I keep track of books ordered and bring them (and maybe some extras?) to SBL in Denver. Note, however, I’d rather not take cash on site for them if at all possible.
Step 3: We meet in Denver, and I give you your books. If for some reason I am unable to make it to Denver, I will either refund your money or ship the book at my expense. If we miss each other in Denver, we’ll work something out.
Why am I doing this?
It’s SBL, and folks want deals on books. I publish some of my own books. I want these books — particularly the Greek Readers — to be easy to obtain and use. That’s why I keep the reader retail price at $9.95. But let’s both benefit, cut Amazon (mostly) out of the deal, and make out. I’m making approximately the same per sale, and you’re saving some money. It’s a win-win (well, except for Amazon).
Also, sales of these books help my family pay bills regarding the adoption of our son, Josiah Michael (he’s doing well, BTW, thanks for asking). All proceeds go straight from PayPal into the account that pays the adoption bills, the money does not go into my pocket. I don’t get much from these books (do the math) but over time it does add up, and every little bit helps.
If you’re feeling generous and want to pay more than sale price (or retail price) for the books, that’s awesome and appreciated. As I said, it goes from PayPal straight into the account we have set up to pay adoption expenses.
I’ve made progress on the Acts of Pilate (A) and Descent of Christ to Hades Greek Reader (thoughts on shortening that title, anyone? Just “Acts of Pilate”?) but still have some work to do.
What’s left?
Review, edit, correct, and supplement intertextual notes
Compose chapter/section headings
Prepare revision of English translation (using Walker’s translation from Ante Nicene Fathers vol 8)
Final review
I would love for this to be available in late July, but it may creep into August.
I’ve had a printed copy of Clarysse and Orsini’s short article Christian Manuscripts from Egypt to the Times of Constantine printed and sitting on my desk for awhile. It is chock full of papyrological and epigraphal detail. Ultimately, it is about estimating dates for papyri. They include a short catalogue of “earliest Christian manuscripts” consisting of 27 manuscripts dated in the second to early third century (so, 100–250). The interesting thing that got me thinking is that there are some NT manuscripts (six, seven if you count P. Dura 10 as a diatessaron and thus NT, but I’m not convinced it’s a diatessaron). That leaves 20 manuscripts (over 2/3!) that are not NT, but still early and still Christian.
Of the remaining 20 manuscripts, 11 are Old Testament (and four of those are Psalms!) and nine are simply “other Christian literature.” Of those nine, four are witnesses to the Shepherd of Hermas (extremely popular in the early church), three are theological texts of some sort, and two are apocryphal gospels (P. Oxy. 1, Gospel of Thomas; and P. Egerton 2 + P. Köln 255).
Working through all of this stuff reminded me, once again, that early Christians produced a wide array of literature. So I started with Clarysse and Orsini’s list and broke it into three types of literature: LXX Texts, Extracanonical Texts, and Other Christian Literary Texts. Then I supplemented the LXX Texts list with material from Rahlf’s list (via the Logos Bible Software LXX Manuscript Explorer). I supplemented the other categories with data from Blumell & Wayment’s Christian Oxyrhynchus (which is a fantastic volume!). My small catalogue has 24 LXX Texts (1–350 AD), 28 Extracanonical Texts (150–399 AD), and 26 Other Christian Literary Texts (100–499 AD). Again, this catalog is not exhaustive and centers mainly around texts with Egyptian provenance from the fourth century and before. Dates are all from entries in trismegistos.org.
Over the next while, I plan to write about some of the more interesting of the Extracanonical and Christian Literary texts. There are some gems.
The apocryphal gospels — those documents that relate stories about Jesus but are not considered to be in the canon of scripture — also relate details and aspects of the story of Christ’s resurrection that are not known from canonical gospels. These are typically interweaved with details knowable from the canonical accounts.
The Gospel of Peter, known from a codex dated between the fifth and eighth centuries, was found in a cemetery in Akhmim, Egypt. It contains some very familiar details and some rather fantastic details of Christ’s resurrection. Here is a selection from GPt 9.35–10.42:
9.35 Now on the night when the Lord’s Day was drawing on, as the soldiers kept guard two by two in a watch, there was a great voice in heaven, 36 and they saw the heavens opened, and two men descend from there with much light and come close unto the tomb. 37 And the stone that had been cast at the door rolled away of itself and made way in part, and the tomb was opened, and both the young men entered in.
10.38 The soldiers, therefore, when they saw it, awakened the centurion and the elders (for they were also there keeping watch); 39 and as they told the things that they had seen, again they saw three men coming from the tomb, two of them supporting the other, and a cross following them. 40 And the head of the two reached to heaven, but that of him who was led by them overpassed the heavens. 41 And they heard a voice from the heavens, saying, “You preached to the ones who are sleeping?” 42 And a response was heard from the cross, “Yes.”
The detail in §10 about the two giant men (angels, their heads “reached to heaven”) and the even more giant cross that overshadowed them is certainly not witnessed in the canonical accounts. Even more interesting is the cross, personified, responding about preaching to those who “were sleeping.” Though please note Mark Goodacre’s conjecture that instead of “cross,” we should read “crucified one.”
Acts of Pilate (Gospel of Nicodemus)
The text known (in its Greek edition) as the Acts of Pilate is also known as the Gospel of Nicodemus in its Latin edition. It was very popular, translated to several different language editions over the centuries and even in to modern times. There are three primary parts: The trial and death of Christ, a part with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus with details on the resurrection, and the Descent of Christ to Hades.
Here is Act. Pil. §13, styled as a discussion that takes place within the synagogue. The context is that the ruling Jews had locked up Joseph of Arimathea in a room and sealed it because of his involvement in putting Jesus’ body in the tomb. The synagogue was meeting the next day (Sunday) to discuss what to do with him. However, when they went to get Joseph, they discovered that he had somehow been taken away from the locked, guarded, and sealed room.
13.1 And while still seated in the synagogue and astonished because of Joseph, there came some of the guard that the Jews had asked Pilate to keep the tomb of Jesus, lest his disciples should come and steal him away. And they reported, saying to the rulers of the synagogue and the priests and the Levites what had happened: “Somehow there was a great earthquake, and we saw an angel descend from heaven, and he rolled away the stone from the mouth of the cave, and sat upon it. And he was shining like snow and like lightning, and we were very afraid and pretended to be dead. And we heard the voice of the angel speaking with the women who waited at the tomb: “Do not fear, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Now go quickly, tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and is in Galilee.”
2 The Jews said, “Which women did he speak with?” Those of the guard said, “We do not know who they were.” The Jews said, “What hour was it?” Those of the guard said, “Midnight.” The Jews said, “And why did you not take the women?” Those of the guard said, “We became like dead men through fear, and we did not look to see the light of the day; how then could we take them?” The Jews said, “As the Lord lives, we do not believe you.” Those of the guard said to the Jews, “You saw so many signs in that man, and you did not believe, how then should you believe us? Truly you swore rightly ‘as the Lord lives,’ for he does live.” Again those of the guard said, “We have heard the reports of the one who asked for the body of Jesus, that you secured him and that you sealed the door; and when you opened it you did not find him. So you give us Joseph and we will give you Jesus.” The Jews said, “Joseph has departed to his own city.” Those of the guard said to the Jews, “And Jesus is risen, as we have heard from the angel, and he is in Galilee.”
3 And the Jews, upon hearing these words, were exceedingly fearful, saying, “Take heed lest this report be heard and everyone starts to listen to Jesus.” And the Jews took counsel and laid down a large sum of money and gave it to the soldiers, saying, “You say: ‘While we slept his disciples came by night and stole him away.’ And if this comes to the governor’s hearing we will persuade him and secure you.” And they took it and did as they were instructed.
Again, several details from the canonical accounts, but there are also significant expansions. There are more details given about what happened at the tomb, more details from the soldiers, and even some confrontation between the soldiers and synagogue leaders (you show us Joseph, we’ll show you Jesus) where the soldiers end up with assurances from the synagogue leaders that they’ll be protected if the governor hears what really happened.
So why is this stuff important if it isn’t in the canonical gospels? It shows us, again, that early Christians weren’t stupid. They had questions about things known from the New Testament, because they didn’t make sense. They were amazing and fantastic, and they believed them, but there were still questions they had about the whole thing. They fabricated some details in their telling and retelling of the stories, but that only shows us what information they found necessary to add to make sense of it all. This helps us understand what these early Christians believed, what they read, and how they assimilated it all.
So, a few weeks back, I asked the following question on the Twitter.
Some days, when I forget about everything else on my tasklist, I think I should start a podcast on “Stuff Early Christians Read (and Wrote)”. Focus on a writing or a person, with hopefully a guest. Should I?
I’m still not totally convinced, though. Heck, I can hardly find the time to write stuff on this site, let alone produce a podcast.
Also, I’d need to do it super cheap. Like, no monetary cost. Zip. Zero. Zilch.
I’m concerned about storage and video is big, but I guess that’s what YouTube / Vimeo / et. al. are for. Or go audio only, though there’s still a storage question (soundcloud)?
Basically, I want to prepare (outline main points), record in one take (warts and all) on my phone, and then publish. Probably solo, at least for a bit. Low tech pirate radio stuff. 10-15 minutes, nothing long and arduous.
Is this possible? Am I crazy for even thinking it? I mean, I already have a basic outline and plan in my head for, say, the first 10–15 episodes. Anybody out there pull off something similar?
If you’ve celebrated Easter as a Christian, you’re familiar with the story as it is presented in the canonical gospels.
Will you be at 
Rick Brannan 