Category Archives: NASSCAL

NASSCAL’s e-Clavis Included in Logos 10 Packages

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.)

NASSCAL and Independent Scholars

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).

(Taken from nasscal.com and slightly modified)