Simon J. Gathercole, The Genuine Jesus and the Counterfeit Christs: New Testament and Apocryphal Gospels

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Gathercole, Simon J. The Genuine Jesus and the Counterfeit Christs: New Testament and Apocryphal Gospels. Eerdmans, 2025. ix+131 pp. Pb. $24.99 Link to Eerdmans

Simon Gathercole is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, and Director of Studies at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He has written extensively on both the Gospels and Pauline letters, including two monographs on the Gospel of Thomas and one on the Gospel of Judas. This new book compares the canonical Gospels to several apocryphal gospels to show that the canonical Gospels are considerably different than these other “lost” gospels.

Gathercole has two propositions for this study. First, the four New Testament Gospels share key elements of theological context that mark them out from most of the non-canonical gospels. Second, the reason why the four New Testament gospels are theologically similar to one another is that they—unlike most others—follow the existing gospel message of the apostles. Essentially, the canonical Gospels are based on apostolic preaching and aim to preserve it; the non-canonical gospels “have a clear desire to distance themselves from key elements” of the apostolic preaching (109).

The first two chapters of the book introduced the “other gospels.” Gathercole includes the Gospel of Marcion, two Valentinian gospels (The Gospel of Truth in The Gospel, Philip), two Gnostic gospels (The Gospel of the Egyptians and The Gospel of Judas), The Gospel of Peter, The Gospel of Thomas, and The Gospel of Mary. Each is introduced with a short sample. How can you tell the gospel apart? He suggests that the non-canonical gospels lack a certain “normality” when compared to the canonical gospels. There are strange elements in each of his examples, such as the talking cross in the Gospel of Peter. With respect to the origins of these non-canonical gospels, authorship is usually unclear, and they tend to date later than the canonical gospels (this may be debatable for the Gospel of Thomas, but he is generally correct). The non-canonical gospels lack biographical narration, focusing on dialogue between Jesus and a main character. Gathercole suggests that the non-canonical gospels may have been less popular, but this is a difficult criterion since truth is not measurable by popularity or majority.

It is the theological differences that distinguish the non-canonical gospels from the canonical ones. These differences are the burden of the rest of the book. He compares four issues of critical concern in the canonical gospels to those in the apocryphal gospels, devoting a chapter to each. For each theological topic, he summarizes how the canonical Gospels present the idea, highlighting the diversity between the four while showing they are remarkably similar. He then surveys his eight examples, looking for similarities and contrasts with the canonical gospels.

First, Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. In the canonical gospels, this is a central fee. However, in the non-canonical gospels, some will reject the idea that Jesus was the Messiah or ignore Jesus as the Messiah. Second, the canonical gospels focus on Jesus’s death as necessary for salvation, while the non-canonical gospels tend to downplay the crucifixion or bury it in the background. Third, another key element of the canonical gospels is Jesus’s resurrection. The resurrection was part of apostolic preaching from the beginning (1 Cor 15:4), and in many ways, the canonical gospels reach their conclusion with the resurrection of Jesus. Non-canonical gospels either rejected Jesus’s death and resurrection (Judas and Egyptian) or collapsed the death and resurrection together (the Valentinian gospels). Some accept the idea of resurrection. Jesus is alive, but that is the extent of the resurrection. Fourth, in each of the canonical gospels, Jesus fulfills the Hebrew scriptures. This is a significant feature in all four of the canonical gospels. However, in non-canonical gospels, the idea that Jesus fulfills scripture is either irrelevant or ambiguous in its fulfillment.

After surveying these for theological points in both the canonical and non-canonical gospels, he returns to his original two propositions. The reason why the canonical gospels are similar is that they are all based on apostolic preaching. The reason the non-canonical gospels are different is that they are not based on that same tradition. Obviously, they have some awareness of the gospel story and may have known the canonical gospels. But the theology of the canonical gospels is not important for their theological emphases.

Gathercole makes an important point in this book. The non-canonical gospels are not an alternative Bible that presents a unified view (53). There is quite a range of theological motives and interests in the eight gospels he has chosen to feature in this book. There are many more apocryphal gospels, often with even more divergent theological views. Too often, studies of apocryphal gospels lean towards conspiracy theories. It is not the case that these apocryphal gospels represent a strand of Christian theology that was violently suppressed by orthodoxy.

In most cases, they differ enough from the canonical gospels that they never gained traction with the majority of the church. Significant church theologians indeed condemned many, but the fact that we have copies today indicates they were copied and studied. Considering the expense of copying a book in the ancient world, it is no surprise that there are fewer manuscripts available.

Conclusion. This brief book is a good introduction to eight examples from the New Testament Apocrypha. Noncanonical gospels are often interesting to read since they give an insight into the wide range of theological views in the early church. Gathercole’s introduction to this literature and his comparison of it to the canonical gospels are a valuable contribution that most readers will enjoy.

Gathercole recently edited an edition of the Apocryphal Gospels for Penguin Classics (2022). This extensive collection includes the gospels mentioned in this volume, as well as many others, including fragmentary gospels found among the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus. This inexpensive book is a good value for readers interested in the Apocryphal Gospels.

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