Product Description

On March 20, 1967, the Berlin Egyptian Museum acquired a collection of thirty-three parchment fragments written in Coptic. There they were given the simple designation P22220 and stored unceremoniously in paper folders.

Almost thirty years later, two American scholars working independently of each other—Charles Hedrick and Paul Mirecki—began to study these forgotten fragments. What they found were pieces of a previously unknown gospel, a gospel composed perhaps in the second century and written down sometime between the fourth and seventh centuries.

This new gospel text contains sayings of a speaker identified as "the savior" and dialogues between the savior and "the apostles." While it shares some sayings with the canonical gospels, there are remarkable additions: To the familiar "You are the salt of the earth" (Matt 5:13), for example, is added the phrase "you are the fire that illuminates the world"—a saying unknown in the canonical gospels.

In this first-ever publication of The Gospel of the Savior, the scholars who discovered and reconstructed it provide a translation and critical original language text, along with illuminating introduction, commentary, and Coptic/Greek indices. This volume also includes complete facsimile reproductions of the fragments.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1276230 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 166 pages

Review
Only occasionally does a new Christian gospel emerge out of the world of antiquity, and the present book provides such an occasion. Gospel of the Savior is a fascinating new text presenting a Jesus who is sometimes quite familiar, sometimes quite strange. This gospel is presented in an excellent and attractive edition, and now may be placed alongside the canonical and noncanonical gospels as required reading for our study of the interpretations of Jesus in the early church. --Marvin Meyer, Chapman University

Students of early Christian literature are indebted to Hedrick and Mirecki for their excellent work. -- Religious Studies Review

Students of early Christian literature are indebted to Hedrick and Mirecki for their excellent work. --Religious Studies Review

The publication of Gospel of the Savior adds an exciting new dimension to the study of ancient gospels. -- Karen King, author of The Gospel of Mary of Magdala

The publication of Gospel of the Savior adds an exciting new dimension to the study of ancient gospels. Set in the period of Jesus' life just before the crucifixion, it offers an intriguing elaboration of Jesus' final farewell to his disciples, capped by accounts of their ascent to the divine. The editors should be commended for their excellent work in rendering this fragmentary material into a usable resource for the reconstruction of Christian beginnings. --Karen King, Harvard Divinity School

From the Publisher
In the archives of the Berlin Egyptian Museum, ancient parchment fragments designated Papyrus Berolinensis 22220 were stored in four paper folders, with one larger fragment stored between glass plates. The fragments had apparently been in the museum for decades. A note scrawled in German accompanied the fragments and hinted at the contents. In English it read:

22220 Several fragmentary parchment leaves: New Testament Apocrypha (apparently sayings of Jesus). Circa 6th century (old!) Caution!

American scholars Charles Hedrick and Paul Mirecki have now reconstructed a manuscript from these parchment fragments-a manuscript that turns out to be a previously unknown early Christian gospel.

From the Back Cover
Praise for Gospel of the Savior:

"Only occasionally does a new Christian gospel emerge out of the world of antiquity, and the present book provides such an occasion. Gospel of the Savior is a fascinating new text presenting a Jesus who is sometimes quite familiar, sometimes quite strange. This gospel is presented in an excellent and attractive edition, and it now may be placed alongside the canonical and non-canonical gospels as required reading for our study of the interpretations of Jesus in the early church."-Marvin Meyer, Chapman University

"The publication of Gospel of the Savior adds an exciting new dimension to the study of ancient gospels. Set in the period of Jesus' life just before the crucifixion, it offers an intriguing elaboration of Jesus' final farewell to his disciples, capped by accounts of their ascent to the divine. The editors should be commended for their excellent work in rendering this fragmentary material into a usable resource for the reconstruction of Christian beginnings."-Karen L. King, Harvard Divinity School

Customer Reviews

A carefully edited critical edition
To my surprise this is not a popularisation but the editio princeps of the text, and a piece of sound textual scholarship. Speculation is kept to a minimum, Christian-baiting is omitted, and the emphasis is on providing the data to the scholarly community. The introduction, transcription and translation are by Prof. Hedrick; the commentary by Dr. Mirecki, but both take responsibility for each other's contribution, and the 'join' is not really visible. Full monochrome photographs are provided, and a critical apparatus. There is a distinct tendency to avoid making judgements on points of detail. The editors are clearly aware that any such discussion would render their book obsolete within a year or two as the issues are thrashed out. There is an excellent section on the codicology. It is difficult not to be impressed at the skill with which the jigsaw puzzle has been put together. Interestingly some of the fragments bear Coptic page numbers - 99, 100, etc - which indicates the text comes from a larger volume. The translation is literalist, which is very welcome, and the text and translation laid out opposite each other in the diplomatic manner. The commentary attempts to elucidate the meaning of the fragments, and likewise avoids large and loose conclusions.

Issues of dating are addressed very tentatively. The book is parchment, in quires, written in a polished Sahidic Coptic, and displays some skill in codex making. Analysis of letter forms suggests a date between the 4th-7th centuries - perhaps most likely somewhere in the middle. The book has suffered damage by fire, but no comment is made about this. The text seems to make use of both Matthew and John, with an occasional echo of Luke, and reflects the Coptic text of these works. There is a reference to 'Aeons', the 'Pleroma', and other general Gnostic indicators, e.g. 'Do not let matter rule over you' (p.98 line 44 of the codex/p.31). The editors feel that the 'latest date for its original composition is probably in the late second century' (p.2), although they fail to make quite clear why. However a second century date for the work seems quite reasonable, in view of the definite but unfocused nature of the Gnosticism in the surviving fragments, which I suspect is the basis for their statement. There is a general smattering of Greek words throughout the codex. A very careful paragraph (pp.12-13) discusses evidence for one Coptic word being a too literal mistranslation of a Greek idiom and so 'implies that the Gospel of the Savior is based on an earlier Greek original subsequently translated into Coptic'. The scholarly refusal here to say too more than the evidence demands, combined with the solid scholarship underlying it, makes very pleasant reading.

There are full references to other ancient texts, probable or otherwise. Curiously there are two references in the fragments which could relate to the long ending of Mark, (e.g. 'sitting at the right hand of the father upon your (sg.) throne', 17H 4-6, p71 = Mark 14:6, Mark 16:19 and many other refs). One of the statements of the 'saviour' is also found in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas - 'he that is near me is near to the fire; he that is far from me is far from life' (107.43-48, CGoT 82). It is pleasing to see an awareness that some of the elements used may have no connection with any organised group but may simply be part of the general pagan religious climate of antiquity (p.24). The pseudo-Christian title given to this document by the editors is unfortunate, in that it acts as a barrier to understanding, as M.R.James long ago pointed out in the preface to his edition of the 'New Testament Apocrypha'. To call this work a gospel forces the editors to define a 'gospel' to mean nothing more specific than a work containing sayings or perhaps narrative about someone who may be called Jesus or is in some way based on the historical figure (p.1). This ties the work too closely to some sort of pseudo-Christian context. Few would doubt that in antiquity the extra-canonical works formed a broad spectrum, shading from orthodox works like the Acts of Paul right the way down to basically pagan texts which added some nominal 'Jesus' into the syncretist stew. It would seem that the word 'gospel' has really outlived its usefulness if it prevents us from recognising and working with this continuum. Doubtless the difficulty of finding another word has something to do with the continued popularity of the word 'gospel'. To call the codex the 'Gospel of the Savior' also seems unwise, in view of the inferences that those ignorant of the subject will infallibly draw from it. It would have been better to give it a neutral name like the Berlin Gospel.

The work consists of dialogue between a central figure and his hearers, and an ascension by them all in 'to the [fourth] heaven'(p.113 line 16 of the codex - p.45 in the edition), scattering the discomfited 'watchers' and cherubim. The central figure is referred to only as the 'saviour' and the words 'for us apostles' (113.3/p.45) and mention of Andrew and John suggest that the unknown 'author' is supposed to be an apostle, although I do not recall that this point is made anywhere. The manner in which the saviour does his saving is unclear, due to the fragmentary nature of the text. But he does do a lot of direct talking to the cross - 'A little longer, O Cross, and all the pleroma is perfected'(5F.30-32/p.55) etc, which may yet inspire some satire, perhaps about a previously unrecognised 'ecological Jesus', who talked a lot to trees!

The focus of the book is the data, rather than the ludicrous theories that appeared in some of the press releases, and for that we owe them a debt of gratitude. Recommended.

Carefully pieced together from parchment pieces
The collaboration of biblical scholars Charles W. Hedrick and Paul A. Mirecki, Gospel Of The Savior: A New Ancient Gospel is the first publication and translation of a long-lost Christian gospel written in the Coptic language of Christian Egypt. Carefully pieced together from parchment pieces found in the Berlin Egyptian Museum, this long-lost gospel presents dialogues and discourse of a figure called "the savior" by his apostles. Extensive commentary upon the text fragments rounds out this fascinating, meticulously researched, painstakingly translated, and superbly presented reference. Fascinating reading for Christian history, theology, and scholarship, this edition of the Gospel Of The Savior is an essential, core addition to any serious, comprehensive New Testament Studies academic reference collection.

A Must Have For Students of Early Christianity
Mirecki and Hedrick team up to present a coherent and comprehensive text on an ancient gospel rarely discussed in non-academic circles. The concise, unbiased presentation is a must for any library of early Christianity.