Although there are a variety of editions of the New Testament apocrypha in English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian, the actual Greek texts of many of these apocrypha are still difficult to access, particularly in a single volume.

This volume would present just such a collection, with the Greek text reproduced for scholarly inquiry as well as other pertinent information that will further the scholarly enterprise. Perhaps the greatest contribution that this book will make is to provide an accurate and comprehensive collection of Greek non-canonical Christian texts from the pre-canonical period.

The texts will be searchable by their Greek vocabulary as well as by title, contents, and date. During the past two centuries, a wide variety of apocryphal Christian texts have surfaced in papyri collections across Europe and in the United States. Furthermore, some of the papyri that were already edited and published have been sold to collecting institutions, making the physical location of some papyri difficult to trace.

Frequently, holding institutions are no longer even aware of the extent of their holdings (this is based on conversations with the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York). This volume will indicate where the papyri are housed today and in certain instances where their permanent housing institution is. Finally, high quality images of the texts will provide a valuable reference point for comparison and further scholarly research when images of the papyri are difficult to obtain.