The Lost and Hostile Gospels / An Essay on the Toledoth Jeschu, and the Petrine and Pauline Gospels of the First Three Centuries of Which Fragments Remain

A critical survey examines apocryphal and otherwise lost Christian writings known only through fragments and hostile references, treating Jewish anti-gospels, the Toledoth Jeschu traditions, several Petrine texts preserved in fragmentary form, and a range of writings linked to Pauline and Gnostic circles. The author analyzes surviving extracts and disputed readings, assesses their origins and relationships, and explores how doctrinal disputes—especially over law and antinomian tendencies—shaped their creation and reception. Attention is also given to the composition and interdependence of the canonical gospel traditions and to methods of textual reconstruction.