This collection of apocryphal writings supersedes the best-selling edition by M.R. James, first published in 1924. Since then, several new works have come to light, and the textual base for some of the works previously translated by James is now more secure. This volume presents new translations of the texts into modern English, together with a short introduction and bibliography for each of them. It is designed to give readers the most important and famous non-canonical Christian writings, many of them popular legends with an enormous influence on later, particularly medieval, art and literature, as well as on later beliefs and practices of the Church.

Professor Epp's purpose in this investigation is to discover to what extent textual variants in the New Testament were caused by dogmatic interference with the text. Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, a late fifth-century manuscript of the Gospels and Acts, is the leading Greek representative of the so-called 'Western' text, and a natural starting point for an inquiry into theological bias behind the striking variants in that textual tradition. Professor Epp makes a detailed comparison between the 'Western' text and the 'Neutral' text of Acts, and discloses a strongly heightened anti-Judaic tendency in the Western text. He concludes that a theological motive for these variants can hardly be questioned, since the Western text of Acts is more consistent in delineating its particular viewpoint and more abundant in its evidence than could reasonably be expected of an aberrant textual tradition. This theological approach to textual criticism is not new, but it has been confined hitherto to isolated passages.

The name "Junia" appears in Romans 16: 7, and Paul identifies her (along with Andronicus) as "prominent among the apostles." In this important work, Epp investigates the mysterious disappearance of Junia from the traditions of the church. Because later theologians and scribes could not believe (or wanted to suppress) that Paul had numbered a woman among the earliest churches' apostles, Junia's name was changed in Romans to a masculine form. Despite the fact that the earliest churches met in homes and that other women were clearly leaders in the churches (e.g., Prisca and Lydia), calling Junia an apostle seemed too much for the tradition. Epp tracks how this happened in New Testament manuscripts, scribal traditions, and translations of the Bible. In this thoroughgoing study, Epp restores Junia to her rightful place.