INDEX OF SUPPRESSED ORIGINS
BEYOND
THE CANON.
Explore the spiritual texts that sit outside the familiar canon. Read the words, trace their origins, and make up your own mind.
View full manuscript ↗The end of John. The beginning of Thomas.
Nag Hammadi Codex II, page 32 · Coptic · 4th century
THE STARTER ARCHIVE
Six texts.
One place to begin.
Thomas, Mary, Philip, Truth, Thunder and Dialogue. Six finished reading editions with the surviving evidence, manuscript context and uncertainty kept visible.
THE READING EDITIONS
Begin with a text.
The work itself, with the context to read it.
Yours to download and return to.
The Gospel of Thomas
114 sayings attributed to Jesus. A different way into the questions at the heart of early Christianity.
The Gospel of Philip
Read the text alongside a source dossier that separates the surviving Coptic witness from later claims about what Philip does - and does not - tell us about early Christianity.
The Gospel of Mary
A surviving voice on revelation and authority, with the missing passages clearly marked.
The Gospel of Truth
Read the substantially complete text with both surviving witnesses identified and disputed authorship kept separate from the manuscript evidence.
Thunder, Perfect Mind
Read the complete surviving witness with its paradoxes, lacunae and manuscript context kept visible.
The Hypostasis of the Archons
Read the complete surviving text with its alternate title, manuscript witness and damaged readings kept clear.
On the Origin of the World
Read the complete Codex II witness without silently combining it with the separate Codex XIII fragments.
The Dialogue of the Savior
Read the complete surviving witness with its manuscript damage and editorial signs kept visible.
The Sophia of Jesus Christ
Read both surviving versions in full, with the manuscript gaps and witness boundaries kept clear.
The Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter
Read the complete surviving Coptic text with its witness identity and editorial apparatus kept clear.
The Gospel of the Egyptians
Read both complete surviving witnesses without silently filling one manuscript from the other.
Allogenes the Stranger
Read the complete surviving witness with its damaged opening and manuscript identity kept clear.
Three Forms of Primal Thought
Read the complete surviving witness with its source title, damaged passages and three-part structure kept clear.
The Paraphrase of Shem
Read the full surviving witness with manuscript evidence and later interpretation kept separate.
The Didache
Read the complete surviving Hoole translation with the manuscript record and later interpretation kept separate.
The Epistle of Barnabas
Codex placement is kept distinct from claims about canonical status: this edition does not claim that a council removed the work from the Bible.
The Odes of Solomon
This is Harris's complete surviving English Ode body: no missing passage is silently supplied.
The Acts of Paul and Thecla
Tertullian's objection records a real controversy over Thecla, teaching and baptism; it does not establish the old catalogue claim of a single fourth-century suppression.
The Apocalypse of Paul
Includes the source introduction, translation and notes.
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
Read the complete source edition with its manuscript basis and editorial substitutions stated clearly.
The Infancy Gospel of James
Includes the source introduction, translation and notes.
The Exegesis on the Soul
Read the complete surviving NHC II,6 witness with manuscript damage and source boundaries kept visible.
The Book of Thomas the Contender
Read the complete surviving NHC II,7 text with its damaged passages, translator’s note and colophon preserved.
The Secret Gospel of Mark
Includes the source introduction, translation and notes.
The Gospel of Judas
Includes the source introduction, translation and notes.
The Stranger’s Book
Includes the source introduction, translation and notes.
The Testimony of Truth
Includes the source introduction, translation and notes.
The Gospel of Q
Includes the source introduction, translation and notes.
DISCOVERY FILE / 01
1945NAG HAMMADI, UPPER EGYPTTHE TEXTS RESURFACE
A library beneath
the familiar story.
A collection of ancient Coptic books surfaced near Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945. Among them was the complete Gospel of Thomas: 114 sayings attributed to Jesus.
The books opened a much wider window onto early Christian thought. Exactly how they were found—and why they had been deposited there—remains a subject of scholarly debate.
Read the discovery overview · Biblical Archaeology Society ↗FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
From the reading room.
Discovery accounts, scholarship and the manuscript itself.
Go beyond our editions and explore the sources.
The Discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices
James M. Robinson’s published account of the discovery.
James M. Robinson · The Biblical Archaeologist42 (4), pp. 206–224View journal record ↗SCHOLARLY DEBATE · 2013
How Reliable is the Story of the Nag Hammadi Discovery?
A critical examination of the story surrounding the find.
Mark Goodacre · Journal for the Study of the New Testament35 (4), pp. 303–322View journal record ↗MANUSCRIPT IMAGE · 4TH CENTURY
Look closely at the surviving page.
The photographed page shown above, with its source and reproduction details.
Nag Hammadi Codex II, page 32Image record · Wikimedia CommonsInspect the image record ↗
External sources. Journal access may require a subscription. Source links do not imply an affiliation or endorsement.
Scan via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · View source ↗
A NOTE ON OUR APPROACH
Source before story.
Not every non-canonical text was banned. Not every surviving fragment tells the whole story. We keep the text, its history and later interpretations distinct, so you can explore with curiosity and read with confidence.
- 01 What survives
- The text and its gaps, made visible.
- 02 Where it comes from
- Manuscripts, translations and transmission.
- 03 What remains uncertain
- Disputed dates, meanings and attributions.
THE WIDER ARCHIVE
Follow a thread.
105 records across scripture, philosophy and mystical traditions. A place to follow a question wherever it leads.
Explore the complete index ↗