Apocryphon

This article is about the religious writings. For the album by The Sword, see Apocryphon (album). For the album by Information Society, see Apocryphon: Electro Roots 1982–1985.

"Apocryphon" ("secret writing"), plural apocrypha, was a Greek term for a genre of Jewish and Early Christian writings that were meant to impart "secret teachings" or gnosis (knowledge) that could not be publicly taught. Such private instruction to the apostles figures in the canonical Gospels of the New Testament[1] and furnishes the material of the "sayings" Gospel of Thomas and part of the material of the Gospel of Mary. It is purportedly a secret teaching supposedly committed to a trusted disciple by Christ after his resurrection. The secret teaching in Gnostic literature refers to several things.[2]

Examples that have their own entries include:

See also

References

  1. See Messianic secret and Gnosticism and the New Testament.
  2. Kripal, Jeffrey, The Serpent's Gift. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 2007