This is a fascinating book about some of the writings of Christianity that did not make it into the New Testament. While I had expected full "missing gospel" texts to be included, this book had more of selective quotations interspersed between academic debates. There is the Gospel of Thomas, the Letters of Clement, and well as some really obscure writings I had never heard of...some of which include Jesus laughing above his own crucifixion or wooden crosses verbally speaking at Jesus' tomb. The author is a respected academic in the evangelical movement. His main intent is to show how the "missing gospels" support the validity of the New Testament and--where they don't--that they are false. While I found this to be rather biased, I was not surprised given the author's background. Nevertheless, I did learn a lot about the religious and spiritual climate of the first few centuries following Jesus' passing from this earth. Christianity isn't just what's in the New Testament. Read Bock's book to learn about the alternative Christian books that often don't get the spotlight.
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