Bible Studies

Additional Resources for Lost Books?

Use these additional resources to supplement your study on this topic. Because of the Internet's changing nature, a link may modify or get deleted. If you discover a bad link in the list below, please contact us!

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SESSION ONE:

• The Inspiration of Scripture
  This 1975 LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations booklet discusses the formation of the canon in section IV.
• Chemnitz on the Authority of Sacred Scripture
  Fred Kramer discusses the way Lutheran theologian Martin Chemnitz traces the history of God's revelation through oral tradition and writing.
• The Apocrypha (Deuterocanonical Apocrypha and Other Apocrypha)
  
• Concordia Publishing House Resource: The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes
  
• New Testament Canon in the Lutheran Dogmaticians
  J. A. O. Preus looks at the teachings of the Lutheran dogmaticians in the period of orthodoxy in regard to the canon of the New Testament, specifically their criteria of canonicity.
• Opinion of the Department of Systematic Theology: Apostolicity, Inspiration, and Canonicity
  This piece discusses the formation of the New Testament canon and why there was debate regarding certain books.
• Reservations About the Resurrection?
  Paul Maier speaks about the alleged contradictions in the resurrection accounts given in the four Gospels.
• Project Connect Booklet: The Bible What? When? Why?
  This Project Connect booklet discusses the individual books within the Bible that form the Scriptures as a whole. (Drop down to find the booklet in the Project Connect Virtual Library.)

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SESSION TWO:

• Pseudo-Matthew
  
• The Proto-Evangelium of James
  
• The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
  
• The History of Joseph the Carpenter
  
• The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Savior
  
• Decree of Pope Gelasius
  This work lists the canon of the Old and New Testaments as well as the apocryphal books that were strongly condemned.
• The Comfort of the Incarnation
  Here John Pless revisits Martin Luther's Christmas letter to Prince Joachim who is suffering from terrible bouts of depression. He reminds the prince how Jesus humbled Himself to exalt us.
• The Christology of Philippians 2:5-11
  George Reule examines Jesus in His state of humiliation.

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SESSION THREE:

• Jesus and the Gnostic Gospels
  Jeffrey Kloha discusses the importance of addressing recent challenges to the New Testament canon and the nature of the Christian Church in the second century.
• The Crucifixion and Docetic Christology
  Edwin M. Yamauchi looks at the docetic trend in the apocryphal writings and the Nag Hammadi library.
• Sethian Gnostics
  John Savage provides a brief overview of the central teachings of Sethian Gnosticism.
• Irenaeus of Lyons: Against Heresies (Books I-V)
  
• The Image of the Wheat Stalk and the Vine Twig in the Adversus Haereses of Irenaeus of Lyons
  William Weinrich discusses Irenaeus' attempt to convince the Gnostics the Father of Jesus is the Creator in the Old Testament.
• The Nag Hammadi Discovery of Manuscripts
  This article describes how the lost books were found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt.

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SESSION FOUR:

• The Revelation and Inspiration of the New Testament
  Jeffrey Kloha discusses the Gospel of Thomas.
• Much Ado About Nothing
  Paul Maier discusses so-called recent biblical discoveries: the Gospel of Judas, the "Jesus Family Tomb," claims that Jesus walked on ice, and the "Gabriel Revelation."