Rating: 
Summary: A difinitive alternative Bible
Review: Most typical scriptures that many hear about touch on the writings in this book and sometimes even refer to them (Secret of Enoch). If you feel that there are holes in the traditional canon of today, these fill them splendidly. They helped me see that there is more to God than we previously imagined. It is a real eye-opener and I give it full merits for Barnstone's endeavors.It gives readers a sense of knowledge and understanding of what they presently know. A definite compendium on the whole spectrum of Christianity and Gnostic beliefs. These "Lost Books" gave me alot of insight into the true meaning of Christain belief. The only problem with it is that there are some writings in this book that others would not agree with or refuse on the basis of that it is not similar to what they already know. Read it with an open mind and heart. I wish I could give it more than 5 stars. Such books are becoming more and more available which can be searched on Amazon.com.
Rating: 
Summary: fascinating, but not as important as many claim it to be
Review: the gnostic pieces in this book are completely worthless to christians (in particular) due to their teachings that are contrary to the NT and/or OT (such as the idea that only men can enter heaven, as written in the "Gospel of Thomas," which goes completely against the equal treatment christ showed women in the canonical gospels). however, the bits and pieces of various jewish pseudepigrapha that are contained in "the other bible" are fascinating and, in some cases, important to christians (such as "The Book of Enoch," quoted in the NT in "The Epistle of Jude"). the christian apocrypha is also interesting to read, yet i found it interesting that barstone did not include more popular works such as "The Epistle of Barnabas" (which st. jerome considered to be canonical) and "The Gospel of Peter." these texts are interesting, but are they really important? they were written so long after christ that i question much of their validity. it is sad, however, that many of the texts contained withing "the other bible" are only partial texts - the entire books aren't printed. it would have been nice to have the entire "Book of Enoch" instead of only bits and pieces. "the other bible" is, at points, interesting reading for christians, in particular. but, if one is reading this in order to gain a more in-depth and accurate look at christ and/or christianity, one should look elsewhere (particularly in THE bible). kudos to barnstone for the introductions to each book though, which provided a context for the book many of us would have not known. ps - it would be interesting in something like dante's divine comedy were ever considered for something like this. it, like many of the books contained in "the other bible" was written long after christ. pps - "The Book of Jubilees" and the Haggadah account of creation were an absolute blast to read.
Rating:
Summary: Speed reading not recommended
Review: The Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data designates The Other Bible as, "A collection of ancient, esoteric texts from Judeo-Christian traditions, excluded from the official canon of the Old and New Testaments". Observing that I borrowed The Other Bible from the library repeatedly, my daughter purchased it for me. The more than 700 pages of sacred literature appeared altogether foreign at first, but now that I'm comfortable with a few favorites, I'm ready to become aquainted with unfamiliar chapters as well. Although the ancient writings don't yield their cryptic secrets easily, the chapters' introductions, provided by Editor Willis Barnstone or other scholars, provide the background necessary to tackle pages otherwise too daunting. Tackling is what it takes for this reader to arrive at a modicum of understanding, but the effort is worth it. Speed reading won't do in grasping its contents, thus The Other Bible promises to provide years of facinating struggle to decipher these unusual manuscripts.
Rating:
Summary: AMAZING! So much knowledge in one book!
Review: The OTHER BIBLE is on my coffee table. Anywhere you'd like to pick up and read is wonderful! So many things I have learned that I did not know or even hear of the able to make up what I want to believe. The infancy gospel of Thomas....Gospels of Matthew....This definately is worth the investment x 100!
Rating: 
Summary: Good overview of scripture not in the bible
Review: This book gave me a real insight into alternative scripture. The only thing I didn't like was I felt some of the texts were to short even for excerpts. But it does give you a taste for reading more about it
Rating:
Summary: Collects pretty much every Ancient Alternative Scripture
Review: This book has pretty much every ancient scripture under the sun. Nice fat book. Highly recommended to those studying alternative scriptures..
Rating:
Summary: To Go A Step Beyond
Review: This book is a good choice to begin to learn about the amazing historical writings that were not included in the traditional holy books.
Especially Gnosticism and the early Christian Church, and especially the creation of the New Testament Bible. For a different review....here is my review of books that build on these interests, especially the "lost" books of the New Testament Bible and the concepts of Gnosticism.
Nearly all knowledgeable Biblical scholars realize there have been a wide range of writings attributed to Jesus and his Apostles..... and that some of these were selected for compilation into the book that became known as the Bible.....and that some books have been removed from some versions of the Bible and others have been re-discovered in modern times.
The attention focused on Gnosticism by Dan Brown's DaVinci Code may be debatable, but the fact is that increased attention on academics tends to be predominately positive, so I welcome those with first-time or renewed interest. At least first-timers to Gnosticism are not pursuing the oh-so-popular legends of the Holy Grail, Bloodline of Christ, and Mary Magdalene.
This is great......I seldom quote other reviewers, but there is one reviewer of Pagels' books who confided that he had been a Jesuit candidate and had been required to study a wide range of texts but was never was told about the Nag Hamadi texts. He said:
"Now I know why. The Gospel of Thomas lays waste to the notion that Jesus was `the only begotten Son of God' and obviates the need for a formalized church when he says, `When your leaders tell you that God is in heaven, say rather, God is within you, and without you.' No wonder they suppressed this stuff! The Roman Catholic Church hasn't maintained itself as the oldest institution in the world by allowing individuals to have a clear channel to see the divinity within all of us: they need to put God in a bottle, label the bottle, put that bottle on an altar, build a church around that altar, put a sign over the door, and create rubricks and rituals to keep out the dis-believing riff-raff. Real `Us' versus `them' stuff, the polar opposite from `God is within You.' `My God is bigger than your God' the church(s)seem to say. And you can only get there through "my" door/denomination. But Jesus according to Thomas had it right: just keep it simple, and discover the indwelling Divinity `within you and without you.'"
Here are quickie reviews of what is being bought these days on the Gnostic Gospels and the lost books of the Bible in general:
The Lost Books of the Bible (0517277956) includes 26 apocryphal books from the first 400 years that were not included in the New Testament.
Marvin Meyers' The Secret Teachings of Jesus : Four Gnostic Gospels (0394744330 ) is a new translation without commentary of The Secret Book of James, The Gospel of Thomas, The Book of Thomas, and The Secret Book of John.
James M. Robinson's The Nag Hammadi Library in English : Revised Edition (0060669357) has been around 25 years now and is in 2nd edition. It has introductions to each of the 13 Nag Hammadi Codices and the Papyrus Berioinensis 8502.
The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (0140278079) by Geza Vermes has selected works....a complete work is more difficult to achieve than the publisher's marketing concept indicates. His commentary generates strong reactions.
Elaine Pagels has 2 books (The Gnostic Gospels 0679724532 and Beyond Belief : The Secret Gospel of Thomas 0375501568) that have received considerable attention lately. For many, her work is controversial in that it is written for popular consumption and there is a strong modern interpretation. She does attempt to reinterpret ancient gender relationships in the light of modern feminist thinking. While this is a useful (and entertaining) aspect of college women's studies programs, it is not as unethical as some critics claim. As hard as they may try, all historians interpret the past in the context of the present. Obviously there is value in our attempts to re-interpret the past in the light of our own time.
If you want the full scholarly work it is W. Schneemelcher's 2 volume New Testament Apocrypha.
Also, to understand the Cathars......try Barbara Tuckman's Distant Mirror for an incredible historical commentary on how the Christian Church has handled other points of view
Rating:
Summary: Great Book for a Great Price
Review: This book is great for Christians wanting to understand Biblical times and Biblical backgrounds.
Rating:
Summary: Found Info
Review: This book will help anyone studying any path of theology to get the whole picture on Christianity. The different paths religion took, and the relationship of modern new age religions, the resurrgence of ancient religions, and the ancient Christian religion before the effects of politics and religious control of human kind. It also shows links with indiginous peoples from around the world.
Rating:
Summary: a great addition
Review: this is a great book if you want to research the various judaisms and christianities of the ancient world. however, being the prude that I am, i would like to correct another review of this book. concepts such as martyrdom,resurection, purgatory, praying for the dead, and other "pagan" practices can be found can be found in the biblical book of 2Maccabees, a Pharasaic work written a few generations after the Maccabean revolt.These ideas are apart of catholic christianity because christianity(Jesus)came out of the same hellenistic diasporic Jewish matrix as the Pharisees. Anywho, if there is any problem with this book, it is that those who are seeking inspiration or spirituality find this as an alternative or as supressed truths. Supressed? yes, some, many centuries after they were written,were supressed by the emporer, others were simply thrown out. It does'nt have all of the gnostic works, but it does provide an excellent translation of the dead Sea Scrolls and it should be considered a great resource book. One thing that should always be said before reading any extrabiblical text: become very familiar with the Old Testament first. Many people have read these works and have no familiarity with the various forms of Judaisms in the first century, they( the readers) usually end up terribly confused.
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