"The scope of this collection, as it examines the transformation of the ancient world into Byzantine Christianity, demonstrates that the early Christian apocryphal literature is a vital source for historians of Christianity, for scholars of patristics and of the New Testament, and for those inquiring into such timeless issues as the structure of political authority, the role of women, religious experience, and the organization of social responsibility."--BOOK JACKET.

Each Christmas, adults and children alike delight at the story of the kings from the East who followed the star to Bethlehem to offer gifts to the newborn Christ. While this familiar tale is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, another little-known version later emerged that claimed to be the eyewitness account of the wise men. This ancient manuscript has lain hidden for centuries in the vaults of the Vatican Library, but through the determined persistence of a young scholar, Brent Landau, this astonishing discovery has been translated into English for the very first time as the Revelation of the Magi. Everything we know about the wise men is based on only a few verses from the Bible. With the Revelation of the Magi, we can now read the story from the Magi's perspective. Readers will learn of the Magi's prophecies of God's incarnation from the beginning of time, their startling visitation in the form of a star, the teachings they receive from the baby Jesus, and the wise men's joyous return to their homeland to spread the good news. This ancient version of the Christmas story is guaranteed to astonish and delight. It will also raise larger questions of the significance and meaning of Christ's birth, and the mission to spread the good news to every corner of the globe. All the drama and intrigue of the brief description of Jesus's birth in the Bible is filled out in greater, more colorful detail, offering for the first time the complete story of these beloved characters.

"An emerging field of study that explores the Hispanic minority in the United States, Latino Studies is enriched by an interdisciplinary perspective. Historians, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, demographers, linguists, as well as religion, ethnicity, and culture scholars, among others, bring a varied, multifaceted approach to the understanding of a people whose roots are all over the Americas and whose permanent home is north of the Rio Grande. Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies offers an authoritative, trustworthy, and up-to-date intellectual map to this ever-changing discipline."--Editorial page.

The Gospel of Nicodemus, otherwise known as the Acts of Pilate (Acta Pilati) is not assumed to have written by Pilate, but rather to have been compiled from the official acts which were preserved in the praetorium at Jerusalem. The original is said to have been written by Nicodemus in Hebrew. The work gained a wide readership in the Middle Ages, with its popularity shown by the number of languages and versions in which it exists. Currently, there are known copies in Greek, Coptic, Armenian and Latin. These Acts are composed of three sections. The first section relates to the trial of Jesus and is similar to Luke 23. The second part regards the Resurrection. Then in the third part, Christ's Descent into Hell (Descensus ad Infernos), for which there is no known Greek text. In it, Leucius and Charinus, two souls who are raised from the dead after the Crucifixion tell the Sanhedrin the circumstances of the descent of Christ into Limbo. This short book gives the full Acts of Pilate along with footnotes to referring Bible passages and includes the Latin text of "Descensus ad Infernos" as an appendix. The source text for this work is "Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, and Revelations" (1870) by Alexander Walker (1825-1903).

Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel and tells the story of Jesus's followers during the 30 years after his death. It describes how the 12 apostles, formerly Jesus's disciples, spread the message of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean against a background of persecution. With an introduction by P.D. James