Christian/Religion Studies

Apocryphal = hidden writings.:

The collection of the Old Testament books not regarded as canonical (although these were included with the first Authorized King James Version) and also the rejected New Testament books that are not in the Canon. These are Gospels of the Christian church which are not part of the New Testament and are not divinely inspired. So these are all Gospels that claimed (due to their content etc) to be Christian Gospels but are not included in the Cannon of the New Testament. Some are seen to be far-fetched and untruthful. But they do have some importance as they show us what the people of the early Christian church were thinking and writing down. And being old text they are valuable as historical pieces. Some of these Gospels have had big followings and were read on a regular basis and seen as important Gospels. The Church came down on them and a ban was put in by Damascus in 382, Innocent I in 405, and Gelasius in 496. But even with the pressure from the accepted church, the  unaccepted Apocryphal Gospels just kept coming back in popularity - they refused to stay away.