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Audiobook edition · 4 h 26 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 146 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 146 pagesAbout this book
What can a gospel in broken fragments reveal about the world of early Christian faith?
The Coptic Gospel of the Twelve presents itself as the testimony of Jesus’s twelve apostles. Its surviving Coptic manuscripts are damaged and incomplete, but they place the apostles around their teacher, drawing on their voices and experiences rather than following a continuous story from birth to death.
This anonymous writing opens a window onto Egyptian Christianity, where monks copy, share and debate texts beyond the main biblical canons. Its author remains unknown, and scholars disagree about its origins. Read it as a witness to early Christian imagination, not a lost key to hidden facts: its gaps are part of the encounter.
What you’ll discover
- The apostles at the centre Explore a text that places the Twelve and their shared experiences beside their teacher.
- A gospel in pieces Encounter surviving fragments, with room to notice both what remains and what is missing.
- The world of Coptic Christianity Meet the setting where monastic communities preserve and discuss writings attributed to the apostles.
- Beyond the biblical canon Consider a writing outside the core texts that Christian communities gradually come to recognise.
- Questions without settled answers Approach uncertain origins with curiosity, without expecting a complete story or a settled text.
Who will love it
Readers who love early Christian apocrypha and the Nag Hammadi world will enjoy it, as will anyone drawn to stories of Jesus among animals, gentle ethics and fresh tellings of the parables.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The Twelve Offer One Woven Gospel
- Two Births Promise Redemption for Animals
- Mercy to Thirsty Animals Restores the Magi's Sight
- The Hidden Years Show Jesus Learning First
- John Calls for Mercy and Jesus Refuses Four Temptations
- Jesus Gathers Disciples and Sends Out Four Groups
- Healings Come with Lessons in Humility
- Kindness to Every Creature Defines the Disciple
- A Law Written in the Heart
- Parables and Warnings Point to Inner Readiness
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Coptic Gospel of the Twelve
by Anonymous
Jesus frees caged birds, heals a beaten horse, and calls his followers to a life without bloodshed.
Easy read5–10 hours to readEspañol
Excellent
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In short
What if the life of Jesus came with a few more scenes? A man beats an overloaded horse, and only Jesus hears it cry.
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Listen freeOr hold it in print: paperback, hardcover or large print, at costFrom the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The Twelve Offer One Woven Gospel
The Coptic Gospel of the Twelve has no single named author. Its opening pages place it in Egypt, where Christian writing in Coptic flourished from about the second century onward. They also link it to the Nag Hammadi find of 1945, when a farmer in Upper Egypt unearthed a jar of early Christian books.
Scholars do not agree on its date. The introduction says the traditions inside may be older than its present form. Some modern scholars think the contents read like a blend of the four familiar gospels with added teachings on kindness to animals, and they doubt it took shape in the ancient world. A reader can hold both views and still follow what the text says.
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Jesus frees caged birds, heals a beaten horse, and calls his followers to a life without bloodshed.
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- 146 pages · 6 × 9 in
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Cite this edition
Coptic Gospel of the Twelve. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-coptic-gospel-of-the-twelve.
Coptic Gospel of the Twelve. (2026). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-coptic-gospel-of-the-twelve
Coptic Gospel of the Twelve. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-coptic-gospel-of-the-twelve.
@book{anonymous2026coptic,
title = {Coptic Gospel of the Twelve},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-coptic-gospel-of-the-twelve}
}
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What is the Coptic Gospel of the Twelve about?
It retells the life of Jesus from the births of John the Baptist and Jesus through his teaching, healings and parables, adding scenes of his hidden years and a strong call to kindness toward every living creature.
Who wrote the Coptic Gospel of the Twelve?
No author is named. The text presents itself as the shared testimony of the twelve apostles, a way of claiming the widest apostolic authority. Scholars do not agree on who actually produced it or when.
Why is the Coptic Gospel of the Twelve not in the Bible?
It was never part of the collections of scripture that the main churches settled on. Early communities used different sets of texts, and this work also teaches things, such as a meatless life, that differ from those collections.
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