Summary
Summary of The Book of the Rolls
The Book of the Rolls at a glance
Summary: 9 min to read
- Reading time
- About 1 h 40 min1 h 20 min fast, 2 h slow
- Length
- 24,200 words12 chapters
- Pages
- 80 pages126 in large print
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
Adam's body carries a sacred story
Adam's body does not stay in a quiet grave. Wrapped in myrrh, it travels from a holy mountain into Noah's ship and toward the hill where the cross will stand. Its journey joins the first human life to the promise running through the book.
The Book of the Rolls presents this history as secret teaching from Peter to Clement of Rome. Scholars instead see an Arabic compilation of older storytelling, preserved and valued by Christians in Egypt and the Middle East.
Key idea 2
Mary's ancestry sends Clement back to creation
Clement faces a question he cannot answer.
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Key idea 3
Adam loses his robe of light
God shapes Adam from dust, water, air and heat, and the angels see their Creator's form in this shining creature.
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Key idea 4
The cave keeps a promise alive
Outside Paradise, Adam receives comfort rather than abandonment.
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Key idea 5
Adam gives Seth a world of worship
As death approaches, Adam gathers Seth and his sons to pass on instructions.
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Key idea 6
Seth's descendants leave the holy hill
Seth's people live above the family of Cain, hearing angels and receiving a blessing from Adam's body.
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Key idea 7
The ark carries more than survivors
Noah's ship preserves animals and people, but Adam's body lies at its centre with gold, myrrh and incense on its breast.
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Key idea 8
Ancient events become signs of Christ
Melchizedek serves beside Adam's body, offering bread and wine.
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Key idea 9
Linked images hold the history together
The book joins its sacred history through images that return in new settings.
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Who it’s for
You will enjoy this if you love ancient retellings of Genesis, the Christian traditions of Egypt and Syria, stories about Adam and Noah, or early readings of the Old Testament.
What this book is
What if the body of Adam never rests in a quiet grave? In this book it travels. It is wrapped in myrrh, carried down from a holy mountain, laid in the middle of Noah's ship, and finally set in the earth at the centre of the world, on the hill where the cross will later stand.
The Book of the Rolls, called Kitab al-Magall in Arabic, presents itself as a secret teaching given by the apostle Peter to his disciple Clement of Rome. Scholars see an Arabic compilation of older Syriac, Greek and Jewish storytelling, valued by Christians in Egypt and the Middle East. Its date and compiler remain uncertain.
In this summary
- 1Adam's body carries a sacred storyFree
- 2Mary's ancestry sends Clement back to creation
- 3Adam loses his robe of light
- 4The cave keeps a promise alive
- 5Adam gives Seth a world of worship
- 6Seth's descendants leave the holy hill
- 7The ark carries more than survivors
- 8Ancient events become signs of Christ
- 9Linked images hold the history together
A secret history passed from Peter to Clement
The book opens with a frame. Clement, the disciple of Peter, says this is one of his hidden books, kept in Rome since the age of the apostles. He says it holds the genealogies and mysteries that Jesus gave to Peter and James.
Then comes the reason. Believers are under pressure. Opponents mock Mary and deny that she belongs to the tribe of Judah, hoping to cancel the coming of Christ through her. Clement admits he cannot answer them, because he does not understand how mankind began.
Peter agrees to start at the very beginning. He promises to show that Mary descends from Judah, to explain the fall of the Devil, and to teach about God before all things. Creation, Eden, the Flood and the kings are steps toward that line. This is why a book that begins with Adam ends with a list of names.
Scholars do not accept that Clement wrote it. They see a later Arabic work, shaped by Christians under Muslim rule who wished to preserve their own story of the past. It is best heard as a record of belief.
The whole book answers one question, how Mary belongs to the line of Judah, and it begins at creation to do so.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Why does Peter begin his teaching at creation?
Right. “The whole book answers one question, how Mary belongs to the line of Judah, and it begins at creation to do so.”Not quite. “The whole book answers one question, how Mary belongs to the line of Judah, and it begins at creation to do so.”
Why does the book reject angels as the sons of God who married women?
Right. “They were not angels, because angels have no bodies for marriage.”Not quite. “They were not angels, because angels have no bodies for marriage.”
How does the book interpret the events of the Old Testament?
Right. “The book reads the whole Old Testament as a road with signs that all point to Christ and to Mary's line.”Not quite. “The book reads the whole Old Testament as a road with signs that all point to Christ and to Mary's line.”
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About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 24,200 words
- Reading timeAbout 1 h 40 min
Questions about The Book of the Rolls
What is the Book of the Rolls about?
It tells a sacred history from before creation through Adam, the Flood, Abraham and the kings of Israel, ending with the family line of Mary. It is presented as a teaching from Peter to his disciple Clement.
Who wrote the Kitab al-Magall?
The book is ascribed to Clement of Rome, but scholars see a later anonymous compilation in Arabic. It gathers older Syriac, Greek and Jewish traditions, and its exact date and compiler remain uncertain.
What is the Cave of Treasures?
It is the cave on the holy mountain beside Paradise where Adam and Eve live after the fall. Adam stores gold, myrrh and incense there, and later the bodies of the patriarchs are buried in it.
Is the Book of the Rolls in the Bible?
No. It never entered the canon of the Bible, though communities in the Christian East valued it as a teaching about sacred history. It is counted among the apocrypha, writings that expand and interpret biblical stories.
What is the main message of the Book of the Rolls?
It shows the whole Old Testament as a road leading to Christ. Objects, people and places, from Adam's body to Melchizedek, point forward, and the book defends Mary's descent from the tribe of Judah.
Cite this edition
Clement. The Book of the Rolls. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-book-of-the-rolls.
Clement. (2026). The book of the rolls. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-book-of-the-rolls
Clement. The Book of the Rolls. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-book-of-the-rolls.
@book{clement2026book,
author = {Clement},
title = {The Book of the Rolls},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-book-of-the-rolls}
}
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