Summary
Summary of The Gospel According to Peter: A Study
Key ideas
Key idea 1
A recovered gospel opens new questions
Walter Richard Cassels turns to the Gospel of Peter to ask what a newly found piece of early Christian writing can teach us. Already known for a controversial study of the origins of the New Testament, he now examines a text that tells the trial, death and rising of Jesus differently from the four biblical gospels.
His subject is not simply another account of familiar events. It is a chance to explore what those differences reveal about early Christian writing and the questions raised by a recovered text.
Key idea 2
A name becomes a readable text
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Key idea 3
Old judgments need testing against evidence
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Key idea 4
The passion takes a different shape
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Key idea 5
Comparison raises questions about gospel origins
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Key idea 6
An old document must be tested
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Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers curious about how the New Testament took shape and about books left outside it, and anyone who enjoys textual detective work and early church history.
What this book is
This is a study of one ancient text, the Gospel of Peter, written by Walter Richard Cassels in the 1890s. Cassels was an English scholar who had already written a long and controversial work on the origins of the New Testament. Here he turns to a newly found piece of early Christian writing and asks what it can teach us.
The text came to light in Egypt in the late nineteenth century and was published in 1892. It tells part of the story of the trial, death and rising of Jesus in a form that differs from the four gospels in the Bible. In this summary you will meet the find, the old reports about the gospel, its contents and the questions it raised. First, the discovery itself.
In this summary
- 1A lost gospel comes out of EgyptFree
- 2What the ancient writers said about it
- 3What the fragment actually contains
- 4Why the study still matters
Key point 1 of 4
A lost gospel comes out of Egypt
The story begins at Akhmim, a town in Upper Egypt. In the 1880s a French archaeological mission worked in a burial ground there. In the grave of a monk the explorers found a small book written in Greek. It held several texts, and one of them was a long fragment of a gospel that scholars soon linked with the name of Peter.
The French scholar Urbain Bouriant published the fragment in 1892. The news spread fast among theologians in Britain, Germany and France. Until then the Gospel of Peter had been only a name in old books. Now there was a real piece of it to read.
Cassels wrote his study soon after. He saw that the find was a rare chance. Here was a gospel that early Christians had known and that later Christians had set aside. A reader could now judge it directly, instead of relying on what its critics had said.
That’s 1 of 4 key points.
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Check yourself
Why did the discovery matter to Cassels?
Right. “A reader could now judge it directly, instead of relying on what its critics had said.”Not quite. “A reader could now judge it directly, instead of relying on what its critics had said.”
What did docetists teach about Christ?
Right. “Docetists taught that Christ only seemed to have a human body and to suffer.”Not quite. “Docetists taught that Christ only seemed to have a human body and to suffer.”
What wider issue does comparing this fragment with the biblical gospels help scholars investigate?
Right. “It touches on how the gospels were written, how they were copied and how some texts came to be trusted while others were set aside.”Not quite. “It touches on how the gospels were written, how they were copied and how some texts came to be trusted while others were set aside.”
Questions about The Gospel According to Peter: A Study
What is the Gospel of Peter?
It is an early Christian gospel, once known only by name. A large fragment in Greek was found in Egypt in the 1880s. It tells of the trial, death and resurrection of Jesus in a form that differs from the four gospels.
Where was the Gospel of Peter found?
It was found at Akhmim in Upper Egypt, in the grave of a monk, by a French archaeological mission. The French scholar Urbain Bouriant published the Greek text in 1892.
Why is the Gospel of Peter not in the Bible?
Early church leaders did not accept it as authoritative. Serapion, a bishop of Antioch around 200, judged that parts of it carried mistaken teaching, and it was not included among the books of the New Testament.
Who was Walter Richard Cassels?
He was an English scholar and merchant who died in 1907. He wrote the much discussed Supernatural Religion, which examined the evidence for the origins of Christianity, and later wrote this study of the Gospel of Peter.
Is this book hard to read?
No. The summary opens with a clear story, a find in an Egyptian grave, then moves in four short parts. Each part takes one step: the discovery, the old reports, the fragment's contents, and the questions it raised.
