This collection provides a multilayered analysis of the branch of early Christian apocryphal literature that examines the relationship between tradition and redaction, uses of language, and the fluid border between literary criticism and motif analysis. The introduction takes the reader on the journey of editing, translating and interpreting apocryphal and hagiographic narratives on the apostles and the first Christians. The volume concludes with the critical edition of two previously unpublished Greek texts: a verison of the Martyrdom of Ananias and a memoir on John the Evangelist.

This study investigates the history of the traditions that coalesced around the name Philip in the New Testament and other early Christian literature. It proposes that all of this material ultimately owes its genesis to one historical and literary figure, Philip the apostle. This proposition is explored through a wide-ranging examination of the evidence: Luke's redactional employment of traditional materials about Philip the apostle in Acts 8:4-25 and 8:26-40, the evidence of the canonical Gospels, the second-century perspective on Philip as an apostolic authority figure invoked to legitimate...