Full-Length Non-Canonical Christian Texts

Introduction to Texts

There are a tremendous quantity of non-canonical Christian texts. Many of the oldest texts we have, such as the Gospel of Thomas, were only recently discovered in the 20th century; others, such as Pistis Sophia, had been rediscovered centuries earlier. And some have been generally available since their creation!Full-Length Non-Canonical Christian Texts

Most non-canonical Christian texts from the dawn of Christianity are in the public domain in the United States, meaning that they can be freely shared. Unfortunately, their translations often are not. Translators such as scholars and academics usually hold the copyright for the work they put into translating these texts into English. After all, we’re not reading the original text; we’re reading someone’s attempt at translating that text, which is never a word-for-word endeavor.

(Or, at least, it shouldn’t be, if it’s a good translation!)

That being said, some translators have graciously made their works available in the public domain– either that, or a sufficient amount of time has transpired without legal intervention that their works have passed into the public domain.

Below, you will find texts which we are able to share here on Non-Canonical Christianity. These are but a small percentage of all available Full-Length Non-Canonical Christian Texts, but unfortunately we can only share those publicly for free which we are legally authorized to do so.

List of Full-Length Non-Canonical Christian Texts

Note: all of the below texts are in the public domain and thus may be shared or distributed, as attested by the translators, Andrew Bernhard and/or Mark M. Mattison: