DARRELL BOCK weighs in on the apocryphal Gospels. The Boston Globe has a review of his new book:

'Gospels' considers diverse early Christianity

By Lylah M. Alphonse, Globe Staff | August 3, 2006

The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities, By Darell L. Bock, Nelson, 256 pp., $21.99

A New Testament specialist and professor at the Dallas Theological Seminary, Darrell Bock offers a crash course in early Christianity with his new book, "The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities." In it, he examines the recent claims that the ``new" or ``lost" gospels -- also known as the ``Gnostic Gospels" discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945, may prove that Christianity as we know it today has changed significantly from its early form s .

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Bock argues, though not conclusively, that what is now considered traditional Christianity was fairly widespread in the first and second centuries and it survived because it best reflected the teachings of Jesus. But the light he shines on the alternative gospels and the views they represent may spur people to reexamine what they believe.