Karen R.
★★★★★
“I’ve always found Revelation to be uplifting but very cryptic in its imagery… With the help of this book I can now read Revelation through with a better understanding. I highly recommend this book.”
HIDDEN NARRATIVES BEYOND THE CANON
About Jeremy Payton
Jeremy Payton is a scholar of religious studies and the author of The Apocrypha, The Books of Enoch, The Gnostic Gospels and The Book of Revelation. His subject is the writings the canon left outside: the Apocrypha, the pseudepigrapha, the gospels of Nag Hammadi, the apocalyptic visions of Enoch and John. Scribes copied them faithfully for centuries; then tradition let them go.
Each of his books returns one of those texts to the reader, with the historical context it needs and no sensationalizing: the actual words make the case by themselves. On the blog he takes the same texts one question at a time, from the Watchers of Enoch to the beast of Revelation, in plain prose written for specialists and curious readers alike.
The Book of Revelation
The last book of the New Testament is also the hardest to read: seven seals, seven trumpets, a beast rising from the sea, a woman clothed with the sun, a new Jerusalem coming down from heaven. This edition of The Book of Revelation gives the full text with a commentary that follows John’s visions in order, explains where they came from and what their symbols meant to the first readers, sets them beside the older apocalyptic writings they answer, and draws out the message underneath the imagery: divine justice, the struggle between good and evil, and the hope of a redeemed creation.
The Apocrypha
Eighteen books that stood in the Bible for centuries and then slipped out of most Protestant editions, brought together in one volume. Here are the stories of Tobit, Judith and Susanna, the wisdom of Solomon and Sirach, the wars of the Maccabees, the visions of Esdras, and the prayers and psalms that travelled with them. Clear translations and the historical and theological context of each text make these hidden narratives readable for anyone.
The Books of Enoch
Three books carry Enoch’s name, written centuries apart in three languages, and this volume brings them together. 1 Enoch tells of the Watchers who came down to earth, the birth of the giants and the patriarch’s journeys through the heavens; 2 Enoch, preserved in Slavonic, follows him through the seven heavens; 3 Enoch, from the Hebrew mystical tradition, turns him into the angel Metatron. The commentary traces how these visions of angels and the end of days shaped early Jewish and Christian thought.
The Gnostic Gospels
Fourteen texts from the Christianity that did not make it into the canon, most of them buried in a jar at Nag Hammadi until 1945. Here Thomas collects the sayings of Jesus, Mary Magdalene teaches the disciples, and other voices speak of a hidden knowledge, a divine spark in every person and a world made by a lesser god. Translated and set in their context, they show how many ways there were of being Christian in the first centuries.
The Book of Giants
The Watchers came down from heaven, took human wives, and their children were the giants: the Nephilim of Genesis, the “men of renown”. This book survived only in fragments among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, and grows out of the same tradition as 1 Enoch. Translation and commentary reconstruct the story, read the Aramaic text against its Enochic roots, and follow the legend of a giant who may have outlived the flood.
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene
A gospel in which Mary Magdalene is not a penitent but a teacher: after the resurrection she consoles the frightened disciples and passes on what Jesus told her alone, a path of inner knowledge that Peter refuses to accept from a woman. Rediscovered in the late nineteenth century, the text is given here in full, with a commentary on its origins, its teaching and the place of women in the earliest Christian communities.
The Gospel of Thomas
No story, no miracles, no cross: only a hundred and fourteen sayings of Jesus, “the living Jesus”, written down by Thomas and buried at Nag Hammadi until 1945. Some echo the Gospels of the New Testament, others turn them inside out, pointing to a kingdom that is already here and within. This new translation, with a commentary on each saying, sets Thomas beside the canonical Gospels and shows why it still unsettles readers.
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Thomasine Christianity: The Radical Community Behind the Gospel of Thomas
The earliest Jesus movement never formed a single, uniform church, and its communities interpreted Jesus through sharply different traditions. Thomasine Christianity names one stream that prized sayings, self-knowledge, and direct insight more than a continuous story about Jesus. Its surviving writings invite historical caution, because no ancient group left a membership list or a formal…
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White Stone Revelation: The Secret Name and the Victor’s Reward
Near the start of the Book of Revelation, Jesus sends short letters to seven churches in Asia Minor. Each letter ends with a promise to “the one who conquers.” The promise to the church in Pergamum is one of the strangest. It offers hidden manna, a white stone and a new name that no one…
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Qumran Book of Giants: Comparing the Dead Sea Scrolls to Manichaeism
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 transformed modern knowledge of ancient Judaism. Among Cave 4’s thousands of fragments, the Qumran Book of Giants offers a haunting expansion of the world before the Flood. Its giant offspring speak, argue, dream, and fear divine judgment; therefore, the manuscript gives narrative depth to figures whom…
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Letter of Aristeas: The Miraculous Translation of the Septuagint
Ancient history often blurs religious memory and historical record, and the Letter of Aristeas makes that boundary unusually visible. Its narrator claims eyewitness knowledge of the Hebrew Torah’s translation into Greek, later associated with the Septuagint. However, the work offers more than an origin story for a famous Bible and presents Jewish tradition as intellectually…
What Readers Say
Verified Amazon reviews, quoted as they were written.
Wanda Cerny
★★★★★
“I am well pleased to have this book… I am happy that their understanding of Jesus’ mission has finally found the light of day.”
Karen B.
★★★★★
“This book is so great I just don’t have words. It is eye opening… It makes so much more sense than what we are taught. After reading this, I just kept wanting to know more.”
Shannon Hoffman
★★★★★
“I learned a lot after reading this book: it has a lot of stories about what happened in the biblical era that we might not have heard of, since they were rejected from the Bible.”
W. Buchanan
★★★★★
“This book clearly explains these complex teachings, making it a captivating read for anyone interested in early Christian history.”
Miss Molly
★★★★★
“I have been a Christian all my life, yet have always been perplexed by the book of Revelation. Not anymore! The author says things in such a way that everyone should read this book.”
Wandy
★★★★★
“Very interesting and enlightening. This is information that explains a lot of things you don’t read in the original Bible… once you read this you understand the necessity for the flood.”
William Perreault
★★★★★
“A very well organized compilation… It gives much deeper meaning to the traditional scriptures. I do recommend this book if you are interested in theology.”
Nica
★★★★★
“I learned so much in the details about her life and who she truly was. Thank you Jeremy… she truly was the first apostle.”
Southern Queen
★★★★★
“What an awesome read! This book is so clear and inspiring a child could read and understand. 10/10 recommend!”
Karen R.
★★★★★
“I’ve always found Revelation to be uplifting but very cryptic in its imagery… With the help of this book I can now read Revelation through with a better understanding. I highly recommend this book.”
Wanda Cerny
★★★★★
“I am well pleased to have this book… I am happy that their understanding of Jesus’ mission has finally found the light of day.”
Karen B.
★★★★★
“This book is so great I just don’t have words. It is eye opening… It makes so much more sense than what we are taught. After reading this, I just kept wanting to know more.”
Shannon Hoffman
★★★★★
“I learned a lot after reading this book: it has a lot of stories about what happened in the biblical era that we might not have heard of, since they were rejected from the Bible.”
W. Buchanan
★★★★★
“This book clearly explains these complex teachings, making it a captivating read for anyone interested in early Christian history.”
Miss Molly
★★★★★
“I have been a Christian all my life, yet have always been perplexed by the book of Revelation. Not anymore! The author says things in such a way that everyone should read this book.”
Wandy
★★★★★
“Very interesting and enlightening. This is information that explains a lot of things you don’t read in the original Bible… once you read this you understand the necessity for the flood.”
William Perreault
★★★★★
“A very well organized compilation… It gives much deeper meaning to the traditional scriptures. I do recommend this book if you are interested in theology.”
Nica
★★★★★
“I learned so much in the details about her life and who she truly was. Thank you Jeremy… she truly was the first apostle.”
Southern Queen
★★★★★
“What an awesome read! This book is so clear and inspiring a child could read and understand. 10/10 recommend!”