The Apocryphal Gospels: A Very Short Introduction explores their origins, discovery, and discusses how the various texts have been interpreted both by the Church and beyond. What are the apocryphal gospels? How do the apocryphal gospels reflect the diversity that existed within early Christianity? To what extent can they can be used to reconstruct an accurate portrait of the historical Jesus? These non-canonical texts, considered in the correct context, offer us an important window on the vibrant and multi-faceted face of early Christianity. They do have important limitations, however, and these are set against the limitations of using the New Testament gospels.