I dunno if this has been pointed out yet, but the accepted gospels are only a fraction of the earliest writings about Christ. The Gnostic Gospels, or Apocrypha, comprise another 20-odd "books" of writings. The 4 recognised gospels which comprise the New Testament were legitimised by the early church, but that doesn't make them any "truer" than the Gnostic Gopels, which hold a wealth of information about Jesus and his times. But the early Christian Spin Doctors threw out the bits they didn't like.

The idea that we have a prescribed set text of "facts" about Jesus in the New Testament is flawed, and without the Gnostic Gospels there can only ever be a fragment of the informaton and ideas which comprised the original Christian faith(s).


I was taught by nuns from southern Italy who used to tell us great stories about Christ's childhood that were drawn from the Apocrypha; I've been told since that they could have ben excommunicated for this. I remember the story in the English folk song The Bitter Withy being told to us, about Jesus drowning the princes who wouldn't let him play with them; and another about how Jesus used to carve birds in Joseph's workshop and breathe life into them, so that they flew around.

Of course, according to the accepted gospels, his frst miracle wasn't till Caana.