Marvin Meyer, premier scholar of Gnostic and other Christian literature outside the New Testament, presents every "Gnostic Gospel and Jesus" text with a brilliant overall introduction, introductions to each text, and full explanatory notes to aid the reader's understanding. He includes his latest translations of the "Gospel of Thomas", the "Gospel of Philip", the "Gospel of Mary", as well as other texts such as the "Secret Book of John", which some scholars regard as the second part of the "New Testament Gospel of John". The material is largely from the discovery at Nag Hammadi, freshly translated and introduced, but also includes texts found elsewhere. Taken together, they present an image of Jesus as the ultimate wisdom teacher, a kind of mysterious Jewish master who continues to challenge us with his message of radical egalitarianism (regarding women, slaves, the poor, and the marginalised as of equal status, or more, with establishment male believers) and his insistence on living the message over observance only.