Shirley Paulson, PhD

Shirley Paulson, PhD is the founder and principal producer of Early Christian Texts: The Bible and Beyond. This website features her online teaching, blog, and podcasts highlighting the work of other scholars. Shirley’s academic work focuses on early Christian writings, especially those relating to healing practices and theology. Her forthcoming book is Illuminating the Secret Revelation of John: Catching the Light, and she contributed to a chapter in Westar’s After Jesus Before Christianity. She currently serves on the Westar Institute’s Board of Directors. Prior to this work, Shirley served as the first Head of Ecumenical Affairs for the global headquarters of the Christian Science Church and served on the Board of the North American Academy of Ecumenists. 

Early Christian Texts:

The Bible and Beyond

Those who have immersed themselves in these texts have been strengthened, shocked, inspired, and healed by relating to them. They contain extraordinary gems of wisdom, but also challenge preconceived notions about what it meant and what it means to identify as a follower of Jesus.

What is meant by texts that go ‘beyond the Bible’? There are over one hundred texts that, for varying reasons, did not make it into the canon (the traditional Bible). They were circulated among the followers of Jesus for hundreds of years, right along with the texts you might be more familiar with in the Bible. Most of these have re-surfaced due to modern discoveries such as those in 1945 near Nag Hammadi, Egypt. Other books have shown up in antiquities markets or even in scholars’ offices. And, to add to the drama, many of them were ‘found’ but unable to be translated into English or made available to the average reader for many decades.