From the Greek Septuagint to the King James Bible, the collection of books we collectively call "the bible" has grown and evolved. While the many schisms of the Christian church have produced a wide array of bibles, many still remain similar enough that the average reader would not be too confused.

However, with each stage in the evolution of the bible, more and more books were found and rejected. These books were so different as to be incompatible with church doctrine. Some of the most notable examples are the gospels of Thomas, Mary Magdalene and James.

The Gospel of Thomas, not to be confused with the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, is the most notable of all. Theorized to have been written somewhere in the late first century (like Mark, Matthew, John and Luke), the gospel was rediscovered in the 20th century, nearly entirely preserved within a single text. Some theorize that Thomas was a Gnostic text (a sect that believes in personal knowledge as the key to salvation over church tradition), while others point out the lack of shared Gnostic features with actual Gnostic texts. The Gospel of Thomas is a list of sayings from Jesus that emphasizes him as a figure who imparts secret knowledge and all who listen are saved. The gospel never achieved the same popularity as the synoptic gospels and John. Archeological digs agree that the four gospels we see today were already considered a set and circulated together, meaning even if Thomas was popular enough, it would have been difficult to break up the set we see today.

The Gospel of Mary Magdalene is a Gnostic gospel with the earliest fragments dating back to the third century. Although people do not necessarily agree with which Mary is presented in this gospel, a convincing argument is made for Mary Magdalene, a disciple of Jesus Christ, and a woman disciple who contrasts the male apostles. The Gospel describes this Mary as being the only one who truly knew Jesus's teachings and even received a vision of Jesus, which Peter contests, questioning why a woman would have visions. However, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene was rejected, having broken up the traditional teachings about Jesus from the twelve apostles, with apparently "secret knowledge" imparted to a person that the church authorities did not consider part of the inner circle of Christ. Mary Magdalene remains popular within the Christian community, even having been conflated with Mary of Bethany, and other biblical women. Despite interest in Mary Magdalene, her origins remain unclear; her role in the Early Christian Church riddled with mystery.

The Gospel of James is an infancy narrative about Mary's miraculous conception up to the point of the birth of Jesus in our current testaments. Claiming to have been written by James, the brother of Jesus from Joseph's previous marriage, it borrows heavily from Matthew and Luke, mentioning both the massacre of the innocents (Matthew) and John the Baptist's being born to Elizabeth (Luke). This places the authorship of James into the second century. The Gospel of James is crucial in the study of Mary, describing her being born to Anna, a woman with fertility issues, like how many other women in the bible conceived through God. This gospel is also one of the few sources describing Joachim and Anna, Mary's parents, Mary being fed by angels, and her marriage to Joseph after her living in the temple via the drawing of lots. After her marriage to Joseph, the gospel roughly describes Mary's journey to Bethlehem, with an extra-canonical story about Jesus being born in a cave. Despite James's apocryphal status, it is one of the more important extra-canonical gospels, being one of the earliest sources to assert Mary's perpetual virginity and giving stories about Mary, many of which are considered true.