This work is put before the reading public purely as literature, relying
entirely upon its intrinsic merits as a narrative and probability as an
account, given in great detail, of the birth, mission, and death of the
great Prophet of Christendom, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah foretold in
the sacred writings of Israel. The doctrinal matter it contains will
furnish the student with a further criterion of its reliability.

The reader is free to ignore, if he prefer to do so, any a priori claim
to authenticity which the document itself may suggest and it were better
that he should in this respect form for himself an entirely unbiased
opinion. He will then be free to consider whether the nature of the
subject matter and its treatment may not in itself constitute a proof for
him that the work does in fact enshrine the veritable memories and
impressions of one who lived in the lifetime of Jesus and witnessed much
of what He taught and did.

The work is not a translation, as its perusal will plainly shew. It is a
rendering into fair English of a somewhat 'biblical' flavour of a
narrative purporting to come direct from the original source; and this is
obtained by a method of recovery which, though still unfamiliar to the
majority of students, is now winning increasing attention in circles
devoted to psychological enquiry. It is in fact the fruit of a sustained
and earnest experiment in the recall of past memories through the
subconscious channels of the mind of the living, and by the involuntary
use of the hand,

Whence, then, the biblical English in which the Gospel of Philip is cast?
We cannot certainly answer: for the scribe is unnamed and is only known
to us as one of a group employed in the rendering of such documents into
our mother-tongue in a framework of words which might be considered
suitable to the nature of the subject, to emphasize its special character
as the record of a Christian evangelist. Assuming the facts as stated, it
would seem to be the work of one who was living some two centuries ago:
but there is a blending of influences in the literary character and we
seem to detect the hand of more than one intermediary in the
interpretation and expression of Philip's thought.

The work is received in fair and legible manuscript, the presence of two
persons, one being the actual amanuensis, being always needed for the
task. From the first transcript through three successive stages of
amendment the work has taken rather over two and a half years to evolve
to the state of comparative perfection as a harmonious prose narrative
which it now assumes. It is not perfect: for the conditions attending its
transmission render anything approaching finality of perfection
impracticable: but it is at least an honest and conscientious attempt to
bring into being the best rendering of the mind and intention of Philip
that, in our present state of knowledge and practice, is feasible to
those engaged in the task.

The Gospel of Philip is here published in its entirety for the first
time. A minor part of it (embracing Sections I, IV, and V.) has appeared
in serial form in the pages of an English weekly, whence it was reprinted
in a limited edition, and circulated among a small group of interested
persons. The work came into the hands of one eminent scholar, Revd. W. O.
E. Oesterley, D.D., examining chaplain to the Bishop of London, by whom
it was favorably spoken of. It was also the subject of an interesting
review by the premier English Church newspaper, the 'Guardian', whose
reviewer, writing in the issue for Dec. 24, 1925, under the heading
'Subconscious Tradition' says:

"In a short introduction it is stated that this writing claims to be a
record from the 'Tree of Memory' which ever endures notwithstanding the
destruction of the material record. It claims to be inspired by Philip
himself (i.e. Philip the Deacon of Acts vi. 5.) and to be given through
the agency of intermediates, scribes or recorders, whose task it is to
render the thoughts and mental images of Philip into ideas and terms
familiar to the modern English mind and hence appreciable to us,....
Among the living there is sometimes a mysterious intercommunication
between minds attuned to one another: and if we believe in life beyond
the grave and in the continued existence of personal identity as being
independent of time and space, there does not necessarily seem any a
priori reason why such intercommunion should not take place simply
because one of two attuned minds has ceased to be trammelled by the
flesh. We have therefore read this book with an open unprejudiced
mind....