The Gospel of James, also sometimes known as the Infancy Gospel of James or the Protevangelium of James, is an apocryphal Gospel probably written about AD 150. The Gospel of James may be the earliest surviving document attesting the veneration of Mary and claiming her continuing virginity. Saint James the Just (יעקב Holder of the heel; supplanter; Standard Hebrew Yaʿaqov, Tiberian Hebrew Yaʿăqōḇ), also called James Adelphos, James of Jerusalem, or the Brother of the Lord and sometimes identified with James the Lesser, (died AD 62) was an important figure in Early Christianity. ... The Gospel of Matthew (literally, according to Matthew; Greek, Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον) is one of the four Gospel accounts of the New Testament. ... The Gospel of Luke is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament, which tell the story of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. ... The Septuagint: A page from Codex vaticanus, the basis of Sir Lancelot Brentons English translation. ... The category of New Testament apocrypha reminds the modern reader of the wide range of responses that were engendered in the interpreting of the message of Jesus of Nazareth during the first several centuries of the Common Era, as mainstream Christianity emerged. ... According to the New Testament, Mary (Judeo-Aramaic מרים Maryām Bitter; Arabic مريم (Maryam); Septuagint Greek Μαριαμ, Mariam, Μαρια, Maria; Geez: ማሪያም, Māryām; Syriac: Mart, Maryam, Madonna), was the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, who at the time of his conception was the betrothed wife of Saint Joseph (cf. ...

Authorship and date

The document presents itself as written by James: "I, James, wrote this history in Jerusalem." Thus the purported author is James the Just, who the text claims is a son of Joseph from a prior marriage, and thus a step-brother of Jesus. Saint James the Just (יעקב Holder of the heel; supplanter; Standard Hebrew Yaʿaqov, Tiberian Hebrew Yaʿăqōḇ), also called James Adelphos, James of Jerusalem, or the Brother of the Lord and sometimes identified with James the Lesser, (died AD 62) was an important figure in Early Christianity. ...

Scholars have established that, based on the style of the language and the theological concerns, and the fact that the author is apparently not aware of contemporary Jewish customs while James the Just certainly was, the work is pseudepigraphical (written by someone other than the person it claims to be written by). The echoes and parallels of the Old Testament appear to derive from its Greek translation, the Septuagint, as opposed to the Hebrew Masoretic Text, which is noticeable due to several peculiarities and variations present in the Septuagint. It apparently embellishes on what is told of events surrounding Mary, prior to, and at the moment of, Jesus' birth, in the Gospel of Matthew, and in the Gospel of Luke. Pseudepigrapha (from the Greek words pseudos = lie and epigrapho = write) is a text or a number of texts whose claimed authorship or authenticity is incorrect. ... The Septuagint: A page from Codex vaticanus, the basis of Sir Lancelot Brentons English translation. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... The Masoretic Text (MT) is the Hebrew text of the Tanakh approved for general use in Judaism. ... The Gospel of Matthew (literally, according to Matthew; Greek, Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον) is one of the four Gospel accounts of the New Testament. ... The Gospel of Luke is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament, which tell the story of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. ...

As for its estimated date, the consensus is that it was actually composed some time in the 2nd century AD. The first mention of it is by Origen in the early third century, who says the text, like that of a "Gospel of Peter", was of dubious, recent appearance, and shared with that book the claim that the 'brethren of the Lord' were sons of Joseph by a former wife ^[1]. In the same train of thought, though, he admits that, while the notion might seem pious, it was not unlikely that the obvious interpretation of Scripture (that Mary bore them for Joseph) was true and acceptable." The 2nd century is the period from 101 - 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... Origen (Greek: , ca. ... The Gospel of Peter was a prominent passion narrative in the early history of Christianity, but over time passed out of common usage. ...

Manuscript tradition

Some indication of the popularity of the Infancy Gospel of James may be drawn from the fact that about one hundred and thirty Greek manuscripts containing it have survived. The Gospel of James was translated into Syriac, Ethiopic, Coptic, Georgian, Old Slavonic, Armenian, Arabic, Irish and Latin. Though no early Latin versions are known, it was relegated to the apocrypha in the Gelasian decretal, so must have been known in the West. As with the canonical gospels, the vast majority of the manuscripts come from the tenth century or later. The earliest known manuscript of the text, a papyrus dating to the third or early fourth century, was found in 1958; it is kept in the Bodmer Library, Geneva (Papyrus Bodmer 5). Of the surviving Greek manuscripts, the fullest surviving text is a tenth century codex in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (Paris 1454). The so-called Decretum Gelasianum or Gelasian Decree was traditionally attributed to the prolific Pope Gelasius I, bishop of Rome 492 – 496. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Geneva (pronunciation //; French: Genève //, German: //, Italian: Ginevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich), and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). ... The new buildings of the library. ...

Genre

The Gospel of James is one of several surviving Infancy Gospels that give an idea of the miracle literature that was created to satisfy the hunger of early Christians for more detail about the early life of their Savior. Such literature is filled with ignorance of Jewish life, unlike the many consistent details in the Bible, which is obviously a library of Jewish books. Interestingly enough, not one work of the genre under discussion is in any Bible. In Greek such an infancy gospel was termed a protevangelion, a "pre-Gospel" narrating events of Jesus' life before those recorded in the four canonical gospels. Such a work was intended to be "apologetic, doctrinal, or simply to satisfy one's curiosity" [1]. The literary genre that these works represent shows stylistic features that suggest dates in the second century and later. Other "infancy gospels" in this tradition include The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (based on the Protevangelium of James and on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas), and the so-called Arabic Infancy Gospel; all of which were regarded by the church as apocryphal. Several surviving infancy gospels give an idea of the miracle literature that was created in the early Christian church to satisfy the hunger of early Christians for more detail about the early life of their Savior. ... The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is a non-canonical Christian text from the mid-2nd century AD that was part of a popular genre of the 2nd and 3rd centuries -- a miracle literature of Infancy Gospels that was both entertaining and inspirational, written to satisfy a hunger for more miraculous... The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew is a part of the New Testament apocrypha, and sometimes goes by the name of The Infancy Gospel of Matthew. ... The Arabic Infancy Gospel is one of the texts found in the New Testament apocrypha concerning the infancy of Jesus. ... The category of New Testament apocrypha reminds the modern reader of the wide range of responses that were engendered in the interpreting of the message of Jesus of Nazareth during the first several centuries of the Common Era, as mainstream Christianity emerged. ...

Content

Annunciation to Joachim and Anna, fresco detail by Gaudenzio Ferrari, 1544–45: Extra-canonical legends surrounding Mary's birth became an integral element of Roman Catholicism.

The Gospel of James is in three equal parts, of eight chapters each - Image File history File links Download high resolution version (750x1069, 163 KB)Gaudenzio Ferrari (1475-1546), The Annunciation to Joachim and Anna, 1544-45 Detached fresco transferred to canvas, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (750x1069, 163 KB)Gaudenzio Ferrari (1475-1546), The Annunciation to Joachim and Anna, 1544-45 Detached fresco transferred to canvas, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to...

• the first contains the story of Mary's own unique birth and childhood, and assignment to the temple
• the second concerns the crisis posed by Mary's becoming a woman and thus her imminent pollution of the temple, her assignment to Joseph as guardian, and the tests of her virginity,
• the third relates the Nativity, with the visit of midwives, hiding of Jesus from Herod the Great in a feeding trough, and even the parallel hiding in the hills of John the Baptist and his mother (Elizabeth) from Herod Antipas.

One of the work's high points is the Lament of Anna. A primary theme is the work and grace of God in Mary's life, Mary's personal purity, and her perpetual virginity before, during, and after the birth of Jesus, as confirmed by the midwife after she gave birth, and tested by "Salome" who is perhaps intended to be Salome, later the disciple of Jesus who is mentioned in the Gospel of Mark as being at the Crucifixion. Hordos (Hebrew: הוֹרְדוֹס, ; Greek: , ; trad. ... Herod Antipas (short for Antipatros) was an ancient leader (tetrarch, meaning ruler of a quarter) of Galilee and Perea. ... Saint Anne or Anna is known by tradition as the mother of The Virgin Mary. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... The perpetual virginity of Mary is a doctrine of faith of Roman and Eastern Orthodox Catholic Christianity, as well of Islam, stating that Mary, the mother of Jesus, remained an actual virgin, implying both virginal disposition and physical integrity, before, during, and after the birth of Jesus, and thus is... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Gospel of Mark is traditionally the second New Testament Gospel, ascribed to Mark the Evangelist. ...

Besides the perpetual virginity of Mary, this is also the earliest text that explicitly claims that Joseph was a widower, with children, at the time that Mary is entrusted to his care. This is the feature which appears in its earliest mention, in the above-mentioned text of Origen, who adduces it to demonstrate that the 'brethren of the Lord' were sons of Joseph by a former wife. Since the text was regarded as heresy by the time of the Gelasian Decree, its dismissal may be due in part to this reading of the adelphoi, which corresponded to the developed Eastern Orthodox view rather than the western, i.e. Roman Catholic, view, which treated them as cousins. Joseph led his family to safety in Egypt to escape from Herod, as depicted by Lorenzo Monaco According to the Christian Gospel accounts Joseph of the House of David – in tradition also called Joseph the Betrothed and Saint Joseph – was the husband of Mary (Matthew 1:16) and the legal... The so-called Decretum Gelasianum or Gelasian Decree was traditionally attributed to the prolific Pope Gelasius I, bishop of Rome 492 – 496. ... Eastern Orthodoxy (also called Greek Orthodoxy and Russian Orthodoxy) is a Christian tradition which represents the majority of Eastern Christianity. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

Among further traditions not present in the four canonical gospels are the birth of Jesus in a cave, the martyrdom of John the Baptist's father Zechariah during the slaughter of the infants, and Joseph's being elderly when Jesus was born. The Nativity reported as taking place in a cave, with its Mithraic overtones, remained in the popular imagination; many Early Renaissance Sienese and Florentine paintings of the Nativity, as well as Byzantine, Greek and Russian icons of the Nativity, show such a chthonic setting. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Mithras and the Bull: This fresco from the mithraeum at Marino, Italy (3rd century) shows the tauroctony and the celestial lining of Mithras cape Mithraism was a mystery religion prominent in the Roman world. ...

Notes

1. ^ " But some say, basing it on a tradition in the Gospel according to Peter, as it is entitled, or “The Book of James,” that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to preserve the honour of Mary in virginity to the end, so that that body of hers which was appointed to minister to the Word which said, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee,” might not know intercourse with a man after that the Holy Ghost came into her and the power from on high overshadowed her. And I think it in harmony with reason that Jesus was the first-fruit among men of the purity which consists in chastity, and Mary among women; for it were not pious to ascribe to any other than to her the first-fruit of virginity." Origen, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, ch. XVII (on-line)

See also

• History of Joseph the Carpenter

The History of Joseph the Carpenter is one of the texts within the New Testament apocrypha concerned with period of Jesus life before he was 12. ...

External links

• Text of the Infancy Gospel of James
• The Whole Bible website: Infancy Gospel of James
• St. Joseph in Apocrypha, from "Oblates of St. Joseph".
• sample/0521581680web.PDF Mary Clayton, "The Apocryphal Gospels of Mary in Anglo-Saxon England", Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England: introduction