Infancy gospels (Greek: ''protoevangelion'') are a genre of religious texts that arose in the 2nd century. They are part of

New Testament apocrypha The New Testament apocrypha (singular apocryphon) are a number of writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. Some of these writings were cite ...

, and provide accounts of the birth and early life of Jesus. The texts are of various and uncertain origin, and are generally non-canonical in major modern branches of Christianity. They include the

Gospel of James The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James) is a second-century infancy gospel telling of the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary, her upbringing and marriage to Joseph, the journey of the couple to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, a ...

, which introduces the concept of the

Perpetual Virginity The perpetual virginity of Mary is a Christian doctrine that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin before, during and after the birth of Christ. In Western Christianity, the Catholic Church adheres to the doctrine, as do some Lutherans, Anglica ...

of Mary, and the

Infancy Gospel of Thomas The ''Infancy Gospel of Thomas'' is a biographical gospel about the childhood of Jesus, believed to date at the latest to the second century. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is generally considered to be Gnostic in origin because of references ...

(not to be confused with the unrelated

Gospel of Thomas The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is an extra-canonical sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars speculate ...

), both of which cover many miraculous incidents from the life of Mary and the childhood of Jesus that are not included in the canonical gospels. Although the Life of John the Baptist focuses on John the Baptist rather than Jesus or his immediate family, it is also included in the genre as its events would be contemporary with Jesus's early life.

Gospel of James

The Gospel of James, also known as the Protoevangelium of James, and the Infancy Gospel of James, is a apocryphal gospel most likely written around the year 145 CE, expanding the infancy stories contained in the Gospels of

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

and

Luke People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

. It also presents a narrative concerning the birth and upbringing of Mary herself. It is the oldest source to mention the virginity of Mary not only prior to, but during (and after) the birth of Jesus. The ancient manuscripts that preserve the book have different titles, including "The Birth of Mary", "The Story of the Birth of Saint Mary, Mother of God," and "The Birth of Mary; The Revelation of James." It is also referred to as "Genesis of Mary".Brent Nongbri
The Archaeology of Early Christian Manuscripts
Ancient Near East Today (ANET), American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), April 2019, Vol. VII, No. 4. Accessed 18 April 2019

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is a group of texts of uncertain date and contents, and the title is an arbitrary construction of modern scholars. Up until 1945 it was primarily referred to as the "Gospel of Thomas". The ''Infancy Gospel of Thomas'' is a biographical gospel about the childhood of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

, believed to date at the latest to the second century. It does not form part of any

biblical canon A biblical canon is a set of texts (also called "books") which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of the Bible. The English word ''canon'' comes from the Greek , meaning " rule" or "measuring stick". The use ...

. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is thought to be Gnostic in origin. Later references (by

Hippolytus of Rome Hippolytus of Rome (, ; c. 170 – c. 235 AD) was one of the most important second-third century Christian theologians, whose provenance, identity and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communities include Rome, Palestin ...

and

Origen of Alexandria Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theo ...

) to a "Gospel of Thomas" are not at all referring to this Infancy Gospel, as many modern scholars have thought, but rather to the wholly different

. Proto-orthodox Christians regarded the Infancy Gospel of Thomas as inauthentic and heretical.

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...

rejected it as a heretical "fiction" in the third book of his fourth-century ''

Church History __NOTOC__ Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritua ...

'', and Pope Gelasius I included it in his list of heretical books in the fifth century. Although non-canonical in mainstream Christianity, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas contains many miracles and stories of Jesus referenced in the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

, such as Jesus giving life to clay birds.

Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew

The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew is a part of the New Testament apocrypha, and was an important source for establishing details of the life of Mary, especially before the late Middle Ages. According to the research of J. Gijsel / R. Beyers (1997) the archetype of the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthews Recensio-α dates to 800 AD and the composition date to the first half of the seventh century, maybe to around 600 and 625 AD. Gijsel furthermore points out that Joachims representation in Pseudo-Matthews is meant to evoke the model figure of a Merowingian nobleman, this one, according to Gijsel, being

Dagobert I Dagobert I ( la, Dagobertus; 605/603 – 19 January 639 AD) was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dyna ...

during his reign (629639). According to Berthold, the composition date of the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew was circa 650 AD at the earliest, due to the fact that it "shows literary dependence on Vita Agnetis of Pseudo-Ambrose", which itself was used in De Virginitate in 690 AD. According to G. Schneider, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthews was composed in the 8th or 9th century during the

Carolingian dynasty The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...

. Pseudo-Matthew shares many similarities with, and likely used as sources, the apocryphal Gospel of James and Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

Syriac Infancy Gospel

The Syriac Infancy Gospel, also known as the Arabic Infancy Gospel, is another New Testament apocryphal writing concerning the infancy of Jesus. It may have been compiled as early as the sixth century, and was partly based on the

, and

Protevangelium of James The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James) is a second-century infancy gospel telling of the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary, her upbringing and marriage to Joseph, the journey of the couple to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, a ...

. There are only two surviving manuscripts dating from 1299 AD and the 15th/16th century in Arabic.

History of Joseph the Carpenter

The ''History of Joseph the Carpenter'' (''Historia Josephi Fabri Lignari'') is a compilation of traditions concerning Mary,

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

, and the "

holy family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the fir ...

," probably composed in Byzantine Egypt in Greek in the late sixth or early seventh centuries, but surviving only in Coptic and Arabic language translations. The text bears witness to the belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary. It is one of the texts within the New Testament apocrypha concerned with the period of Jesus' life before he was 12.

The Life of John the Baptist

The Life of John the Baptist is a book from the New Testament apocrypha, allegedly written in Greek by

Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis The ''Sacramentary'' of Serapion of Thmuis is a work of Saint Serapion (fl. ca. 330 to 360, feast day: March 21), bishop of Thmuis (today Tell el-Timai) in the Nile Delta and a prominent supporter of Athanasius in the struggle against Arianism. He ...

in 390 AD. The text is an expanded biography of the biblical John the Baptist. While it does not focus primarily on the life of Jesus, it is considered an infancy gospel due to its focus on events that would have occurred around the same time as Jesus's childhood.

References

{{reflist * Apocryphal Gospels