Full Description
George T. Zervos presents the first in a two-volume critical investigation of one of the earliest and most important of the New Testament Apocrypha, the Protevangelium of James, also known as the Infancy Gospel of James. Zervos challenges the prevailing view that the ProtJas is a 2nd century unitary document; finding it instead to be the product of an ongoing redactional process in which a 1st century CE "heretical" text was progressively conformed to the "orthodox" Christian doctrine of the time.
Zervos tells the story of how an early apocryphal gospel provided the developing church with doctrinal material, which was incorporated into both the theology and the ecclesiastical liturgical cycle of the medieval Church, thus becoming a significant part of the standard catechism for generations of Christians. In this first volume Zervos provides a critical introduction to the text and discusses ProtJas' publication history, scholarly investigation, compositional problems and evidence of redaction, as well as a in-depth analysis of the narrative. For the first time the readings of the vast majority of the known Greek manuscripts appear together, with a transcription of the original text of the complete copy of the ProtJas found in Papyrus Bodmer V.
Contents
Preface
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The General Background
The Publication History of the Greek Text of the ProtJac
The History of Scholarly Investigation of the ProtJac
The Compositional Problem of the ProtJac
The Present Study
Evidence of Redaction of the ProtJac
The Joseph Council: ProtJac 8:03-9:12
The Veil Council: ProtJac 10:01-12:11
The Original GenMar Annunciation Story
Mary's Visit to Elizabeth
The Trial of Joseph and Mary: ProtJac 13:01-16:07 The Nativity Complex
The Journey to Bethlehem
Topographical and Archaeological Factors
The Midwife
The Birth
Doubting Salome
The Magi
The Zachariah Apocryphon
The Colophon
Conclusions: The "Authors" of the ProtJac
The Redactor: The Protevangelium Jacobi
The Composer: The Composer-enhanced GenMar
Joseph in the ProtJac
The Author: The Genesis Marias
Appendices
Appendix 1: Mary's Evolving Virginity in Early Christianity
Appendix 2: The Apologetic Purpose of the ProtJac
Appendix 3: The ProtJac and the New Testament Gospels
Appendix 4: The Kathisma Church
The Original Cave of the Nativity
Illustrations
