Infancy Gospels

Shows how the canonical Nativity Gospels can easily be harmonized. And how the Blessed Virgin Mary may have anointed Jesus' head in Bethany, as consent to his sacrificial death in Jerusalem. This last issue is elaborated further and stronger in my later article "The Virgin Mary anointed her Son the Christ and for burial in Bethany - Coredemptrix" https://www.academia.edu/26377098/The_Virgin_Mary_anointed_her_Son_the_Christ_and_for_burial_in_Bethany_Coredemptrix .

The provenance of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (IGT) remains an open question to scholars of early Christianity. Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor have been proffered as the most likely settings of origin (with the latter two favored especially in recent years). The educational scenes in IGT may provide helpful hints of the text's original setting. Paul Foster, however, in comparing the details of such scenes with depictions of education in literary sources, concludes that they offer no features suggestive of a particular setting of origin. However, comparison of such scenes with material depictions of ancient education may provide more geographical precision. A reexamination of the text's educational scenes vis-à-vis material-cultural evidence suggests that Egypt should be reconsidered as a viable setting of origin for IGT.

يعالج القسم الأول من المقال المسائل الخاصة بالمكان والزمان وهوية كاتب الإنجيل؛ أما القسم الثاني، فيحلل بعض النماذج بناءً على مقارنة النصوص القانونية والتقاليد المسيحية الرسمية. في لائحة المراجع تجدون ذكرًا لأهم ما نُشر من الدراسات الحديثة حول هذا المخطوط.

The episode of the Bethlehem massacre (Matt 2:16-18) uses many levels of intertextuality as a rhetorical device, to solicit an emotional response powerful enough to influence the reader's worldview. What effect do these intertexts have on Matthew's readers? How is this affective appeal concerning Rachel's tears intended to impact the reader's response to Matthew's story? Rachel weeping is an emotionally charged image that somehow merges two opposites: hope and sorrow. The intertextuality of this figure can influence readers encouraging them to criticize imperial ideologies that have used violence against innocent people in the past, and oppose those which do so currently.

After the discovery of the so-called Nag Hammadi Library, many studies have been published on the Gospel of Thomas. But it is still possible to investigate the role played by childhood in this apocryphal text. So we decide to focus on the Logia 4, 21, 22, 37 and 46, that contain some occurrences of the words “child” and “infant”. In particular we want to compare these Logia to the canonical and apocryphal Gospels and to show what are the new features introduced.

[Bethlehem: At the Intersection of Theology, History and Archaeology]

The paper deals with one of the crucial places on the map of salvation geography (Heilsgeographie), namely Bethlehem. Starting with a discussion of the etymology of the city’s name, both in Biblical Hebrew (house of bread) and in ancient Akkadian cuneiform script (house of [the goddess] Lahmu/Lakhamu), the study then analyses all of the Old Testament references (with a special focus on the oracle of Micah 5:1) and New Testament  references to Bethlehem. An overview of the economic and demographic situation of the Judean small towns and villages like Bethlehem during the Herodian era supplements the analysis. There is also an attempt to dispel the false conflict regarding a proper understanding of the locus of Jesus’ birth: stable presumed from the biblical data (cf. manger) versus cave attested in patristic writings and suggested by archeological survey of the area. The exact meaning of the Lucan term katalyma, meaning living space/room and not inn (as widely followed by modern translations of the NT), is also discussed, along with a brief overview of scholarly explanations as to reasons for the lack of room in the katalyma. The study ends with a note on the history of Bethlehem in the Roman and Byzantine periods, focusing on the traditional spot of Jesus’ birth as it was transformed into a pagan, and later Christian, place of cult."

Recent analysis has attempted to locate the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (IGT) in a context of developing Christian thought about Jesus’ childhood, and has suggested that the author(s) imitated a popular children’s stories genre of late antiquity. The function of this genre, when applied to the infancy of Jesus, is to embellish the status of Jesus in terms of his power, wisdom, and authority. What appears to be an earlier strand of tradition in IGT, however, suggests an ideological stance that is much less complimentary of Jesus and raises a number of questions about its original context and purpose.

PAPER PRESENTED AT THE
XVIII. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PATRISTIC STUDIES OXFORD
ON 21 AUGUST 2019

Abstract
In recent studies of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the IGT is read as problematic, because the text depicts the young Jesus as shaming, cursing, and killing in an apparent arbitrary manner (van Aarde 2006; Aasgaard 2009; Whitenton 2015; Eastman 2015; Cousland 2018). In response, scholars offer to solve the problem by showing specific contextual elements from late antiquity can explain certain facets of Jesus depicted in the IGT. In light of the ancient context, it is claimed that there is no problem to be solved; the text’s own thought-world has simply been misunderstood. In my paper, I will argue that the portrayal of Jesus in the IGT is still problematic, but the problem is not created by the IGT itself: instead of claiming that the IGT’s Jesus is incompatible with the canonical picture of Jesus, I argue that the canonical Gospels’ depiction of Jesus is–to some ancient readers–incompatible with the character of the God of Israel depicted in the Jewish scriptures. The IGT dissolves this tension by depicting “the Lord (Kurios)” of Israel as having become a fully human child, who then grows in character and learns “to bless and not to curse” (IGT 4.2), that is, he “grows in wisdom” (IGT 17.5//Luke 2.52).  In short, aside from the insights gained in recent studies that focus on the late antique setting, the primary backdrop for explaining Jesus’ character in the IGT is found in the God worshipped by the “Israelite” (IGT 1.1).

This chapter focuses on the Script of the Lord’s Infancy (LI), whose nucleus, an early apocryphal text about the birth and the infancy of Jesus, was introduced into Armenia in 588 by missionaries of the Syriac Church of the East. Although after the Œcumenical Council of Ephesus (431) the Armenian Church had officially condemned the strict dyophysite doctrine of the Church of the East and later even embraced strict Cyrilline Christology, this new theological orientation could not be implemented overnight across the entire territory of  Armenia. The reception and translation of that early apocryphon in Armenia  witness to the enduring influence that East-Syriac tradition could still exercise there a century and a half after the schism occasioned by the Council of Ephesus. The complex history of its transmission reflects the great popularity that a Syriac apocryphon about the birth and the childhood of Christ enjoyed in  Armenia over centuries.
Echoes of various religious traditions that had coexisted in the Near East during the first centuries of Christianity reached Armenia through the LI. Some accounts of this apocryphon have parallels in the eighth-century Syriac Chronicle of Zuqnın and in the Arabic Gospel of Infancy, which also derives from Syriac originals. In its actual recensions the LI  bears traces of original theological reflection outside a formal ecclesiastical framework; no details survive of the circumstances or the process of its composition. It was never officially accepted by the Armenian Church, yet its esoteric motives may be found in hymnography, book illumination and hagiography. This text, which contains carefully elaborated narratives with numerous learned references, represents a junction between ancient Christological ideas – rejected, abandoned or overlooked by official Churches – and the actual forms of Christian devotion in the Syriac world and, subsequently, in Armenia, first under Zoroastrian and, later, Islamic rule.

Les "Évangiles latins de l'enfance" ont été peu étudié depuis l'édition princeps de M. R. James en 1927. La prochaine publication dans la Series apocryphorum des Évangiles irlandais de l'enfance jette un éclairage nouveau sur cette compilation latine qui combine le Protévangile de Jacques, l'Évangile du Pseudo-Matthieu et une 3e Source non identifiée racontant la naissance de Jésus. Les récits irlandais du Leabhar Breac et du Liber Flavius Fergusiorum permettent de remonter à une  forme textuelle antérieure à la compilation latine, pas encore influencée par le Pseudo-Matthieu. Ces récits conservent parfois des éléments du texte de la Source qui ont disparu dans le latin. Le récit original de cette source inconnue est indépendant du Protévangile de Jacques et pourrait être aussi ancien que lui. C'est ce qui ressort de l'étude de quelques motifs caractéristiques de la Source: l'impôt lié au recensement, la pauvreté de Joseph, le rôle des fils de Joseph,le lieu de la nativité, l'épisode de la sage-femme.

Il tema attorno al quale ruota il discorso che ci accingiamo a fare riguarda il valore fondativo delle costruzioni genealogiche e astrologiche che troviamo in un testo (quello del Vangelo di Matteo) e in una testimonianza storica non letteraria (l'insieme monumentale della Montagna di Nemrud). Nei due tipi di documentazione, testuale ed archeologica, riteniamo che si evidenzi il valore che la cultura mediorientale dell'epoca attribuiva ai fenomeni astrali e alle origini genealogiche dei re per legittimare il diritto di precise figure regali e precisi regni a dominare su determinati territori e popoli. Confrontiamo le concezioni implicite nei primi due capitoli del Vangelo di Matteo con quelle che soggiacciono ad un complesso archeologico estremamente suggestivo, che si trova nella Turchia sud-orientale sulla cosiddetta montagna di Nemrud. Abbiamo visitato per la prima volta questo luogo durante un viaggio effettuato in occasione di un convegno organizzato dal Padre Luigi Padovese. Dedicargli questo studio ci sembra un modo di mantenere il ricordo dei tanti incontri scientifici e amicali che abbiamo avuto con lui in diverse zone della Turchia, per due decenni. Vorremo testimoniare la ricchezza del confronto e dello studio della realtà turca nati in occasione di quegli incontri. I monumenti della montagna di Nemrud contengono una simbologia che è espressione di concezioni culturali ampiamente diffuse nelle aree del vicino oriente nel I secolo dell'Era Comune e nei periodi immediatamente precedenti. L'avvento del regno di Dio finale su tutti i popoli (Matteo 1-3) 1. E' evidente che il Vangelo di Matteo, aprendosi con una genealogia, svela un intento: dare a Gesù uno sfondo inequivocabilmente chiaro e decisivo nella storia giudaica e nel destino universale. Il testo fornisce riferimenti solidi e formali per la figura di Gesù, proprio per l'idea di continuità generazionale che sviluppa. Gesù discende da Abramo a cui sono stati promessi popoli e terre, ed è il re messia discente dal re Davide. I diversi episodi della nascita e dell'infanzia nascosta di Gesù narrati nel Vangelo di Matteo (la nascita a Betlemme, l'adorazione dei Magi, l'opposizione di Erode e di tutta Gerusalemme, la strage degli innocenti, la fuga in Egitto e il ritorno alla Terra di Israele) vanno capiti a partire dalla genealogia che li precede e dalla predicazione del regno di Dio da parte di Giovanni che li segue. 1 La genealogia ha lo scopo di mostrare la nascita di Gesù come il compimento di tutta la storia del popolo di Israele a partire da Abramo e di dimostrarne la regalità messianica e davidica. Che i capitoli 1 e 2 di Matteo abbiano come tema centrale la regalità di Gesù è tesi che raccoglie il consenso degli esegeti. 2 Noi mettiamo però in evidenza che, oltre al tema della regalità 1 Esiste ormai un consenso sulla necessità di non isolare i primi due capitoli dal resto del vangelo. Vedi ad esempio: R.E. Brown, La nascita del messia secondo Matteo e Luca,

Peu présente dans le Nouveau Testament et peu commentée dans la littérature patristique, la figure de Joseph n’en a pas moins attiré l’attention des premiers chrétiens. Dès le IIe siècle, le récit qui est connu sous le nom de Protévangile de Jacques, mais qui circulait sous le titre Nativité de Marie, lui donne une place assez importante et  s’est imposé dans la culture occidentale par l'intermédiaire de ses réécritures. D’autres traditions, assez différentes, ont toutefois également circulé en Occident. Redécouvertes au XXe siècle dans le sillage de la publication des Latin Infancy Gospels par Montague Rhodes James, elles proposent une figure de Joseph assez différente.
Les principaux traits de cette tradition sont ici analysés et interprétés au regard de nombreux textes patristiques et médiévaux. Un intérêt particulier est accordé au nom de Moab attribué à Joseph, au nombre de ses enfants (trois fils), à son métier  (charpentier ou forgeron), et à son exil de Bethléem à Nazareth.

This book consists of five studies that explore different facets of the enduring derivation of Armenian theology from the South, i.e. the Syriac world and the Holy Land. The Armenian Church adhered only to the first three Œcumenical Councils, accepting also the Formulary of Reunion of 433 which had represented a fragile reconciliation between the exegetical schools of Alexandria and Antioch. At the Council convened at the patriarchal see of Duin in 553, the Church of Armenia confirmed its rejection of the Definition of Faith adopted by the Council of Chalcedon (451), thus detaching itself from succeeding developments in Byzantine theology. At the same time, it opened the door to new Christological queries characteristic of the non-Chalcedonian Churches and to independent liturgical developments. It also allowed local customs to take root within its ecclesiastical discipline.
The official position of the Armenian Church regarding Christology was settled at a Council convened in 726 at Mantzikert, a joint initiative of the Armenian Catholicos John of Ōjun (717–728) and the West Syrian Patriarch Athanasius III (724–740). The Council of Mantzikert should be regarded as an outstanding event in the history of theological ideas: not only because it repaired a schism that had lasted two centuries, but also because it was promoted by two Churches, and not by an overarching secular authority seeking political cohesion. Those two Churches needed theological unity in the face of subjection to the Caliphs.
The first four studies analyse the official Christology of the Armenian Church as expressed in technical language, doctrinal treatises, ecclesiastical correspondence, canons of Councils and the iconographic programme of a palatine church. The last one focuses, by contrast, on an apocryphal text. Its nucleus, a text about the birth and the infancy of Jesus, was introduced into Armenia at the end of the sixth century by missionaries of the Syriac Church of the East. Although after the Œcumenical Council of Ephesus (431) the Armenian Church had officially condemned the strict dyophysite doctrine of the Church of the East (pejoratively called ‘Nestorian’) and later even embraced strict Cyrilline Christology, this new theological orientation could not be implemented overnight across the entire territory of Armenia. The fact that that ancient Syriac text was received and translated in Armenia witnesses to the enduring influence that the East-Syriac tradition could still exercise there a century and a half after the schism occasioned by the Council of Ephesus.
The complex history of the transmission of this text and its rich manuscript tradition reflect the great popularity enjoyed in Armenia by those early Syriac apocryphal stories of the birth and the childhood of Christ. They also represent a trace of original theological reflection outside a formal ecclesiastical framework. This text, which contains carefully elaborated narratives with numerous learned references, represents a junction between ancient Christological ideas—rejected, abandoned or overlooked by official Churches—and the actual form of Christian devotion in the Syriac world and, subsequently, in Armenia, first under Zoroastrian and, later, Islamic rule.

This chapter analyses the representation of Jewish–Christian relations in the N-Town "Trial of Mary and Joseph." It situates this play within a wide intertextual context, including the apocryphal source and its Middle English retellings. Considered in this way, the chapter proposes that the play offers a nuanced vision of Christianity's roots, as it translates salvation history to fifteenth-century East Anglia in order to forge a just community capable of resisting scandalmongers from within.

RESUMEN Este artículo presenta un breve análisis de la intertextualidad y reinterpretación de tradi-ciones preexistentes en los capítulos 1 y 2 del Evangelio de Mateo, uno de los denomina-dos Evangelios de la Infancia. PALABRAS CLAVE: Evangelio de Mateo. Intertextualidad. Midrás. Evangelios de la Infancia. ABSTRACT «Considerations on Matthew 1-2». This paper provides a brief analysis of intertextuality and a reinterpretation of preexisting traditions of chapters 1-2 of the Gospel of Matthew, one of the so-called Infancy Gospels. KEY WORDS: Gospel of Matthew. Intertextuality. Midrash. Infancy Gospels. Mateo conoce la obra de Mc y desea asemejarla más a las biografías helenís-ticas, para lo cual la hace preceder de estos dos capítulos sobre el origen y la infancia de Jesús. Se basa para ello en tradiciones preexistentes, que reelabora profundamente. Se les suele denominar, a veces, "evangelio de la infancia", designación, al menos, ambigua porque su intención es fundamentalmente teológica y no histórica. Son unos capítulos excepcionales por la rica intertextualidad que encierran, por la profunda reinterpretación de las tradiciones fundantes de Israel a la luz de la fe en Jesús, porque reflejan una reflexión sobre la vida de Jesús ya acontecida y nos dejan vislumbrar la situación de la comunidad a la que se dirige; estos capítulos constituyen un prólogo magnífico de toda la obra y, como suele ser el caso, dan claves para su comprensión, a la vez que sintetizan lo que el lector está invitado a ir descubriendo. Es un prólogo con un género literario propio, pero perfectamente engarzado con el relato que sigue, hasta el punto de que, desde un punto de vista puramente literario, debería consi-derarse 1,1-4,17 como una unidad (Krentz, 1964). El texto que me propongo estudiar nos abre una perspectiva rica y muy amplia, pero, sin embargo mi trabajo va a ser breve y esquemático. Solo pretendo presentar las líneas maestras de estos capítulos y sugerir unas claves de comprensión.

Considered as heretical texts by the medieval commentators, ordered to be burned by the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople in the XIXth century, the apocryphal Infancy Gospels nevertheless enjoyed a large success in Armenia. The oldest Greek text, the Protevangelium of James (2th century), was translated twice – a rather rare phenomenon in Armenian literature. The Armenian tradition includes a second work, the Infancy Gospel, attested in several recensions (redactions). In spite of the warnings by the Doctors of the Church, these texts found their way into the liturgical collections (Synaxarion); as for the medieval painters, they did not consider it unfitting to illustrate the Nativity narratives according to Luke and Matthew using iconographic motives inspired by apocryphal narratives.
The present paper is structured in four parts: after a status quaestionis on the Armenian corpus and on the related textual criticism, the second part approaches the theme of the virginity of Mary, considered the antitype of Eve, in the general framework of the importance assigned to virginity in ancient Armenian Literature. Special focus has been given to the reception of these apocryphal texts in medieval Armenian writers (Sargis Shnorhali, Samuel Anetsi) and in the Armenian Mediaeval Illuminations.