Protoevangelium of James

Background

Among the New Testament Gospels, only Matthew and Luke contain accounts of the birth of Jesus. Neither describes how Mary was born or raised. In the second century, interest grew among Christians in the life of Mary and the circumstances of Jesus' birth, and this text appears to have been written in Greek in that setting. At the end of the work, the author identifies himself as James. Traditionally, this James has been identified as James the brother of the Lord. Scholars generally regard the name as borrowed for its authority rather than as that of the actual author.

Content and Narrative

The story runs as follows. Joachim and Anna, a childless couple, are granted Mary in answer to their prayers. At the age of three, Mary is dedicated to the Temple in Jerusalem, where she is raised. When she is about twelve, the high priest, guided by a sign, appoints Joseph, an elderly widower with sons, as her guardian. There follow the Annunciation, Joseph's doubts and the test that ensues, and the journey for the census, after which Jesus is born in a cave near Bethlehem. The narrative also includes a scene in which a midwife attests to Mary's virginity. Toward the end, Elizabeth hides the infant John the Baptist from the persecution of Herod, and Zacharias is killed in the Temple.

The history of the work's transmission is as follows:

• Mid-to-late second century: The work is thought to have been written.
• Early third century: Origen mentions "the Book of James" in his commentary on Matthew. He wrote that the view that the brothers of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a previous marriage derived from this book.
• Late fourth century: Jerome rejected this view, holding instead that the brothers of Jesus were his cousins.
• Around the sixth century: The work is reported to have been listed among the apocrypha to be rejected in the so-called Decretum Gelasianum of the Latin West.
• Mid-sixteenth century: The French scholar Guillaume Postel translated it into Latin and introduced it to the West, giving it the name "Protoevangelium," that is, a gospel dealing with events that precede the Gospel narratives.
• Twentieth century: A papyrus manuscript apparently dating from the third or fourth century (Papyrus Bodmer V) was published. This manuscript bears the title "The Birth of Mary."

Legacy and Influence

Through this book, traditions such as the names of Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna, and the presentation of Mary in the Temple became widely known. The feasts of the Nativity of Mary and of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church are closely connected with this tradition. The work also influenced iconographic conventions such as the birth of the infant Jesus in a cave and the portrayal of Joseph as an old man. It is frequently cited as well in discussions of who the "brothers of Jesus" were.

Assessment

• The Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant churches all reject this book as part of the canon.
• The Orthodox Church has incorporated the Marian traditions found in this book into its liturgy and iconography. The Catholic Church likewise preserves some of its stories in the tradition of its feast days.
• Protestantism regards the book as extrabiblical apocrypha and does not treat it as a basis for doctrine or history. In Korean Protestant churches, it is not used in worship or preaching and is encountered only through translations of the New Testament apocrypha or in church history courses. Regarding the brothers of Jesus, many Protestants today hold that they were the children of Joseph and Mary.
• Scholars judge that the author lacked accurate knowledge of Jewish customs such as the Temple system and suggest that the work may have been written outside Palestine. It is regarded less as a source of historical fact than as evidence of how the second-century church understood Mary.