Apocryphicity

A Blog Devoted to the Study of Christian Apocrypha

Where Mary Rested (Protoevangelium of James 17)

by Tony

The Nov/Dec 2007 issue of Biblical Archeological Review features an article on the discovery of a church commemorating a scene from the Protoevangelium of James (“Where Mary Rested,” pp. 44-51).

In chapter 17 of the text Joseph, Mary, and Joseph’s children journey to Bethlehem for the census. Three miles outside of the city Mary feels labour pains and stops to sit on a rock. According to Cyril of Scythopolis a church was built on the spot in 456. It is called the Kathisma, “seat” or “chair” in Greek. The church is described also in the account of the anonymous sixth-century Piacenza Pilgrim.

The church (more a martyrium actually) was rediscovered in 1993. The digs finished in 2000 and Dr. Rina Avner has written her doctoral dissertation at the University of Haifa on her excavations of the Kathisma.

The article includes photographs of the mosaics from the site and an image of the similarly structured house of St. Peter in Capernaum.

Apocrypha Links Updated

by Tony

The New Testament Apocrypha section of my main site TonyBurke.ca has been updated–specifically, the Internet Resources section has been expanded to include more sites and features better descriptions of the sites' content. If you know of a worthy site that is not in the list, please pass the informaiton along. 

Review: Infancy Gospel Synopsis

by Tony

As visitors to my main web site know, my principle area of study is the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (IGT). So it was with some excitement that I heard of J.K. Elliott’s A Synopsis of Apocryphal Nativity and Infancy Narratives (New Testament Tools and Studies 34; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2006). Even today, relatively little attention has been paid to IGT, so any new work on the text is appreciated. And the synopsis promised to be a helpful tool. I ordered the book immediately (despite the high price: $159 US) and eagerly awaited its delivery.

Unfortunately, the book does not meet my expectations. In brief: the selection of texts is limited, the synopsis is awkward, and the scholarship is not always up-to-date. This is not the kind of quality I expected from Elliott, who is well-known for his books The Apocryphal New Testament and Art and the Christian Apocrypha (with David Cartlidge), and frequently contributes to the SBL Apocrypha section.

The texts featured in the synopsis include the “usual suspects” – Protoevangelium of James, Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Pseudo-Matthew, M.R. James’ Latin Infancy Gospel (Arundel 404), Birth of Mary, and Arabic Infancy Gospel. Included also are History of Joseph the Carpenter, the fragmentary Pap. Cairensis 10735, and the Irish texts Leabhar Breac and Liber Flavus  Fergusiorum. Elliott lists several other texts that could have been included—(e.g., Armenian Infancy Gospel and the Syriac Life of Mary) – but does not explain why he neglects …

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The Gospel of Mary and Ferrara’s Mary

by Tony

Why should Jesus be the subject of all the movies? Director Abel Ferrara has done for Mary what Denys Arcand did for Jesus in Jesus of Montreal in his film-within-a-film about Mary Magdalene. The Toronto Film Festival synopsis describes the film as:

"A sharply observed rejoinder to those who cynically exploit faith in God for money, power and fame, Mary finds Abel Ferrara on familiar and fruitful turf. Although unspoken and oblique in the film, the controversy around Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ has clearly irked the infamous director and the impressive cast surrounding him on this project. The result is a spare, angry work of cinema that forces us into difficult thinking about the thorny role of Christianity in mass media. It is easily Ferrara's best film since Bad Lieutenant, amplifying its complex conception of faith in exciting new ways."

Trailers for the film are available here and here.

What is interesting for our purposes is the film’s apparent use of the Gospel of Mary. According to Matt Page of the Bible Films Blog, the film’s protagonist Marie Palese (played by Juliette Binoche) is “an actress who is inspired by her role playing Mary Magdalene in a Jesus movie and so heads to Jerusalem in search of spiritual enlightenment.” Not much of this film-within-a-film is shown but Page offers this tantalizing comment:

"At best, only five scenes from the movie are included – and two of these may simply be in Marie Palese's, mind. Of

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The Nativity Story: A Modern Apocryphon?

by Tony

The Catholic News Service has posted a review (with a detailed synopsis) of The Nativity Story. It is striking that, despite the many changes made here to the canonical versions of the story (including a number of references that foreshadow events in Jesus’ adult life), the author of the review still feels it is “faithful to scripture.” In his own words:

“Though the New Testament is sparse on details about Mary and Joseph, the thoughtful screenplay of Mike Rich, a practicing Christian, manages to flesh them out while remaining faithful to Scripture, beautifully suggesting the humanity beneath the halos.”

Like The Passion of the Christ, The Nativity Story appears to be an excellent example of modern Christian Apocrypha—i.e., like the ancient CA, these films take well-known traditions, add other material (other early traditions, their own inventions and interpretations) and shake. To the reviewer (and likely many viewers) the result is a version of the tale that seems appropriate (and viewers of The Passion felt the same, despite scholars’ assertions that it was more than a simple harmony of the canonical gospels).

Perhaps we can learn something from this. Maybe writers of the early CA operated like these filmmakers (naively believing they were telling the story appropriately, and not intentionally manipulating the texts as CA critics claim) and their audiences received their works in the same way as modern pious Christian filmgoers.

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Apocrypha at SBL 2006

by Tony

As I write this some of our colleagues are enjoying themselves in Washington for the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. Why am I not with them? I have skipped the SBL for several years now under the pretense that I want to devote my energies to my book. Usually that means I miss SBL and continue to avoid the book but this year I am actually busy at work.

For those who cannot attend SBL but are curious about the papers being presented this year, I offer the following list:

November 18 (morning): Apostle as Conveyor of Authority

Edward Dixon, Yale Divinity School: “A Hope for Status Inversion in the Acts of Thomas”

Simon S. Lee, Harvard University: “Peter and the Transfiguration Event in 2 Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter”

Catherine Playoust, Harvard University: “James and Peter in the Apocryphon of James”

Glenn E. Snyder, Harvard University: “Third Corinthians: An Orthodox Production of Scripture”

November 18, 2006 (afternoon): Mary Magdalene and Apostolic Authority  

Judith Hartenstein, Philipps Universität, Marburg: “Mary Magdalene the Apostle: A Re-interpretation of Literary Traditions?”

Jane D. Schaberg, University of Detroit Mercy: “Magdalene Christianity: A Collection of Fragments, or an Actual Reality in Early Communities?”

Esther A. de Boer, Theological University of Kampen, the Netherlands: “‘Surely, He Has Not Spoken to a Woman’”Responses from Elaine Pagels, Christopher Matthews, Philip Sellew, and Ann Graham Brock.

November 20, 2006: Open Session

Janet Elizabeth Spittler, University of Chicago: “Tuna Redivivus: Dried

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Blog Problems

by Tony

Ah, the joys and frustrations of blogging. As those of you who have been attempting to add comments to posts on Apocryphicity already know, the blog has been experiencing some technical difficulties. These problems should now be resolved.

I have been holding off on recent posts while the blog was under repair, but now I have no excuse for being so quiet. Look for new posts and updates to TonyBurke.ca within the next few days.

Secret Gospel of Mark: The Forgery Debate Continues

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Stephen Carlson on his blog Hypotyposeis has noted two recent printed works on the Secret Gospel of Mark. The first is a review of Carlson’s book by Bruce Chilton for the New York Sun. The second is an article from the Daily Princetonian about another book The Secret Gospel of Mark Unveiled: Imagined Rituals of Sex, Death, and Madness in a Biblical Forgery, this one by Princeton music professor Peter Jeffery, supporting Carlson’s position on the text.

The Nativity Story

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This may be old news to many but…December 1 marks the release date of The Nativity Story, a film about…well, you know.

What is of interest to CA scholars about the film is its use of traditions that can be found in apocryphal stories of Mary—namely, details absent from the canonical gospels such as the names of Mary’s parents. This information, though accepted as historical by most mainstream Christians, was disseminated over the centuries in the Protoevangelium of James and derivative texts (such as the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, the Arabic Infancy Gospel, and the various versions of the Life of Mary) which expand the story.

Several years ago The Passion of the Christ drew the public’s attention to Historical Jesus scholarship; The Nativity Story may do the same for the CA. Or, more likely, reporters will call up the usual suspects (John Dominic Crossan, Bart Ehrman) or the local priest. For more information about the film, visit the official web site or read a preview article.

 

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A Tale of Two Conferences Redux

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A few days ago I posted a brief summary of two events I attended in September and October. Looking back at what I wrote, it seemed to me that some clarification about the events was in order.

First, they are not “conferences”—one was a workshop attended by a small group of invited scholars, one was a colloquium open to the public. Both had their attractions for me: the workshop featured scholars whose work I respect and focused on texts that I find fascinating (indeed, don’t we all?); the colloquium brought together scholars from a number of different disciplines (Patristics, Rabbinic Judaism, Gnosticism, OT and NT Apocrypha) to share their work and to honour the work of Dr. Charles Kannengeiser. Two very different events with very different goals.

My discussion of the events may have come across as an unfair comparison. Of course, the post was not intended as a “review” of the events, but merely an offering of comments about my experiences as a participant. The Montréal colloquium was of interest to me because of the diversity of the fields represented; but I did feel somewhat out of my element during the papers from outside of my own discipline, and assumed others might have felt the same (though such feelings may reflect only my own inadequacies). I commented in the post how it would be useful to see scholars of such diversity approach a more specific topic so that they could all benefit from working more closely together. Of course, …

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On-Line CA Dissertations

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Peter Dunn suggested at the Ottawa Conference that it would be helpful to have a database of links to on-line doctoral dissertations on the CA. In response, I have dedicated a section of my web site to such a database (see here). If you would like to see this list grow, please submit a link to your own dissertation or other known on-line dissertations. Include also a three or four-line summary of the work.