Category Apocrypha
Saint Matthew and Apocryphal Gospels
September 21 is the Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, in the Western church. With these titles, he’s most well known as one of Jesus’ twelve disciples in the gospels, and for his role as writer of his own Gospel. He’s also patron saint of accountants, bankers, tax collectors, perfumers, and civil servants–because he […]
Forthcoming: “The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, the Rule of the Master, and the Rule of Benedict”
For anyone who follows my blog, or my Twitter account, it’s obvious that the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew has been a major part of my research life over the last year and a half or so. (You can read more about other aspects of my work on Pseudo-Matthew here.) While I’ve been working on a new translation of […]
Two Thieves and a Funeral
Recently, I’ve been reading Mary Dzon’s new book, The Quest for the Christ Child in the Later Middle Ages (Philadelphia, PA: U of Pennsylvania P, 2017), and it’s turned out to be quite appropriate for the season of Lent leading up to Easter. This might seem somewhat odd, given the focus on Jesus’ childhood rather than […]
E-Clavis Entries
I’m happy to share two entries I’ve contributed to the e-Clavis for The North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature (NASSCAL): Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew Life of Judas As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve spent a lot of my time over the past year working on an introduction, translation, and commentary for the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. The e-Clavis […]
Refugee Jesus in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
Recently, Casey Strine (Lecturer in Ancient Near Eastern History and Literature at the University of Sheffield) wrote for the Huffington Post UK about “Ancient Christianity’s Opposition To Trump’s Proposal To Prefer Christian Refugees.” In the article, Strine musters different passages in the Bible that speak to early Jewish and Christian responses to refugees, relating them […]
What Do We Learn about Baby Jesus From Apocrypha?
Just before Christmas, Mark Hay published a piece over at Vice about certain accounts of Jesus’ miracles as a child. Specifically, Hay discusses apocryphal (extra-biblical or non-canonical, different terms for these stories that aren’t in the Bible) stories in which (in his words) “Lil’ Jesus used his divine powers to terrorize teachers, kill Jewish children, and […]
A Tale of Two Women: Anna & Mary in Advent
During the season leading up to Christmas known as Advent, the Christian story of Jesus’ birth is often a centerpiece of Western culture. Yet many Christians also celebrate another miraculous story during this time: the Conception of the Virgin Mary, Jesus’ mother. The feast day is traditionally observed on December 8, exactly nine months before the […]
