Translating the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew

My book The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Nativity of Mary is now available from Cascade Books! I've written about these texts and my work on them before, and I'd like to take the opportunity of the book's release to talk a bit about translation. I've been interested in both the practice of translation and … Continue reading Translating the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew

Dragons in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew

It's no secret that many people who love the Middle Ages also love dragons. We find dragons in literature like the Old English poem Beowulf, Norse sagas, saints' lives, romances, Arthurian legends, even historical chronicles. We also find dragons in modern fantasy literature inspired by medieval culture, like J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, Ursula … Continue reading Dragons in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew

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 … Continue reading Refugee Jesus in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew

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 … Continue reading What Do We Learn about Baby Jesus From Apocrypha?

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 … Continue reading A Tale of Two Women: Anna & Mary in Advent