Conference lgp30::christian-perspective

841.0. "The Pseudepigrapha" by VNABRW::BUTTON (Today is the first day of the rest of my life!) Thu Feb 03 1994 03:39

	Hi!

	There have recently been questions relating to the Pseudopygraphica
	(from now on referred to as PS) which I would like to address.

	>>? Isn't there somewhere works relating to Mary's own birth?

	I have located 2 such works in the PS.  One is the Gospel of the
	Birth of Mary which, by some of the early church fathers, is
	attributed to Matthew (and indeed is stylistically very similar
	in the translation which I have). It is mentioned by Jerome in
	the 4th century. Some considered it a forgery.  A gnostic text of
	this Gospel was discovered in the rolls found at Nag Hamadi.

	It tells how Mary's father (Joachim) and then mother were (Anna)
	visited by an angel and told that Anna would bear Mary. Mary was
	to be devoted to the service of the Lord and, in due course, would
	in turn bear a son who was to become the Saviour of all nations.

	The second text is the Protoevangelion which is ascribed to James
	and was (supposedly) originally composed in Hebrew. It was widely
	read in some early Christian communities. It was rejected from the
	Canon - among other reasons - because it gives Joseph as being
	pretty old.
	
	It does not claim that Anna was a virgin, but that she was barren.
	The child Jesus is born in a cave, assisted by a Hebrew midwife.
	The midwife tells Salome who, doubting the story, is punished by
	God (withered hand) but was cured after repentance.

	>Isn't there a Gospel of Thomas?

	In the PS, there are two books bearing Thomas' name.

	- The Evangelium according to Thomas the Israelite.  This tells of
	the childhood of Jesus including several "wonders" (giving clay
	pigeons life; carries water without a jug; healings; etc.) In this
	tale, Jesus does a few "very naughty" things (killed a child; took
	revenge on his teacher; etc.) which disqualified it for inclusion
	in the Canon.

	- The Gospel according to Thomas the Twin.

	This one is taken much more seriously than most other PS works. It
	is simply a collection of words spoken by Jesus during his ministry,
	usually with a brief comment on the context. EG: "Asked if this or
	that, Jesus spake, saying ...."

	The sayings are simply numbered 1 to 114 (some translations have
	up to 140, I believe).  The book was not included in the Canon,
	but it is very common to see reference to Thomas' gospel from the very
	early days of the Church right up to the present. I have a highly
	analytical "Synoptic Gospel" published by a Catholic society, which
	includes the Thomas quotations alongside the parallel texts of
	the Synoptic Gospels.  Eg: Alongside Luke 12:49 one reads: Tho. 12
	"Und Jesus spoke saying: I am come to light a fire upon the earth
	and lo, I (will) guard it until it burns."

	----------------

	I once owned a Bible, published early in this century, called "The
	Compleate (sic) Bible of the Lord."  It contained, together with
	all the books of the Canon, these and many other PS texts. The
	PS texts were printed in italics.

	Interestingly, some passages within our Canon were also italicised
	including the last part of Luke.  The most unusual feature was,
	however, in the middle of Mark's Gospel, about 1� columns were
	blank. A footnote read something like: "Herein are contained the
	most holy and secret words of our brother Mark, imparted only to
	our bretheren of Alexandria and entrusted to them and their
	successors to guard for all eternity."  Despite this "hole", the
	paragraph numbering continued without a break.

	I have only ever once heard or seen reference to secret words of
	Mark - in a (very interesting but IMO not very serious) book:
	"The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail".  But this tells of a story
	which is unmistakedly the Johanine story of the raising of Lazarus
	with a few minor variations. Hardly something which would justify
	"to guard for all eternity"  If anyone knows more, I would be
	interested to hear it.

	Greetings, Derek.

The correct spelling is "Pseudepigrapha".

(In German it is "Pseudepigraphen.")

It means "falsely ascribed."

/john

    Thanks John.
    
    That's one of those words I never get right, even if it's writ large
    afore me.
    
    Another one is "palimpsest" -- I think. :-)
    
    Greetings, Derek.

    I just picked up a current book called the five Gospels of Jesus.  The
    Gospel of Thomas is included.
    
    Patricia

    I borrowed a copy of the Gospel of Thomas (the sayings of Jesus)
    yesterday.  Browsing through it, I recognized quite a few of the
    sayings from the familiar canonical works.
    
    Peace,
    Richard