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Lest She Pollute the Sanctuary'. The Influence of the Protevangelium Iacobi on Women's Status in Christianity
, Brepols, 2020 Paperback, x + 243 pages, Size:156 x 234 mm, Illustrations:1 b/w, 1 maps b/w, Language: English. ISBN 9782503590363.
Summary This work explores a second-century text, the Protevangelium Iacobi, and, by examining current scholarship on the subject, assesses the way it has influenced the Christian perception of women and the ordering of their lives through the centuries down to the present day. It demonstrates how Mary, as she is presented in this text with extreme and unreal emphasis on her purity, has been held up as an unattainable model for all Christian women and takes as a case study the lives of contemplative women in the Roman Catholic church, showing how the image of Mary impossibly secluded in the temple has been partly responsible for their enclosure. By exploring the way female biological processes have been allowed to intrude on the sacred, tracing this influence from the Old Testament, through this text and its connection with Mary to the present day, it argues that this has been a significant factor in the denial of presbyteral ordination to women in some Christian churches. One of the original features of this work is the tracing of art work depicting scenes from the text across the Christian world, thus demonstrating the breadth of its influence, right down to New Age writings today. TABLE OF CONTENTS Part I: Questions of Influence Chapter 1: Prolegomena: Locating ourselves and our Questions and the Protevangelium Jacobi: 'Joachim searched the records of the twelve tribes of Israel' Chapter 2: Introducing the Protevangelium Jacobi: authorship, genre, provenance, dating, sources, purpose: 'All the while, I was glorifying God who gave me the wisdom to write this history.' Part II: Aspects of Influence Chapter 3: The Influence of the Protevangelium on Mariology and Asceticism: 'A virgin has given birth!' Chapter 4: The Influence of the Protevangelium on the Concept of [Woman in the] Sacred Space: 'her heart will never be led away from the temple of the Lord' Chapter 5: The Influence of the Protevangelium on Concepts of Ritual Purity: 'lest she defile the sanctuary of the Lord' Part III: Means of Influence Chapter 6: The Influence of the Protevangelium on the Sanctoral Cycle of the Church's Liturgy: 'thou shall not walk on this earth until I bring thee into the Temple of the Lord'. Chapter 7: The Influence of the Protevangelium on the Artistic and Iconographic Tradition: 'he set her down on the third step of the altar and she danced with her feet?' Conclusion: Consequences of Influence: Chapter 8: The Influence of the Protevangelium Jacobi on the lives of women: 'Anna, you will conceive and give birth, and your child will be talked about all over the world.' Appendix I: The Influence of the Protevangelium on the Cult of Mary in the martyrological tradition: 'and the Lord God poured grace upon her?and every house in Israel loved her.' Appendix II: The Influence of the Protevangelium on the Popular Cult of Mary: 'your child will be talked about all over the world.'
Protevangelium of James. Critical edition, with translation and commentary
, Brepols, 2022 Paperback, 126 pages, Size:156 x 234 mm, Illustrations:2 tables b/w., Language(s):English, Greek. ISBN 9782503593142.
Summary As a prehistory to the Nativity accounts of the gospels of Matthew and Luke the Protevangelium of James, dated to the second half of the second century, aimed to fill in alleged gaps in the canonical accounts of Jesus' and his mother's ancestry and births. Thus, it describes the birth of Mary, the mother of Christ, the Annunciation, the Nativity and the death of Zachariah, the high priest and father of John the Baptist. The edition of the original Greek text has an English version on its facing pages. There are also editorial notes to enable all interested parties to benefit from reading this important and influential text. The commentary pays particular attention to the early liturgical use of the Protevangelium and to artistic representations of the scenes it describes as these were the main means by which this highly influential text was transmitted throughout the known world. It also questions the usually accepted genre and purpose of the text and suggests that its author may have had a satirical intention or have intended it as an early Christian novelette, using scriptural scenes and themes as his inspiration. Maybe we have approached the Protevangelium of James with solemn faces and have been prepared to carry out serious theological investigations, whereas the many inconsistencies and glaring contradictions so obvious as to be ridiculous might suggest the author's intentions were not quite so grave or weighty.
