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Mary in the Bible and Apocrypha. NT canon: selection criteria. Mary in the Bible. Mary in the Infancy Gospel of James. Marian Feasts and other traditions. NT canon: informal selection criteria. Use in public worship & teaching.
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Mary in the Bible and Apocrypha. • NT canon: selection criteria. • Mary in the Bible. • Mary in the Infancy Gospel of James. • Marian Feasts and other traditions.
NT canon: informal selection criteria • Use in public worship & teaching. • Orthodoxy = agreement with the apostolic tradition and rule of faith). • Apostolicity = attributed to apostles or ‘apostolic men’. • Antiquity =belong to the ‘apostolic age’.
Infancy of Mary • Written ca. 150 in Syria (?) • Apocryphal gospel. Ascribed to James, the brother of the Lord • Immensely popular: feasts
The earliest archeological link to Jesus or a fake? • Ossuary (burial box) allegedly belonging to the apostle James, “the brother of the Lord” • Inscription: “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” • Date: 63 AD.
Mary’s Nativity. • Feast Day: Sept 08.
Presentation of Mary in the Temple Feast Day: November 21.
Dormition/ Assumption • Feast Day: August 15. • Additionally, the Feast of Mary’s Immaculate Conception is December 8
Salome’s (in)famous test 1. What is the point of this miracle?
Alternative account of Jesus’ birth, according to a certain Syrian Jew: “When she [Mary] became pregnant she was turned out of doors by the carpenter to whom she had been betrothed, as having been guilty of adultery…She [Mary] bore a child to a certain soldier named Panthera." --Origen, Against Celsus 1.32.
OT trial by ordeal of a suspected adulteress • If ‘a spirit of jealousy’ comes upon a husband, he needs to bring an offering to a priest • The priest mixes the dust on the floor of the tabernacle in the holy water • The priest makes a suspected woman take an oath • The priest utters curses and puts them in writing • The priest makes the woman to drink the water mixed with dust • If the woman is not guilty, she will be able to conceive, if she is guilty, she will have a discharge. • Numbers 5: 11-28.
Seminar Q’s: Infancy Gospel of James. • What do we learn about Mary’s parents and her childhood? • What details does this account borrow from the NT gospels of Matthew, chap. 1-2 and Luke, chap. 1-2? • How does this apocryphal gospel elaborate the stories found in the canonical gospels? In your opinion, what were the reasons for these additions? • What popular beliefs about Mary are based upon these additions? • In your judgment, what could be the rationale for not including this gospel into the canon of the New Testament?