PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES

pseudepigraphal (noncanonical and unauthentic) work written about the mid-2nd century AD to enhance the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Christian tradition. The story of Mary's childhood as given in the Protevangelium has no parallel in the New Testament, and reference to a nine-year stay in the Temple of Jerusalem contradicts Jewish customs. Mary's birth to aged parents is termed miraculous, and after the birth of Jesus a midwife is said to have confirmed that Mary was still a virgin. The Protevangelium modified the nativity narratives of Matthew and Luke. Though the writer called himself James, his true identity is still uncertain. The work was possibly composed in Egypt and was widely popular from antiquity on through the Renaissance. There are more than 30 extant Greek manuscripts and others in Coptic, Syriac, and Armenian.