Sunday, March 28, 2021

Zervos, The Protevangelium of James (T&T Clark)

NEW BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY/T&T CLARK:
The Protevangelium of James
Greek Text, English Translation, Critical Introduction: Volume 1

By: George T. Zervos
Published: 04-22-2021
Format: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 240
ISBN: 9780567700384
Imprint: T&T Clark
Series: Jewish and Christian Texts
Illustrations: 4 bw Illus
Dimensions: 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
List price: $39.95
Online price: $35.96

About The Protevangelium of James

George T. Zervos presents the first in a two-volume critical investigation of one of the earliest and most important of the New Testament Apocrypha, the Protevangelium of James, also known as the Infancy Gospel of James. Zervos challenges the prevailing view that the ProtJas is a 2nd century unitary document; finding it instead to be the product of an ongoing redactional process in which a 1st century CE “heretical” text was progressively conformed to the “orthodox” Christian doctrine of the time.

Zervos tells the story of how an early apocryphal gospel provided the developing church with doctrinal material, which was incorporated into both the theology and the ecclesiastical liturgical cycle of the medieval Church, thus becoming a significant part of the standard catechism for generations of Christians. In this first volume Zervos provides a critical introduction to the text and discusses ProtJas' publication history, scholarly investigation, compositional problems and evidence of redaction, as well as a in-depth analysis of the narrative. For the first time the readings of the vast majority of the known Greek manuscripts appear together, with a transcription of the original text of the complete copy of the ProtJas found in Papyrus Bodmer V.

The Protevangelium of James has been getting some attention in recent years. See here, here, here, here, and here. Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha Watch.

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