The Proto-Evangelium of James: Setting Expectations on the Authors' Terms

For the start of advent in the continuing series on various gospels both inside and outside the Bible, we will consider the Proto-Evangelium of James. It is a non-Biblical gospel that is not entirely unused in some Roman Catholic circles, being regarded as in some borderline set of the apocryphal writings, seen as not fully reliable but also not completely legendary. (Based on my understanding of the Catholic Encylopedia's comments on it, in the article on St Joachim who is one of the main characters.)

Again we start with a basic, no-assumptions-made review of what it actually contains. I'll quote short amounts here so that the reader can follow to some extent, though as always the reader is encouraged to consult a full text for more depth. The divisions among items are not always clear; these are after definite transitions:

• In the histories of the twelve tribes of Israel, Joachim was an extremely rich man. 
• As the great day of the Lord was drawing near and the children of Israel were bringing their offerings, however, Reubel stood in his way, saying, "You cannot offer your gifts first because you have not conceived a child in Israel."
• Then his wife Anna mourned and lamented greatly for two reasons, saying, "I lament that I am a widow and I lament that I am childless." [No, Joachim hadn't died; he'll be back.]
• And Anna looked up to the heavens and saw a nest of sparrows in the laurel tree. 
• Suddenly, an angel of the Lord stood in front of her, saying, "Anna, Anna, the Lord God has heard your prayer."

To look at the material presented, we have characters and action and conflict -- definitely a narrative structure containing events. The document introduces Joachim and Anna, narrates various events preceding the birth of Mary, the child Mary growing up and being betrothed to Joseph, the birth of Jesus and some material also related to the birth of John the Baptist, the visit of the astrologers, and ends during the political unrest after the wise men did not return to Herod, and Herod ordered various executions.

When we place the narrative against the wider context given by the author, the mention of geography is light, and the later an event is in the narrative, the more likely it is to have a note of its geographical location. The two specific cities or towns mentioned are Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The edition that I'm using has the material divided into 25 chapters. The first mention of Bethlehem is in chapter 17, and the first reference to Jerusalem is at the end of chapter 20. By chapter 17, the narrative has reached events that are also known to us from the Biblical gospels. In the earlier sections where the narrative relates events that are not known to us from the Biblical gospels, specific geographical references are lacking, and any references are generally to Israel or once to Judea.

A similar pattern emerges when studying political references: the first mentions of political figures are Herod and Emperor Augustus, again within the portions covering material that is known from other sources.

The Proto-Evangelium of James does place events in a Jewish cultural context. The document is written with awareness that 40 is a significant number in Jewish culture, that voluntary fasting is not permitted on obligatory feast days, the significance of the line of David, and similar signs that the author has at least some familiarity with Jewish culture. That is not to vouch for the complete accuracy of all the references, but to acknowledge that the author was acquainted with some basics.

For the Proto-Evangelium of James, it is a fair question whether it is about Jesus. While in the narrative Jesus is certainly not the main character -- he speaks no words, and his name only occurs twice -- still the action tends to lead up to him, and the editorial selection of material leads mainly towards his birth as the ultimate point of most of the prior action. So while this document does not contain much in the way of material directly about Jesus, it is still based on an interest in Jesus.