The Childhood of Jesus: Decoding the Apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas - Softcover

Aasgaard, Reidar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0227173546 ISBN 13: 9780227173541

Publisher: James Clarke, 2011

Synopsis

A new interpretation of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, revealing new insights into the genre, cultural context and theology of this under-appreciated document.

The mid-second-century apocryphal infancy gospel, the Gospel of Thomas, which deals with the childhood of Jesus from age five to age twelve, has attained only limited interest from scholars. Much research into the story has also been seriously misguided - especially study of the story's origin, character, and setting. This book gives a fresh interpretation of the infancy gospel, not least by applying a variety of new approaches, including orality studies, narrative studies, gender studies, and social-scientific approaches. The book comes to a number of radically new conclusions: The Gospel of Thomas is dependent on oral storytelling and has far more narrative qualities than has been previously assumed. The narrative world depicted in the gospel is that of middle-class Christianity, with the social and cultural ideas and values characteristic of such a milieu. The gospel's theology is not heretical - as has often been claimed - but mirrors mainstream thinking rooted in biblical tradition, particularly in the Johannine and Lukan traditions. Jesus is portrayed as a divine figure but also as a true-to-life child of late antiquity. The audience for the Gospel of Thomas is likely to have come from the rural population of early Christianity, a milieu that has received little attention. A main audience for the story was children among early Christians, making this - at least within Christianity - the oldest-known children's tale. The book provides a Greek text and a translation, and several appendixes on the story, along with other early Christian infancy material.

About this title

About the Author

Reidar Aasgaard is Project Leader in the Norwegian Bible Society and has earned a doctorate in New Testament/Early Christianity. He is the author of My Beloved Brothers and Sisters (2004) and has published a study edition of the New Testament as well as Norwegian translations of Augustine.

Edition details

• Publisher: James Clarke
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0227173546
• ISBN 13: 9780227173541
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 298