Years in the Making: The Debut of NASSCAL’s Early Christian Apocrypha Series

July 12, 2019 by Tony

The North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature (NASSCAL) is celebrating the release of the first two volumes in their Early Christian Apocrypha series: The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Nativity of Mary, by Brandon W. Hawk, and The Protevangelium of James, by Lily C. Vuong. To be clear, the two books are numbered volumes 7 and 8 because NASSCAL is continuing a series that was begun by Julian V. Hills, who edited six volumes of texts for Polebridge Press.

The process of getting these two books to publication began in 2015. NASSCAL had been formed a year earlier and the directors were considering options for publishing projects that could be venues for the work of our members. The first volume of the More New Testament Apocrypha series was near completion, and though it is not explicitly a NASSCAL project, many of its contributors were NASSCAL members. MNTA focuses on texts that are not normally included in apocrypha collections, but we had members of the society interested in working on some of the “standard” apocryphal texts—such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Apocalypse of Peter. We looked at the work of the French and Swiss apocrypha group l’AELAC (Association pour l’Étude de la Littérature Apocryphe Chrétienne), who publish a series of pocket-size translations called La collection de poche apocryphes. But there already existed a North American pocketbook series of apocrypha in English.

Westar, the association behind the Jesus Seminar, have a number …

Reconstructing a Ninth-Century Arabic Apocrypha Manuscript from Mount Sinai

August 17, 2020 by Tony

Though I have a number of important projects in progress at the moment, sometimes I throw them aside for a day or two while I chase down some information about an apocryphal text or manuscript. Yesterday was one of those days. So I don’t lose track of what I’ve learned, I thought I would compile it all in a blog post—and since my last blog pose was in February, I can justify this diversion as necessary for maintaining my social media presence, right?

My morning began by posting the latest entry in NASSCAL’s e-Clavis: the Six-Books Dormition of the Virgin, compiled for us by Alley Kateusz. The 6 Bks. Dorm. is extant in Syriac (CANT 123 and 124), Arabic (140), and Ethiopic (150). The Arabic text was published from a manuscript in Bonn in 1854 by Maximilian Enger (Ionnis Apostoli de Transitu Beatae Mariae Virginis Liber). Enger’s edition includes also a Latin translation, which was translated into French a few years later in Jacques-Paul Migne’s Dictionnaire des Apocryphes. Enger’s text was reprinted in Pilar González Casado’s doctoral thesis (“Las relaciones linguisticas entre el siriaco y el arabe en textos religiosos arabes cristianos”; Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2013) along with a Spanish translation. So, what is the problem that I needed to solve? Casado states in her introduction that Enger’s source is a ninth-century manuscript from Bryn Mawr College Library (p. 6), but later correctly identifies the source as the manuscript from Bonn (p. 181).

What is …

Manuscripta apocryphorum: Online Christian Apocrypha Manuscripts

April 10, 2017 by Tony

Each entry for the e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha, the online Christian Apocrypha clavis constructed and maintained by members of NASSCAL (North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature), contains branch pages for manuscripts that contain the text of the entry. The pages feature links to online images (where available) and other databases, along with such information as physical description, provenance, date of composition, contents, and catalogs.

All of these branch pages can be accessed via the Manuscripta apocryphorum page. At present pages have been created for 45 manuscripts and there are many, many more to come. Libraries throughout the world are releasing images of their manuscripts online; unfortunately, manuscripts of apocryphal texts seem to be low on their priorities. Nevertheless, they are appearing ever-so-slowly and Manuscripta apocryphorum is a helpful resource to consult when looking to see what materials are available.

e-Clavis is always looking for volunteers to contribute entries for unassigned texts. Contact members of the editorial board for more information.

New Bibliographical Resource: “e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha”

February 7, 2016 by Tony

The first collaborative project initiated by the North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature (NASSCAL) is a comprehensive clavis and bibliography on the Christian Apocrypha. The last attempt at creating such a resource, James H. Charlesworth’s print bibliography (The New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha: A Guide to Publications, with Excurses on Apocalypses. ATLA Bibliography Series 17. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1987), is now almost 30 years old. It is time to update and expand Charlesorth’s work, but this time as an electronic resource.

The process envisioned for the creation of e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha is to enlist members of NASSCAL to contribute entries on texts on which they have already completed, or are in the process of completing, a substantial body of work. Essentially, the contributors will be required to simply reformat and slightly augment bibliographies that are already largely complete and, presumably, being continually updated. Along with print resources, each entry includes also a detailed description (a summary, the various titles used in scholarship, clavis numbers, and identification of related literature), an inventory of manuscript sources (with online images where available), an extensive bibliography (including online resources), and information about the text’s use in iconography and popular culture.

For the complete (but certainly expandable) list of texts covered, visit the e-Clavis page at NASSCAL.com:

http://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/

At this moment, 12 entries have been completed, and another 42 are assigned and in progress. For examples of completed entries, see:

http://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/infancy-gospel-of-thomas/

http://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/dialogue-of-the-paralytic-with-christ/

http://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/hospitality-and-ointment-of-the-bandit/

One of the primary goals of

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New Academic Association Devoted to the Study of Christian Apocrypha

September 27, 2015 by Tony

At the conclusion of the 2013 York Christian Apocrypha Symposium there was discussion of creating a North American academic association for the study of Christian Apocrypha, a counterpart of sorts to l’AELAC (the French/Swiss group of scholars responsible for the Corpus Christianorum Series Apocryphorum and other publishing endeavours). We soon established a founding board and met at SBL in November 2014 to consider the group’s mandate, possible collaborative projects, and the very important decision of what do we call the thing? After a few false starts we came up with the North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature (NASSCAL). Since November we have elected an executive and created a web site to promote the group and to build a membership. The existence of the group was formally announced at this past weekend’s 2015 York Christian Apocrypha Symposium.

We encourage everyone—established scholars, independent scholars, graduate students—to become members. There is no membership fee! Simply sign up at NASSCAL.com and take advantage of the resources and networking opportunities that the society provides. Over the coming months we will be working to grow our membership base and then begin discussions of future projects, including assembling a comprehensive online bibliography of Christian Apocrypha research, establishing a bi-annual conference, and creating an open access journal.

A byproduct of the creation of NASSCAL is the conclusion of the York Christian Apocrypha Symposium Series. It will be replaced by NASSCAL gatherings, which will take place in various cities in Canada and the US. The …