Apocryphicity

A Blog Devoted to the Study of Christian Apocrypha

Secret Gospel of Mark: The Forgery Debate Continues

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Stephen Carlson on his blog Hypotyposeis has noted two recent printed works on the Secret Gospel of Mark. The first is a review of Carlson’s book by Bruce Chilton for the New York Sun. The second is an article from the Daily Princetonian about another book The Secret Gospel of Mark Unveiled: Imagined Rituals of Sex, Death, and Madness in a Biblical Forgery, this one by Princeton music professor Peter Jeffery, supporting Carlson’s position on the text.

The Nativity Story

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This may be old news to many but…December 1 marks the release date of The Nativity Story, a film about…well, you know.

What is of interest to CA scholars about the film is its use of traditions that can be found in apocryphal stories of Mary—namely, details absent from the canonical gospels such as the names of Mary’s parents. This information, though accepted as historical by most mainstream Christians, was disseminated over the centuries in the Protoevangelium of James and derivative texts (such as the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, the Arabic Infancy Gospel, and the various versions of the Life of Mary) which expand the story.

Several years ago The Passion of the Christ drew the public’s attention to Historical Jesus scholarship; The Nativity Story may do the same for the CA. Or, more likely, reporters will call up the usual suspects (John Dominic Crossan, Bart Ehrman) or the local priest. For more information about the film, visit the official web site or read a preview article.

 

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A Tale of Two Conferences Redux

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A few days ago I posted a brief summary of two events I attended in September and October. Looking back at what I wrote, it seemed to me that some clarification about the events was in order.

First, they are not “conferences”—one was a workshop attended by a small group of invited scholars, one was a colloquium open to the public. Both had their attractions for me: the workshop featured scholars whose work I respect and focused on texts that I find fascinating (indeed, don’t we all?); the colloquium brought together scholars from a number of different disciplines (Patristics, Rabbinic Judaism, Gnosticism, OT and NT Apocrypha) to share their work and to honour the work of Dr. Charles Kannengeiser. Two very different events with very different goals.

My discussion of the events may have come across as an unfair comparison. Of course, the post was not intended as a “review” of the events, but merely an offering of comments about my experiences as a participant. The Montréal colloquium was of interest to me because of the diversity of the fields represented; but I did feel somewhat out of my element during the papers from outside of my own discipline, and assumed others might have felt the same (though such feelings may reflect only my own inadequacies). I commented in the post how it would be useful to see scholars of such diversity approach a more specific topic so that they could all benefit from working more closely together. Of course, …

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On-Line CA Dissertations

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Peter Dunn suggested at the Ottawa Conference that it would be helpful to have a database of links to on-line doctoral dissertations on the CA. In response, I have dedicated a section of my web site to such a database (see here). If you would like to see this list grow, please submit a link to your own dissertation or other known on-line dissertations. Include also a three or four-line summary of the work.

 

A Tale of Two Conferences

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In September and October I had the pleasure and the privilege of attending two CA-related conferences. The first, a workshop at the University of Ottawa dedicated solely to the CA and attended by prominent North American CA scholars, has been discussed elsewhere (particularly by Jim Davila; see the post here) but deserves mention in this forum. The second, a Patristics conference at Concordia University in Montréal, is also noteworthy for CA studies and, again, deserves mention.

Ottawa, September 30-October 1, 2006: Pierluigi Piovanelli of the University of Ottawa hosted a workshop titled Christian Apocrypha for the New Millennium: Achievements, Prospects and Challenges. Invited were some of North America’s best and brightest, including (among others) François Bovon, F. Stanley Jones, Dennis R. MacDonald, Ann Graham Brock (though Ann was, ultimately, unable to attend), Cornelia Horn, Stephen Shoemaker, Paul-Hubert Poirier, Craig Evans, Annette Reed, and (ahem) me. With the kind permission of the organizer, the complete list of papers is featured below:

Lorenzo DiTommaso (Concordia University), “Jewish Pseudepigrapha and Christian Apocrypha: Definitions, Boundaries, and Points of Contact”
Timothy Beech (St. Paul University), “Unraveling the Complexity of the Oracula Sibyllina: The Value of a Socio-Rhetorical Approach in the Study of the Sibylline Oracles”
Michael Kaler (McMaster University), “Gnostic Irony and the Adaptation of the Apocalyptic Genre”
Robert R. Phenix, Jr. (Saint Louis University), “The Problem of the Source of Balai’s Sermons on Joseph and the Nachleben of Pseudepigraphical Joseph Material”
James R. Davila (University of St. Andrews), “More Christian Apocryphal Texts”
Louis

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Welcome

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Does the world need another blog? Apparently yes, it does, because this is the first and only blog devoted to the study of the Christian apocrypha.

The genesis of Apocryphicity occurred at a conference on the Christian apocrypha in Ottawa back in September (more on this conference later). In a conversation with Jim Davilla of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland (and administrator of the paleo-Judaica blog) about the apocrypha on the internet, I mentioned that there were no blogs focusing on Christian apocrypha. It was suggested at the time that someone should create one. I guess that someone is me.

As the blurb to the left states I see the objectives of this blog as to inform scholars and non-scholars about developments in the study of this literature and to aid those interested in particular texts or projects to share their knowledge with others. The value of the blog depends on how much energy is put into it by participants—that would be you. I will endeavour to post information as I encounter it but the blog will be stronger the more informed I am. So, don’t be shy: e-mail me if you are aware of news on the apocrypha (discoveries, major studies, popular media, etc.) that I have missed, or if you are working on a project and seek input from others.

I look forward to hearing from you.


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