Infancy Gospels
Stories and Identities
2011. XXX, 755 pages. WUNT I 281
ISBN 978-3-16-152090-7
DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-152090-7
eBook PDF 174,00 €
ISBN 978-3-16-150833-2
cloth 174,00 €
Ed. by Claire Clivaz, Andreas Dettwiler, Luc Devillers, Enrico Norelli with Benjamin
Bertho
[Die Kindheitsevangelien: Geschichten und Identitäten.]
Published in English.
Even though the canonical Jesus' infancy stories have always provoked great interest in popular culture and in the arts, they
have been neglected in research during the last decades due to the relatively late date of their redaction. Since the monograph
by Raymond Brown, The Birth of the Messiah , the researchers working on this topic have not attempted to consider its
historical impact. In this volume, an international team of scholars proposes rstly a reconsideration of the historical
background of these stories in terms of early Jewish and Christian identity quests. Secondly, they deal with early Christian
questions on Jesus' infancy and childhood through canonical and apocryphal Gospels including information from Patristic and
documentary literature. On the theological level, this volume illustrates the impact that these apocryphal texts, recognized as
»useful for the soul« (a phrase coined by François Bovon), have had on the Christian faith.
Contributors:
Philip Alexander, Frédéric Amsler , Daniel Barbu , Simon Butticaz, Valentina Calzolari , Claire Clivaz, José Costa , Elian
Cuvillier, Adriana Destro, Luc Devillers, Jörg Frey, Daniel Gerber , Christian Grappe, Christophe Guignard, Jean-Daniel
Kaestli , Ursula Ulrike Kaiser, Moisés Mayordomo, Simon Claude Mimouni, Enrico Norelli, David Pastorelli, Mauro Pesce,
Francesca Prescendi, François Rosset, Anders Runesson, Andrea Taschl-Erber, Geert van Oyen, Joseph Verheyden,
Benedict Viviano, Sever J. Voicu, Lily Vuong
Survey of contents
I. Infancy Gospels and Stories
Francesca Prescendi : Divine Fathers, Virgin Mothers and Founding Children. Italic Myths about Conception and Birth –
Christian Grappe : Les Evangiles canoniques de l'enfance et les récits d'enfance intertestamentaires – Simon Claude Mimouni :
La virginité de Marie: entre textes et contextes (Ier-IIe siècles) – Enrico Norelli : Les plus anciennes traditions sur la naissance
de Jésus et leur rapport avec les testimonia – Christophe Guignard : Jesus' Family and their Genealogy according to the
Testimony of Julius Africanus – Adriana Destro and Mauro Pesce : The Cultural Structure of the Infancy Narrative in the Gospel
of Matthew – José Costa : The Matthean Reading of Isaiah 7.14 and the Midrash of Ancient Rabbis – Joseph Verheyden :
Creating Di erence Through Parallelism. Luke's Handling of the Traditions on John the Baptist and Jesus in the
InfancyNarrative – Claire Clivaz : Beyond the Category of »Proto-Orthodox Christianity«: An Enquiry Into the Multivalence of Lk
1.35
II. Stories and Identities in the Infancy Gospels
Jörg Frey : How Could Mark and John Do without Infancy Stories? Jesus' Humanity and His Divine Origins in Mark and John –
David Pastorelli : The Genealogies of Jesus in Tatian's Diatessaron The Question of their Absence or Presence. A Response to J.
Frey – Andrea Taschl-Erber : Subversive Erinnerung. Feministisch-kritische Lektüre von Mt 1.2 und Lk 1.2 – Moisés
Mayordomo : Matthew 1.2 and the Problem of Intertextuality – Elian Cuvillier : Enjeux ecclésiologiques de Matthieu 1.2.
Approche historique et narrative – Anders Runesson : Giving Birth to Jesus in the Late First Century. Matthew as Midwife in the
Context of Colonisation – Simon Butticaz : Lk 1.2: Auftakt einer tragischen Geschichte? Christliche Identität im Gespräch mit
Israel – Luc Devillers : The Infancy of Jesus and the Infancy of the Church. From the Canticles (Luke 1.2) to the Summaries (Acts
1.7) – Daniel Gerber : D'une identité à l'autre. Le Magni cat, le Benedictus, le Gloria et le Nunc dimittis dans le rôle de
passeurs – Benedict Viviano : God as Father in the Infancy Gospels (Matt 1 and 2, Luke 1 and 2)
III. Infancy Gospels Stories and Identities
Sever J. Voicu : Ways to Survival for the InfancyApocrypha – Lily Vuong : »Let Us Bring Her Up to the Temple of the Lord«.
Exploring the Boundaries of Jewish and Christian Relations through the Presentation of Maryin the Protevangelium of James –
Frédéric Amsler : Les Paidika Iesou, un nouveau témoin de la rencontre entre judaïsme et christianisme à Antioche au IVe
siècle ? – Ursula Ulrike Kaiser : Die sogenannte »Kindheitserzählung des Thomas«. Überlegungen zur Darstellung Jesu als Kind,
deren Intention und Rezeption – Geert van Oyen : Rereading the Rewriting of the Biblical Traditions in The Infancy Gospel of
Thomas (Paidika) – Jean-Daniel Kaestli : Mapping an Unexplored Second Century Apocryphal Gospel: the Liber de Nativitate
Salvatoris (CANT 53) – Valentina Calzolari : Les récits apocryphes de l.enfance dans la tradition arménienne – Philip
Alexander : Jesus and his Mother in the Jewish Anti-Gospel (the Toledot Yeshu) – Daniel Barbu : Voltaire and the Toledoth
Yeshu. A Response to Philip Alexander – François Rosset : »False« and »True«. Infancy and Apocryphal Gospels in the
Centuryof Voltaire
Benjamin Bertho Born 1983; PhD student in History of Religions, University of Lausanne (Switzerland).
Claire Clivaz Born 1971; 2007 PhD; since 2015 Head of Digital Enhanced Learning at the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics in
Lausanne.
Andreas Dettwiler Born 1960; from 1997 to 2004 Professor of New Testament at the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland);
since 2004 Professor at the University of Geneva (Switzerland).
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Luc Devillers Born 1954; 1995–2008 Professor of New Testament at the Ecole Biblique et Archéologique Française in
Jerusalem ; since 2009 Assistant Professor of New Testament Exegesis and Theology at the University of Fribourg
(Switzerland).

Enrico Norelli Born 1952; Doctor of Classical Philology (University of Pisa) and of Theology (University of Geneva); professor
emeritus of History and Literature of Early Christianity at the University of Geneva and invited professor at the Facultad de
Literatura Cristiana y Clásica San Justino (Madrid).

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