Arabic Infancy Gospel

The Arabic Infancy Gospel is one of the texts found in the New Testament apocrypha concerning the infancy of Jesus. It may have been compiled as early as the sixth century, and was based on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and Protevangelium of James.

Contents

It consists of three parts:
#The birth of Jesus - based on the Protevangelium of James
#Miracles during the Flight into Egypt - seemingly based on nothing more than local traditions
#The miracles of Jesus as a boy - based on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas

It contains a number of embellishments on the earlier text, however, including a diaper (of Jesus) that heals people, sweat (of Jesus) that turns into balm, curing leprosy, and dyeing cloth varied colours using only indigo dye. It also claims earlier encounters for Jesus with Judas Iscariot, and with the thieves whom he is later crucified with, as well as being one of the earliest documents.

Dating and dispersement

The text was originally written in Syriac, possibly during the fifth-sixth century [http://books.google.com/books?id=TXMcJPy1axAC&pg=PA100&dq=Arabic+Gospel+of+the+Infancy+Elliott&sig=J2qCmZX8U2VKEmZ2x02_QWPmiVc] , but later became translated into an Arabic text, which has since been lost. Its earliest known mention was by Isho'dad of Merv, a ninth-century Syrian church father, in his biblical commentary concerning the Gospel of Matthew. The narrative of the Arabic Infancy Gospel, particularly the second part concerning the miracles in Egypt, can also be found in the Qur'an. According to some critical scholarship, its presence in the Qu'ran may be due to the influence the Gospel had amongst the Arabs. It is not known for certain that the Gospel was present in the Hejaz, but it can be seen as likely. [The Other Bible, Willis Barnstone, HarperSanFrancisco, P.407] However, Islamic apologists claim that the Gospel was translated into Arabic in the post-Islamic period due the difficulty that 16th century Europeans would have in translating early Arabic's defective script into Latin as well as the extreme rarity of written texts in Pre-Islamic Arabia. [http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Sources/BBbible.html] .

Footnotes

References

*New Testament Apocrypha, vol. 1, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1963

*Elliott, James K. The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.

ee also

* General topics
** New Testament apocrypha
** Pseudepigraphy
** Textual criticism
** Agrapha
* Related literature
** List of Gospels
** Apocalyptic literature
** Epistles
** Acts of the Apostles (genre)

External links

* [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0806.htm Catholic Encyclopedia - The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour]
* [http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/noncanon/gospels/infarab.htm The Arabic Gospel of The Infancy of The Saviour - At Wesley center for applied theology.]
* [http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Sources/BBbible.html Is The Bible Really The Source Of The Qur'ân?]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=TXMcJPy1axAC&pg=PA100&dq=Arabic+Gospel+of+the+Infancy+Elliott&sig=J2qCmZX8U2VKEmZ2x02_QWPmiVc#PPA101,M1 The Apocryphal New Testament "The Arabic Infancy Gospel"]