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

by Reidar Aasgaard

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 radical 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 claime--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.

285 pages, Hardcover

First published May 11, 2009

Reviews

[Darin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very interesting to say the least,The accuracy of detail comes into question when you ask how a book was written with any factual content two hundred years A.D.. The dime store novels of the old west were written to whet the appetite of the youth as this book although very detailed at times you still must question the validity and integrity of the content.This describes a young rebellious Jesus Christ who shows a very human side in his youth.We know of three or more years of Teaching before the crucifiction. This book seems to describe a all powerful entity coming to grips with humanity in which he has allowed himself to join in a attempt to allow our free will to save us in which we failed miserably.

[Terry Eum · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Wonderful book, it provides a new understanding for the Infancy Gospel of Thomas