“Matthew, however, explicitly affirms that Jesus was virginally conceived (Matt. 1: 18–25), and Luke strongly implies it (Luke 1: 26–38). Some Protestant Christians believe that, following Jesus’ delivery, his mother may have borne other children in the ordinary way. According to Roman Catholic doctrine, however, Mary remains perpetually virgin. Jesus’ “brothers” (translating the Greek adelphoi) are to be understood as close male relatives, perhaps cousins or stepbrothers (sons of Mary’s husband, Joseph, by a previous marriage). (An apocryphal infancy Gospel, the Protevangelium of James, which probably dates from the second century CE, depicts James as Jesus’ older stepbrother and Mary as eternally virgin; see Chapter 20.)”