Protevangelium

In fact verse 15 is often called "the protevangelium," or first announcement of the gospel.

The oldest and most influential source for these is the apocryphal Protevangelium of James, first written in Greek around the middle of the second century.

Old Testament scholar Derek Kidner describes the Protevangelium as "the first glimmer of the gospel."

It is venerated as the pietra del nascondimento, the "stone in which John was concealed," in reference to the Protevangelium of James.

It may have been compiled as early as the sixth century, and was based on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and Protevangelium of James.

The apocryphal Protevangelium of James (probably of the 2nd century) tells of the miraculous birth of Mary to her parents, Joachim and Anne.

As in Protevangelium ; And I looked up into the pole of the heavens and saw it standing still, and the fowls of the heavens without motion.

The narrative of the virgin birth of Jesus can be found also in other New Testament apocrypha, for instance the Protevangelium of James, perhaps written in the 2nd century.

Apocrypha Syriaca: The Protevangelium Jacobi and Transitus Mariae (London, 1902) (Texts; English translation)

Vigor had spent most of the last hour chasing down Gnostic and Apocryphal texts with references to the Magi, from the Protevangelium of James to the Book of Seth.

The Infancy Gospel of Matthew is a 7th-century compilation of three other texts: the Protevangelium of James, the Flight into Egypt and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

There is a direct reference to the Protevangelium in the opening moments of Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ, where the character of Jesus, while praying in a garden, stomps on the head of a snake.

The Protevangelium of James assumes the Greek nature of Jewish practices during this period in history and says that Mary was betrothed to an older relative in order to preserve her virginity and that Joseph already had children.

In the West, the Protevangelium fell under a cloud in the fourth and fifth centuries when it was accused of "absurdities" by St. Jerome and condemned as untrustworthy by Popes Damasus, Innocent I, and Gelasius.

There are a number of differences with the more canonical history that the text describes, for example, it names James' father Theudas rather than Joseph, who is presented as the biological father of James by the mid 2nd century Protevangelium of James.

In Christian theology, the Protevangelium is God's statement to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden about the future relationship between the Serpent and Christ, the son of Mary as having a prophetic and Messianic fulfilment.

The content of the text is primarily an edited reproduction of the Protevangelium of James, followed by an account of the Flight into Egypt (it is not known on what this is based), and subsequently an edited reproduction of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.