Apocryphicity

A weblog devoted to the study of the Christian Apocrypha

About Apocryphicity []

Apocryphicity (ă-pok-rif-is-iti) n. 1. a recently coined term for describing the qualities of apocryphal literature. 2. a recently created weblog (or blog) dedicated to discussion of Christian apocrypha.

Welcome to Apocryphicity. This blog has two aims. The first is to report on developments in the study of Christian Apocrypha (a.k.a. non-canonical Christian literature) in the form of media excerpts, reviews of scholarly literature, and the occasional mention of apocryphal texts and traditions in popular culture. The second is to provide a forum for those interested in the Christian Apocrypha (scholars and non-scholars) to exchange ideas and information.

Apocryphicity is maintained by Dr. Tony Chartrand-Burke who teaches Biblical Studies at the Atkinson School of Arts and Letters (a part of York University in Toronto, Canada). The opinions expressed here are his own.

Anyone interested in the topic of the Christian Apocrypha is welcome to read the posts and, if inspired, add comments. From time-to-time I offer courses on the Christian Apocrypha and Gnosticism; students of these courses are encouraged to participate also.

I would be very grateful if readers would send me links to recent developments online regarding Christian Apocrypha (ancient, medieval, or even modern) along with your own comments if you have any. These can be sent to my e-mail address (tburke@yorku.ca) or can be submitted simply as a comment to any of the blog postings.

Be sure to check out my homepage which features pages related to the CA (including links to other websites and an on-going bibliography project), as well as the web’s premier Infancy Gospel of Thomas page and material related to other research projects.


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The Jesus Tomb and the Acts of Philip

February 26th, 2007 by Tony
In an interview with James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici on the Today Show (see the interview here), it was revealed that Acts of Philip is instrumental in determining that the Talpiot tomb holds the remains of the family of Jesus. The two stated that the identification of the ossuary of “Mariamne” as Mary Magdalene was vital to their theory. According to Cameron and Jacobovici, Mary Magdalene’s “real name” is revealed in the Acts of Philip to be Mariamne. The problems with this assertion should be obvious. First, the Acts of Philip is a dubious source for identifiying first-century figures. Second, as far as I am able to determine (the best books are not at hand at the moment), the Mariamne of Acts of Philip is not Mary Magdalene but Mary of Bethany. Here is an excerpt:

94 It came to pass when the Saviour divided the apostles and each went forth according to his lot, that it fell to Philip to go to the country of the Greeks: and he thought it hard, and wept. And Mariamne his sister (it was she that made ready the bread and salt at the breaking of bread, but Martha was she that ministered to the multitudes and laboured much) seeing it, went to Jesus and said: Lord, seest thou not how my brother is vexed?

Posted in Jesus Tomb | | Permalink

2 Responses

  1. Codex: Biblical Studies Blogspot » Blog Archive » The Jesus/Talpiot Tomb: Around the Blogosphere Says:

    […] Tony Chartrand-Burke has a short note on his Apocryphicity blog about the questionable appeal to the Acts of Philip to identify the ossuary of “Mariamne” with Mary Magdalene. Tony notes that one shouldn’t look to the Acts of Philip for reliable information about first-century figures and that the Mariamne referred to in the Acts of Philip is not Mary Magdalene, but Mary of Bethany. […]

  2. Apocryphicity » Blog Archive » The Jesus Tomb and the Acts of Philip II Says:

    […] The excerpt from the Acts I posted (HERE), in which the only Mariamne identified is Mary of Bethany and sister of Philip, is from M. R. James’ edition. I do not have Bovon’s at hand but can anyone clarify this? Are both the Post and Jacobovici misrepresenting the text? […]

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