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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Fox Special on “The Birth of Jesus”

December 20th, 2006 by Tony

Sigh. ‘Tis the season for TV specials on Jesus and now Fox has joined the fray with “The Birth of Jesus” to be broadcast Saturday December 23 at 3pm and December 25 at 11 am. According to the press release, the special features discussion of some apocryphal material:

For 2000 years, the world has celebrated the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, inspiring people's lives, art, music and literature.But few actually know that the narratives — as told in the Gospels by Luke and Mathew — present significant questions for Biblical scholars, historians, archaeologists and the faithful. Host Jon Scott sets out to find the answers, taking viewers on a tour of New Testament sites including Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, and Nazareth, where he was raised. Along the way, this FNC special will examine life in the 1st century and archaeological "finds and fakes" from the world of Jesus. We'll also take a look at early Christian writings that were "banned" from the Bible, including the Apocryphal stories about Jesus' youth (in which he is portrayed as a "divine brat") and the Gnostic Gospels, used by Dan Brown as the basis for his best-selling book "The Da Vinci Code" — a book many consider an assault on Christianity.

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