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What stories fill the silence between the cradle and the boy among the teachers?
The Arabic Infancy Gospel gathers tales of Jesus’s birth and childhood, years the four Gospels describe only briefly. According to this anonymous text, the infant speaks from his cradle, and Mary and Joseph travel through Egypt amid dangers, healings, and falling idols.
Preserved in Arabic manuscripts and linked by scholars to earlier Syriac writing, this collection offers a window into Eastern Christian legend. Its stories move from the Nativity and the flight into Egypt to childhood in Nazareth and the boy among the teachers. It stands outside most Bibles.
What you’ll discover
- A voice from the cradle Encounter an opening scene in which the infant Jesus speaks before the birth narrative begins.
- A family in flight Follow Mary, Joseph, and Jesus through tales of danger and protection in Egypt.
- Wonders at play Explore childhood legends of healing, wild beasts, and birds brought to life from clay.
- Birth in a cave Enter the birth narrative, where Mary gives birth in a cave and Joseph seeks help.
- Among the teachers Meet the boy Jesus in Jerusalem, listening and asking questions among learned men.
Who will love it
For readers who love early Christian legend, students of how the Gospel stories grew, and anyone curious about Jesus in Eastern Christian tradition.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A text that survives in Arabic
- A child speaks from the cradle
- Midwives, magi and a swaddling cloth
- Flight into Egypt and falling idols
- Wonders of a boy at home and at play
- The boy among the teachers and why it stands outside the Bible
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- Large print hardcover
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The Arabic Infancy Gospel
by Anonymous
These tales follow Jesus from speech in the cradle to healing the sick and answering teachers in the Temple.
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In short
The Arabic Infancy Gospel is an anonymous account of the birth and childhood of Jesus. It survives in Arabic manuscripts, and scholars link it to earlier Syriac Christian writing.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A text that survives in Arabic
The Arabic Infancy Gospel takes its name from the language in which it is best known. It reached Western readers in the seventeenth century, when the scholar Henry Sike published a Latin translation along with the Arabic text from a manuscript. After that it entered the study of apocryphal writings, the books that circulated among Christians but did not become part of the accepted canon.
The Arabic itself is probably not the first form of the book. Many scholars think it rests on a Syriac original, and Syriac was a major language of Eastern Christianity. Beyond that, scholars do not fully agree. Some speak of a fifth or sixth century core. Others stress that the Arabic form took its shape later. It is safest to say that the date is uncertain.
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What is the Arabic Infancy Gospel about?
It tells of the birth and childhood of Jesus, including his speech in the cradle, the visit of the Magi, the flight into Egypt, wonders of his boyhood and his visit among the teachers in the Temple.
Who wrote the Arabic Infancy Gospel and when?
The author is unknown. Many scholars think it rests on a Syriac original and took its Arabic form later, but they do not agree on dates, so the period is uncertain.
Why is the Arabic Infancy Gospel not in the Bible?
The early churches chose the four Gospels as scripture because they were linked to the apostolic age. Infancy gospels appeared later and were treated as devotional legend, though some Eastern communities read them.
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