“BUT THEIR FACES WERE ALL LOOKING UP”: AUTHOR AND READER IN THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES by Eric M. Vanden Eykel, B.A., M.A., M.Div. A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2014 UMI Number: 3620184 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3620184 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 ABSTRACT “BUT THEIR FACES WERE ALL LOOKING UP”: AUTHOR AND READER IN THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES Eric M. Vanden Eykel, B.A., M.A., M.Div. Marquette University, 2014 This is a study about the Protevangelium of James (PJ), an “infancy gospel” that recounts the birth and childhood of Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is also a study about authors, readers, texts, meaning, and how they are interrelated. In it I aim to take seriously the insights of “intertextuality,” not as a matter of source criticism but as an approach to literature that is concerned with the reader’s active role in determining meaning in a text. The methodology I develop in Chapter One situates intertextual phenomena in a historically oriented study of ancient texts. I maintain that the reader’s discernment of intertexts has the capacity to generate new layers of meaning, and that these layers may reveal new aspects of the author’s meaning, some of which the author may not have anticipated. After outlining the history of research on PJ in Chapter Two, I set out the results of my approach in exegetical chapters devoted to specific episodes in the life of the Virgin. In Chapter Three I examine Mary’s childhood in the Jerusalem temple (PJ 7-9), where she dances at the altar and receives food from an angel. I argue that the second-century reader understands her dancing as cultic worship, and her angelic diet as preservation for her role in God’s redemption of Israel. In Chapter Four I explore the image of Mary’s spinning thread for the temple veil (PJ 10-12). I suggest that the reader conceives of her work as participation in the forces that govern human fate, and that the tearing of the veil at the crucifixion locates her power within the overarching divine plan. Finally, in Chapter Five I address the episode of Jesus’ birth in the cave outside Bethlehem (PJ 17-20). This space, I maintain, prompts the reader to see Jesus’ birth through the lens of the Passion Narratives, as a foreshadowing of his crucifixion and burial, and to visualize his death as the moment that he is “born” as Israel’s Messiah. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................. V ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................... VI INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 PJ and Intertextuality .............................................................................................. 3 The Author ............................................................................................................. 6 The Hypothetical Reader ........................................................................................ 8 The Intertextual Canon ......................................................................................... 10 Procedure ............................................................................................................. 14 CHAPTER 1 – AUTHOR, READER, AND ANCIENT MEANINGS ............................. 16 1.1. Intertextuality—Peril and Promise .................................................................. 17 1.1.1. Origins of Intertextuality ................................................................. 17 1.1.2. Intertextuality in Biblical Studies ...................................................... 21 1.1.3. Suggesting a Way Forward .............................................................. 26 1.2. The Role of the Author and Authorial Intent .................................................. 27 1.2.1. Meaning vs. Significance ................................................................. 29 1.2.2. The Possibility of Unintended Meaning? .......................................... 32 1.2.3. In Search of the Author’s Meaning ................................................... 36 1.3. The Identity and Role of the Reader ............................................................... 39 1.3.1. Literacy and Readers in Antiquity .................................................... 39 1.3.2. The Hypothetical Reader - Three Models ......................................... 42 1.3.2.1. Wolfgang Iser’s Implied Reader ......................................... 45 1.3.2.2. Stanley Fish’s Informed Reader ......................................... 48 1.3.2.3. Umberto Eco’s Model Reader ............................................ 50 1.3.3. Determining the Identity of the Reader ............................................ 53 1.4. Defining the Intertextual Canon ..................................................................... 54 1.4.1. Discovering the Cultural Encyclopedia ............................................. 55 1.4.2. Criteria for the Detection of Echoes ................................................. 59 1.4.3. Intertexts, Layering, and the Literal Sense ........................................ 62 1.5. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 65 CHAPTER 2 – THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES: A HISTORY OF READINGS ......... 66 2.1. The “Rediscovery” of PJ .................................................................................. 67 2.2. An Overview of the Contents of PJ .................................................................. 70 2.3. Status quaestionis .......................................................................................... 73 2.3.1. Critical Edition ................................................................................ 73 2.3.2. Provenance ...................................................................................... 78 2.3.3. Date and Sources ............................................................................... 82 2.3.4. A Literary Unity? ............................................................................... 85 2.3.5. Structure ........................................................................................... 87 2.4. Genre and Relationship to the New Testament ................................................. 89 2.5. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 93 CHAPTER 3 - THE TEMPLE IN THE TEMPLE (PJ 7-9) ....................................... 94 3.1. Introductory Matter ......................................................................................... 95 3.2. The Author and the Text .................................................................................. 98 3.2.1. Ignorance of Temple Practice ............................................................. 98 3.2.2. Indication of Purity .......................................................................... 101 3.2.3. Insurance/Preservation of Purity ...................................................... 102 3.3. Literary Analysis of PJ 7-9 .............................................................................. 104 3.3.1. Mary as Sacrificial Offering .............................................................. 105 3.3.2. Nine Years in the Temple ................................................................. 111 3.3.3. The “Marriage” to Joseph ................................................................. 114 3.4. The Reader and the Intertextual Canon .......................................................... 117 3.4.1. Miraculous Feedings ........................................................................ 118 3.4.2. Dancing in the HB/LXX and Early Christian Literature ...................... 123 3.4.2.1. Miriam, the Golden Calf, and Victory Songs ...................... 124 3.4.2.2. David and the Ark of God ................................................. 127 3.4.2.3. Dancing in Early Christian Literature ................................ 130 3.4.3. Dancing and the Gods ..................................................................... 134 3.4.3.1. Pedagogy and Worship ..................................................... 134 3.4.3.2. The Muses and Charites .................................................... 137 3.4.3.3. Mary as Model .................................................................. 141 3.5. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 143 CHAPTER 4 - THE VIRGIN, THE SPINNER (PJ 10-12) ..................................... 144 4.1. Introductory Matter ....................................................................................... 145 4.2. The Author and the Text ...............................................................................