Texts in Conversation
The Protoevangelium of James directly refers to the narrative of Sarah having a child in her old age in Genesis 21, connecting its own narrative to Israel's patriarchs and matriarchs and drawing on the authority and credibility of the Torah.
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Genesis 21:2
Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord visited Sarah just as he had said he would and did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 So Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him. 3 Abraham named his son—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded him to do.
Protoevangelium of James 2
Gospel of James
Pseudepigrapha
2 And his wife, Anna, mourned with two kinds of grief and lamented with two types of sorrow, saying: “I will weep for my widowhood; I will weep for my childlessness.” The great day of the Lord was approaching, and Judith, her maidservant, said: “How long will you torment yourself? Look, the great day of the Lord is near, and it is unlawful for you to mourn. Take this headband, which was given to me by the woman who made it. It is not fitting for me to wear because I am a maidservant, and it has a royal look to it.” But Anna replied: “Leave me alone; I have not done such things, and the Lord has humbled me greatly. I fear that some wicked person has given it to you, and now you’ve come to make me share in your sin.” Judith answered: “Why should I curse you when the Lord has closed your womb, preventing you from bearing fruit in Israel?” Anna, deeply grieved, took off her mourning clothes, cleaned her head, and put on her wedding garments. Around the ninth hour, she went down to the garden to take a walk. She saw a laurel tree, sat under it, and prayed to the Lord, saying: “O God of our fathers, bless me and hear my prayer, just as You blessed the womb of Sarah and gave her a son, Isaac.”
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Notes and References
"... Also significant is the Protevangelium of James’ use of συλλαμβάνω meaning, “to conceive,” which is also used in the birth story of Isaac (Genesis 21:2–3), Samuel (1 Samuel 1:20), and Luke’s version of Mary’s conception. The term used to render the meaning of “giving birth” in Genesis 21:2–3, 1 Samuel 1:20, Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, and Luke 1:31, however, is the word τίκτω, but the Protevangelium of James instead uses the word γεννάω for both Anna’s and Mary’s announcements. γεννάω is often the term used in genealogies to describe a family line and usually renders the meaning, “begat.” This word is also most commonly used for describing a family line through the father, and very rarely denotes lineage through a mother, as illustrated even in the genealogies offered by Matthew (1:1–17) ..."
Vuong, Lily
Accessing the Virgin: Gender and Purity in the Protoevangelium of James
(pp. 218-219) McMaster University, 2010
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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