2. THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS OF THE CHILDHOOD

We shall have occasion to mention the Protevangelium of
James, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, the Childhood Gospel of
Thomas, and the Arabic Gospel of the Childhood. The Prot-
evangelium of James "is very old"^; some scholars date the
writing in the early decades of the second century, but most
scholars place it "in the second half of the century." ' The Gospel
of Pseudo-Matthew is a recension of the Protevangelium and its
date lies between the fourth and the sixth centxiry.* Of the Child-
hood Gospel of Thomas there are three forms, two in Greek and

' Plummer (Comment, on St. Luke, 75) says: "the love of amplification or of
definiteness might su£Sce."

" Hoffman, Apociypha, Sch-HEnc I. 106.
' Findlay, Gospels (Apocryphal), HDG I. 681.
* Cf. Reid, Cath. Enc. I. 607. Findlay, HDG I. 682.
OTHER EARLY CHURCH EVIDENCE 19

one in Latin. Irenaeus' citation from it (Adv. Haer. I. 20, 1)
would suggest it is a gnostic production of the second century;'
but the forms in which it has come down to us bear but sHght
evidence of this influence. The date of the recension by an ortho-
dox hand is placed about the third century.^ The Arabic Gospel
of the Childhood is a translation of a lost Syriac original.' Its
date is comparatively late, though probably before the Moham-
medan era.*

These Apocryphal writings may contain authentic material
in the additions to the narratives of the Gospels, but in this
respect their value remains problematic, and consequently slight.
