ABSTRACT
Most early Christian literature was didactic, devotional or theological. This chapter provides some examples of imaginative literature. The Protevangelium of James is one of the most attractive of the early Christian apocryphal works, as well as one of the most influential. It tells a delightful story with considerable narrative skill. The literary tradition to which the Protevangelium most obviously belongs is that of Jewish narrative works which retell the biblical histories, expanding on the biblical versions in order to explain problems raised by the biblical texts, to fill in the gaps, to satisfy curiosity, to put a particular theological or ideological slant on the stories, and to enable readers imaginatively to enter the world of the biblical stories and characters more fully. Several features of the narrative suggest that it was at least partly designed to deflect charges made about Jesus' background and origins in Jewish polemic against Christians.
