Today's Apocrypha

Frans van Liere’s “The Medieval Canon” chapter discusses the treatment of apocryphal books in the Middle Ages, especially in relation to canonical scripture. Reading this chapter has caused me to reflect on modern day apocrypha. Last week Annette Yoshiko Reed spoke to us about apocryphal books, and particularly how some are being reimagined in different ways. Some anime series borrow characters and themes from apocryphal books, placing them in a completely different context. This is an instance of ideas being borrowed from apocrypha to create something new, yet it is just as interesting when people today take ideas from canonical texts to create something new. This seems to be similar to what apocrypha like the Infancy Gospel of Thomas was trying to do - fill in the gaps and expound on the narrative of Christ.

We can see this through many different mediums, but film is always a compelling one to explore. A new movie came out last Friday titled Risen (dramatic trailer here), that approaches the resurrection narrative from a different perspective. This film is from the perspective of a non-believing soldier, who (spoiler alert) discovers Jesus resurrected and converts. I have not seen the movie, but it seems to uphold the basic idea of Jesus being crucified and rising after three days. It maintains the integrity of how Christians understand Jesus, while telling a different and new story.

This faith-based story that Risen tells reminds me of how Jerome seemed to view the apocrypha books during the medieval time period. He referred to apocrypha saying, “And if she wants to read them not for the truth of doctrines but out of reverence for its signs...it requires great prudence to find some gold in the mud” (73). I find that Christians today hold a similar view toward biblical films. From a quick google search, I found an article titled “3 Ways Risen Can Make You Spiritually Aware”. Similar to Jerome’s opinion on apocryphal literature in medieval times, Christians today can view interpretations of canonical literature as beneficial to one’s understanding of religion, but not equal to the canonical books of the Bible.