The Protevangelium of James has perhaps of late laboured under disproportionate neglect by comparison with some of its companions in the category of apocryphal gospels which have been more conducive to publicity. The Protevangelium’s relatively conventional theology and undisputed dependence upon the canonical Gospels have meant that it offers little scope for providing a recasting of Christian origins. Nevertheless, as Toepel's book here shows, it does make some significant contributions to different strands of early Christian studies.

The present book is perhaps ill-titled, and would be better named with ‘Kommentar’ featuring somewhere, the verse-by-verse Auslegung of the subtitle occupying around 220 out of the 290 pages, and much of the introduction covering the usual ground of a commentary introduction (history of scholarship, textual transmission, place and time of composition, genre). There is also a Schluss, covering the relevance of the Protevangelium to historical theology and its place in the literary history of antiquity.

The history of scholarship that Toepel provides is a fascinating story, running from Postel in the sixteenth century up to the present. (There is a slip at the end: Foster's section on the Protevangelium of James in his Non-canonical gospels does not contain a translation, and the final footnote relates to an earlier page.) The extremely detailed treatment of the textual history is a mine of information. Toepel's very helpful summary of the other introductory issues locates the Protevangelium uncontroversially at the end of the second century (180–200 ce); in consequence, the argument is made that the provenance is much more likely to be Syria or Palestine than Egypt, because of the attestation of Jewish accusations against Mary, and the paucity of Jews in Egypt in the latter part of the second century. The Protevangelium is seen as doctrinally important because it is one of the earliest witnesses to a view of Mary's virginity both in partu and post partum. From a literary and theological viewpoint, the author seeks to legitimate these views by supplementing the Gospel narrative with a work written in a deliberately ‘biblical’ style. Toepel is alert in this discussion to the extent to which narrative can communicate dogma, but is equally perceptive of the Mariological and Christological implications of the work, and these are frequently observed in the course of the exposition. The commentary is rich with useful biblical, extra-canonical Jewish and patristic comparanda, and regularly offers detailed and judicious exegesis.

Overall, this is a very helpful book. The concluding essay on the literary and theological location of the Protevangelium is valuable, but it is clear that the greater usefulness of the present book will be as a commentary and so it is a shame that it is not more clearly advertised as such.