The Gospel of James?

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adolfo123

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why do we hold to some doctrine of this gospel; like what it talks about Mary ?
 
I’ve never read the Gospel of James as it is some sort NT apocryphal writing and doesn’t appear in our Bible. I am sure that every apocryphal writing has some use to it. As for what is written about Mary I cannot vouch that the Catholic Church teaches what is contained in the Gospel of James about Mary. I wouldn’t be worried if what the Church teaches of Mary doesn’t go according to a non canonical writing.
 
Fidelis said:
For example…?
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For example, the names of Mary’s parents, Ann and Joachim, that Joseph was significantly older than Mary was at the time of their engagement, and some of the details surrounding Mary’s life and the infancy of Jesus.

While the Gospel of James, or Protoevangelium of James, is not canonical, that does not mean that the text does not contain any valid information at all. The contents of the Protoevangelium of James give us an idea of some of the stories that were circulating at the time of its writing regarding the Holy Family and Mary. While some of them, we know, are not accurate, some of them could be and that gives us new things to think about.

That said, the book’s non-canonical status means that nobody is required to accept the accuracy of the Protoevangelium of James if he or she does not want to.

EDIT: It is important that I add that there is no “doctrine” or dogma that comes out of the Gospel of James and that, because of the writing’s inherent inaccuracy by which the Church deemed it non-canonical, the text never could provide a substantial basis for the formulation of any infallibly defined Church teaching.
 
If the same doctrine appears in the teachings of the Church and in the Gospel of James, it is either because:
  1. the teachings of the Church and the Gospel of James are independent of each other and it is just a coincidence that the same doctrine appears in both;
  2. the Gospel of James is dependent on the teachings of the Church; the doctrine was being taught by the Church before the Gospel of James was written; or
  3. the teachings of the Church are dependent on the Gospel of James; the Church started teaching the doctrine because it first appeared in the Gospel of James.
The Gospel of James is thought to be a pious fiction written by a Catholic author early in the 2nd century A.D. The author brought together apostolic traditions and also some things of his own (or someone else’s) invention. I think the Church should be regarded as innocent in all matters until proven guilty. Consequently, in the absence of early witnesses to the contrary, I think our judgment should be that any particular doctrine found in the Gospel of James and also taught by the Church should be regarded as an apostolic tradition and not as someone’s invention.

Therefore, to answer the original question, the Church teaches a doctrine also found in the Gospel of James because the doctrine is true.
 
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