Infancy gospels (Greek: protoevangelion) are a genre of religious texts that arose in the 2nd century.
The texts are of various and uncertain origin, and are generally non-canonical in major modern branches of Christianity.
[3] The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is a group of texts of uncertain date and contents, and the title is an arbitrary construction of modern scholars.
The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew is a part of the New Testament apocrypha, and was an important source for establishing details of the life of Mary, especially before the Late Middle Ages.
It may have been compiled as early as the sixth century, and was partly based on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and Protevangelium of James.
[10][11][12] The History of Joseph the Carpenter (Historia Josephi Fabri Lignari) is a compilation of traditions concerning Mary, Joseph, and the "holy family", probably composed in Byzantine Egypt in Greek in the late sixth or early seventh centuries, but surviving only in Coptic and Arabic language translations.
The Life of John the Baptist is a book from the New Testament apocrypha, allegedly written in Greek by Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis in 390 AD.