this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2025
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Wikipedia is using the pseudepigraphal gospel attributed to James as a source. This had been identified by Origen as a forgery and it doesn't constitute Christian doctrine. Although it does influence Christian tradition a lot. It also cites Jewish custom, where girls are eligible to marry at age 13 (which actually contradicts the infancy gospel of James, which states she was 12)
It's not really reliable and definitely not Christian doctrine.
Do you think there’s a more accurate determination of a teenager’s exact age two thousand years ago?
To use it as ammo against Christianity is just silly. "Oh, the mother of Jesus might have been a young teenager instead of an older teenager because people married earlier back then, and a document known for being a forgery says she is"
I don’t need that for ammo against Christianity, lol, I went to catholic school, I’ve got plenty of material. I was using it to make a flip joke.
But do you have any source for her age? If that’s as unreliable as you say, you should probably put an edit through on Wikipedia.
I've tried before. Wikipedia is governed by reddit atheists tbh. I have tried adjusting certain things before by citing Qualified Christian Scholars (this was on the topic of Gospel Authorship) and I was told I am not allowed to cite "Christian Apologists". The problem with that is, any scholar regardless of qualification who makes an argument in favour of a Christian narrative is by definition an apologist, or at least making apologetic material.
What was the source from Christian apologists for her age, even if Wikipedia doesn’t take it?
From Marten Stol's Women in the Ancient Near East (de Gruyter, 2016):
We don't have any sources on Mary's age to Joseph, besides the Protoevangelium of James. And even then, that document says that she married a decaying widower because it was to preserve her virginity as he didn't have a sex drive, and was seen as a respectable man.