Even though the canonical Jesus' infancy stories have always provoked great interest in popular culture and in the arts, they have been neglected in research during the last decades due to the relatively late date of their redaction. Since the monograph by Raymond Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, the researchers working on this topic have not attempted to consider its historical impact. In this volume, an international team of scholars proposes firstly a reconsideration of the historical background of these stories in terms of early Jewish and Christian identity quests. Secondly, they deal with early Christian questions on Jesus' infancy and childhood through canonical and apocryphal Gospels including information from Patristic and documentary literature. On the theological level, this volume illustrates the impact that these apocryphal texts, recognized as "useful for the soul" (a phrase coined by Francois Bovon), have had on the Christian faith. Contributors: Philip Alexander, Frederic Amsler, Daniel Barbu, Simon Butticaz, Valentina Calzolari, Claire Clivaz, Jose Costa, Elian Cuvillier, Adriana Destro, Luc Devillers, Joerg Frey, Daniel Gerber, Christian Grappe, Christophe Guignard, Jean-Daniel Kaestli, Ursula Ulrike Kaiser, Moises Mayordomo, Simon Claude Mimouni, Enrico Norelli, David Pastorelli, Mauro Pesce, Francesca Prescendi, Francois Rosset, Anders Runesson, Andrea Taschl-Erber, Geert van Oyen, Joseph Verheyden, Benedict Viviano, Sever J. Voicu, Lily Vuong

Bringing together thirteen talks given at the international conference "Memory and Memories in Early Christianity", held at the Universities of Lausanne and Geneva in June 2016, this interdisciplinary volume explores a fresh problem in the study of the origins of Christianity and of the New Testament, namely the "work of memory" undertaken in the discourses and practices of the believers in Jesus. The studies collected here not only apply a heuristic analytical tool - "social memory theory" - to the literature and history of Christian beginnings, but also endeavour to show the socio-religious resonance of this "work of memory" in the language and ideology of the early believers. The historical Jesus, the Pauline writings, the Gospel of John, the Acts of the Apostles, Marcion, ancient Christian epistolography, Hegesippus, Irenaeus, etc. are explored by some of the world's top specialists in "social memory studies" as applied to Christian origins.