Five secret stories of Jesus’s birth

The Gospels in the New Testament only tell part of the story of how the earliest Christians envisioned Jesus's birth. Dr Meredith Warren from the University of Sheffield's Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies (SIIBS) reveals lesser known stories from books left out of the Bible which feature in ancient texts called 'Apocrypha'. Mary's virginity was tested with a potion. We're familiar with Matthew's version of how an angel explains Mary's pregnancy to Joseph (Matthew 2:20-25), but Luke only depicts Mary as being in on the plan. Joseph seems happy without an explanation! A second century AD text, Proto-Gospel of James, an early Christian gospel, describes a test Mary had to undergo when her pregnancy was discovered by the local authorities. Both Joseph and Mary are made to drink a potion (a test also described in Numbers 5:11-31) to reveal whether they have committed adultery. If they have, they will develop all sorts of physical ailments and pain.