Forgotten Gospel Comes to Life: "The Carpenter's Son" Explores Jesus' Untold Childhood

In the second century, as the canonical Gospels were being circulated throughout the Roman Empire, another text about the life of Jesus was simultaneously spreading. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, an apocryphal account of Jesus' childhood, remained popular among Christians for centuries, despite not being included in the New Testament.

Now, this forgotten gospel has inspired a new supernatural thriller, "The Carpenter's Son," which opens in theaters this Friday. Filmmaker Lotfy Nathan, who was raised Coptic Orthodox, was immediately intrigued by the "novelty" of the Infancy Gospel when his history-loving father introduced it to him. Starring Nicolas Cage as Joseph, the film follows a young Jesus being tempted by Satan to rebel against his father.

While the Infancy Gospel of Thomas is quite disturbing, depicting Jesus as a child with supernatural powers who punishes those who cross him, Nathan had to fill in narrative gaps to craft a compelling story. The film's source material is established with an opening title card, but the director acknowledges he couldn't rely solely on the text. "It's written like a laundry list of events. It doesn't really have an arc, so to speak," he said.

Despite the challenges, "The Carpenter's Son" is not the only recent film to reimagine the apocryphal gospel. "The Young Messiah," the 2016 drama based on Anne Rice's novel, also pulls from the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Both films aim to present a reverential approach to the sacred subject matter, with Cage emphasizing that "nobody wanted to offend anybody in the making of this movie."