Antony’s Letters and Nag Hammadi Codex I: Sources of Religious Conflict in Fourth-Century Egypt (original) (raw)
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It is widely recognized that Clement of Alexandria preserves the few quotes of the Gospel of the Egyptians that have survived until the present day, especially in Book III of his Stromateis. The passages that have survived show that although it is not a Gnostic text, Egyptians diverged significantly from the perspective of the Synoptics and John. Scholars have largely assumed that this gospel account circulated widely in the second and third centuries and was highly respected, especially in Egypt. It has been further assumed that Clement of Alexandria fully endorsed this gospel account as authoritative. This paper will question the prevailing view regarding Clement's perspective on the Gospel of the Egyptians and its standing in the churches of Alexandria in the late second century. It will be argued that the bulk of available evidence indicates that Clement did not wholly approve of Egyptians and in fact merely used it as one of many weapons in his anti-Gnostic polemic. The primary resources for this study will be Clement's own writings and certain Gnostic texts that have survived, especially those among the Nag Hammadi library. Ancient authorities including Origen, Hippolytus and Epiphanius will also be consulted. The opinions of early modern and contemporary scholars will also be considered. Finally, attention will be given to how Clement constructs his arguments against the teachings of such diverse figures as Julius Cassianus, Tatian, Theodotus and Valentinus using the Gospel of the Egyptians as a tool at his disposal.
Novum Testamentum, 2010
This slender volume, written by an unrivalled authority on Egypt in Greek, Roman and Byzantine times, treats several much-discussed and controversial subjects. Every word in the title signals an issue in debate. Early: The question is how early? Bagnall challenges the widely accepted early dating of Christian papyri. Many scholars accept the Leuven Database of Ancient Books (LDAB) dates in the tradition of C.H. Roberts and others. Bagnall argues for the later dates proposed by E.G. Turner and suggested earlier by Grenfell and Hunt. On this reckoning, P Ryl. III 457 (P 52), usually dated to the early second century, should be dated a good deal later in the century. He notes a virtual absence of Christianity in Egypt before the episcopate of Demetrius (189-231 CE). Bagnall reacts against "the struggle to push the dates of manuscripts back into the second century or even into the first," (23) and calls for an "alertness to agendas, stated or unstated." (26). His second chapter offers two case studies, one concerning the irresponsible and "tedious" (39) affair of the late Carsten Peter Thiede, the other regarding "good, even excellent scholarship and real, rather than phony, problems," (40), involved in the early dating of fragments of the Shepherd of Hermas. Bagnall notes the difficulty of dating literary manuscripts of the ancient world. Many have no date, as do some documentary papyri, and "everything rests on fallible paleographic dating" (10). On these grounds it seems best, while being on guard against our own agendas, to continue to rely on the widely accepted LDAB dates unless clear evidence calls for revision. Christian: Many of the theological papyri are clearly Christian texts. Among these we may confidently count fragments of the New Testament and other early Christian writings, and texts of the LXX etc. that employ Nomina Sacra. But some fragments may be either Christian or Jewish. The use of the codex by Christians, in contrast to the Jewish use of rolls, is commonly thought to be a reliable guide. But Bagnall points out that P. Oxy LXV 4443, containing three columns of Esther, and dated to the first or second century CE, is not clearly Christian. He remarks, "There is nothing to prevent it from being Jewish" (75). Perhaps the clear distinction between "Christian" and "Jewish" in Egypt does not emerge until the end of the second century. This may help to explain the meager evidence for Christianity in Egypt for most of the century. Christians, being Jews, would have suffered in the wake of the war that raged from
A paper presented at the workshop “Religious currents in Mediterranean setting – the case of Christian Egypt” in the 18th Annual International Mediterranean Studies Association Congress, Theological Faculty, University of Athens, Greece, May, 27-30, 2015. It is a part of a bigger research project about aspects of transformation of Christianity in the Eastern Mediterranean until the so-called Dark Ages (7th – 8th c.) prepared in Athens and Vienna during my scholarly leave in 2014-15. It questions the alleged connection between miaphysite doctrinal position, Coptic proto-nationalist identity and anti-byzantine reaction. There are also critical remarks on the otherwise very useful "post-colonial" approach within current scholarly discussion as e.g. in the fundamental work of Stephen Davis. Comments are encouraged.
New Ethiopic Documents for the History of Christian Egypt
New documents written in Ethiopic have come to light in a manuscript discovered in Ethiopia in 1999. These documents not only shed important light upon the literary and cultural history of the Aksumite civilization, but are also of great significance for the history of Christianity in Egypt. The collection transmitted by the manuscript includes the Ethiopic version of a lost Greek History of the Episcopate of Alexandria, which was formerly known primarily from Latin excerpts transmitted by the Codex Veronensis LX (58), passages by the historian Sozomenus, and other less important witnesses. This paper examines certain features of an apocryphal List of Apostles and Disciples and looks more extensively at the structure of the History, its ideological tendencies, and the lists it preserves of Egyptian bishops appointed by bishops Maximus (264-282), Theonas (282-300?), and Peter (300?-311) of Alexandria.
The Monks of the Nag Hammadi Codices - Contextualising a Fourth-Century Monastic Community
2024
This work tells the story of a community of fourth-century monks living in Egypt. The letters they wrote and received were found within the covers of works that changed our understanding of early religious thought - the Nag Hammadi Codices. This book seeks to contextualise the letters and answer questions about monastic life. Significantly, new evidence is presented that links the letters directly to the authors and creators of the codices in which they were discovered.