Christian Apocryphal Texts for the New Millennium Achievements, Prospects, and Challenges International Workshop on Christian Apocryphal Literature University of Ottawa, Faculty of Arts Department of Classics and Religious Studies Day 0: Friday, September 29, 2006 6:00-7:00 PM: Welcome cocktail: Department of Classics and Religious Studies, Arts Building, first floor 7:30-9:30: Dinner: Jazzy Restaurant, Jock Turcot University Centre, first floor 2 Day 1: Saturday, September 30, 2006 Arts Building, room 509, fifth floor 9:00-9:30 AM: Opening 9:30-10:00: Lorenzo DiTommaso (Concordia University), “Jewish Pseudepigrapha and Christian Apocrypha: Definitions, Boundaries, and Points of Contact” 10:00-10:30: Timothy Beech (St. Paul University), “Unraveling the Complexity of the Oracula Sibyllina: The Value of a Socio-Rhetorical Approach in the Study of the Sibylline Oracles” 10:30-11:00: Coffee breack 11:00-11:30: Michael Kaler (McMaster University), “Gnostic Irony and the Adaptation of the Apocalyptic Genre” 11:30-12:00: Robert R. Phenix, Jr. (Saint Louis University), “The Problem of the Source of Balai’s Sermons on Joseph and the Nachleben of Pseudepigraphical Joseph Material” 12:00-12:30: James R. Davila (University of St. Andrews), “More Christian Apocryphal Texts” 12:30-2:00: Lunch 2:00-2:30 PM: Louis Painchaud (Université Laval), “À propos de la redécouverte de l’Évangile de Judas” 2:30-3:00: F. Stanley Jones (California State University), “The Genesis of the Pseudo- Clementine Novel” 3:00-3:30: Annette Y. Reed (McMaster University), “New Light on ‘Jewish-Christian’ Apocrypha and the History of Jewish/Christian Relations” 3:30-4:00: Dominique Côté (University of Ottawa), “Orphic Theogony and the Context of the Clementines” 3 4:00-4:30 Coffee break 4:30-5:00: Nicole Kelley (Florida State University), “Pseudo-Clementine Polemics against Sacrifice: A Window onto Religious Life in the Fourth Century?” 5:00-5:30: Timothy Pettipiece (University of Ottawa), “Manichaean ‘Apocrypha’? From Mani to Manichaeism” 5:30-6:00: Theodore De Bruyn (University of Ottawa), “The Power of Apocryphal Narratives in Late Antiquity: The Testimony of Amulets” 7:30-9:30: Dinner: Merlot Restaurant, Ottawa Marriott, 100 Kent Street Day 2: Sunday, October 1st, 2006 Arts Building, room 509, fifth floor 9:00-9:30 AM: Tony Chartrand-Burke (University of York), “Researching the New Testament Apocrypha in the Twenty-First Century” 9:30-10:00: Peter W. Dunn (Faculté de Théologie Evangélique de Bangui), “The Acts of Paul as an Experimental Control for the Criticism of the Acts of the Apostles” 10:00-10:30: François Bovon (Harvard University), “The Revelation of Stephen or the Invention of Stephen’s Relics (Sinaiticus graecus 493)” 10:30-11:00: Coffee break 11:00-11:30: Dennis R. MacDonald (Claremont Graduate University), “The Gospel of Nicodemus (or, the Acta Pilati) as a Christian Iliad and Odyssey” 4 11:30-12:00: Cornelia Horn (Saint Louis University), “From Model Virgin to Maternal Intercessor: Mary, Children, and Family Problems in Late Antique Infancy Gospel Traditions” 12:00-12:30: Stephen J. Shoemaker (University of Oregon), “Mary in Early Christian Apocrypha: Virgin Territory” 12:30-2:00: Lunch 2:00-2:30 PM: Craig A. Evans (Acadia Divinity College), “The Apocryphal Jesus: Assessing the Possibilities and Problems” 2:30-3:00: Ian Henderson (McGill University), “The Usefulness of Christian Apocryphal Texts in the Research on the Historical Jesus” 3:00-3:30: Adriana Bara (Université de Montréal), “The Convergence between Canonical Gospels, Apocryphal Writings and Liturgical Texts in Nativity and Resurrection Icons in Eastern Churches” 3:30-4:00: Coffee break 4:00-4:30 Paul-Hubert Poirier (Université Laval), “La Prôtennoia trimorphe (NH XIII,1), le Livre des secrets de Jean et le Prologue johannique” 4:30-5:00: Pierluigi Piovanelli (University of Ottawa), “Using Labels and Categories in a Responsible Way: The Making and Evolution of Early Christian Apocryphal Texts with the Gospel of Mary as a Test Case” 5:00-5:30: Final Discussion and Conclusion 7:30-9:30: Dinner: Saigon Restaurant, 85 Clarence Street (ByWard Market) 5 Abstracts Adriana Bara As we find it in its present form, the body of Université de Montréal ancient literature known as the Sibylline Oracles is an intricate blending of Jewish, Christian, and Greco- The Convergence between Canonical Gospels, Apocryphal Roman material that stands as a compelling Writings and Liturgical Texts in Nativity and monument to the complexity of the religious Resurrection Icons in Eastern Churches landscape during the period of Second Temple The reception of the text of the Christian texts can Judaism and Early Christianity. To date, the be explored from different perspectives. One of majority of study that has been carried out on this the ways that the reception of the texts is complex body of literature has been undertaken actualized in the life of the community is in the through the lens of various historical-critical liturgy, the forms of worship celebrated by the methodologies, and these have certainly yielded community. Another way of the reception of the important conclusions about the development of Christian texts is through the icons of the Great the Sibylline Oracles and their places within their feasts. These icons are not only pieces of art, but contemporary religious environments. However, also exegetical representation of the Gospels and in order to build on the results of previous the apocryphal writings. These texts have inspired historical-critical study, it will be suggested that a many iconographers over the centuries. Through socio-rhetorical approach is able to offer fresh two millennia, the Gospels and the apocryphal perspective that will advance the scholarly writings have been translated into icons. I would discussion and understanding of Sibylline Oracles like to emphasize the role of the icons of the forward on at least four fronts: 1) the cultural and Nativity, and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as ideological significance of the redactional layers meeting places between canonical Gospels, within Sibylline Oracles; 2) the relationship of the liturgical texts and apocryphal writings, and Jewish and Christian Sibylline Oracles to their between art and theology. Greco-Roman counterparts; 3) the relationship of Sibylline Oracles to the apocalyptic literature with which it was contemporary; and 4) the value of the Timothy Beech individual Sibylline Oracles as legitimate rhetorical Saint Paul University productions. Unraveling the Complexity of the Oracula Sibyllina: The Value of a Socio-Rhetorical Approach in the Study of the Sibylline Oracles 6 Tony Chartrand-Burke York University Dominique Côté Researching the New Testament Apocrypha in the Twenty- Université d’Ottawa First Century Orphic Theogony and the Context of the Clementines In a 1988 article on “Research on the New Neoplatonists, from Porphyry to Damascius, Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha” integrated within their construction of Hellenism (ANRW 2.25.2, pp. 3919-3968) James H. legendary figures like Homer, Pythagoras and Charlesworth divided research on the NTAP into Orpheus. Both Porphyry and Iamblichus wrote four phases. The last of these phases began in about Pythagoras and his way of life, presenting 1965 and is marked by a tendency to evaluate the the philosopher as a divine man and a paradigm of texts critically as evidence (alongside the canonical wisdom as well. Damascius, last head of the gospels) for early forms of Christianity. It seems Neoplatonic Academy at Athens, included in his appropriate at this time, in celebration of Volume treatise On Principles a vast survey of mythical 2 of Écrits apocryphes chrétiens, to look back at the cosmogonies including Orphic texts. It is worth past 18 years and evaluate the current state of noting that we find in the Clementines, a corpus scholarship on the NTAP. The proposed paper is dating from the fourth century, a cosmogony and a part of a planned study on the Transmission of the theogony, attributed to the grammarian Apion, New Testament Apocrypha. It will survey the which agree in many ways with some Orphic most recent scholarship on the NTAP and identify theogonies. The problem raised by this Orphic its accomplishments, reception, and tendencies. theogony in the Clementines has been studied in Included in the survey will be overviews of recent 1981 and more recently in 2004 by Jan van NTAP collections (e.g., the two volumes from Amersfoort. The Dutch scholar reached the Pléiade, Hans-Josef Klauck’s Apocryphal Gospels: An conclusion that this type of Orphic theogony was Introduction, Fred Lapham’s An Introduction to the of Alexandrian origin and had been gathered by New Testament Apocrypha, and various publications the author of a Jewish Apology written in by Bart Ehrman), major studies of individual texts Alexandria against Apion, the source of Homilies (in particular, the Pseudo-Clementines, the Infancy VI 3, 4-10 and Recognitions X. 17-20; 30, according Gospel of Thomas, and recent work on the Irish to Werner Heintze. I do not share Amersfoort’s apocrypha and the Apocryphal Acts), new view concerning the origin of the Orphic theogony discoveries (the Gospel of the Savior, and the Gospel of in the Clementines. I would rather support the view Judas), and a discussion of current tendencies in held by Georg Strecker that the dialogue with scholarship, including the continued integration of Apion has been invented by the Homilist. key gospel texts for the study of the Historical Therefore the Orphic theogony in the Clementines Jesus, the surge of scholarly interest in the should be read in the context of a conflict between Apocryphal Acts and public interest in the Gospel of Neoplatonism and Christianism in the fourth Mary, and the attention now being paid to century. apocryphal texts from Late Antiquity. 7 pervasive, amulets gradually incorporated Christian figures, narratives, acclamations, and signs. James R. Davila Scholars have noted the presence of apocryphal University of St. Andrews figures and narratives in several amulets, but to More Christian Apocrypha date there has been no comprehensive review of The More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha project at the apocryphal elements in Christian amulets in late University of St. Andrews (http://www.st- antiquity. This paper will examine the evidence of andrews.ac.uk/academic/divinity/MOTP/index- apocryphal influences in all extant Greek amulets motp.html) has assembled an international team of containing Christian motifs and preserved on scholars to translate a new collection of Old papyri or parchment. The investigation is part of a Testament Pseudepigrapha. The corpus of texts, larger study, currently funded by the Social which generally can be dated to c. 600 C.E. or Sciences and Humanities Research Council, of the earlier, includes about sixty complete or nearly incorporation of Christian motifs in Greek amulets complete works and numerous fragments. These in late antiquity. documents are not covered in the Charlesworth volumes, apart from a few for which we have Lorenzo DiTommaso important new manuscript evidence. The corpus Concordia University includes pagan works, Jewish pseudepigrapha transmitted by Jews, Jewish pseudepigrapha Jewish Pseudepigrapha and Christian Apocrypha: transmitted by Christians, and pseudepigrapha Definitions, Boundaries, and Points of Contact composed by Christians. The latter two categories Only in the past few decades has the study of are, of course, of great interest to specialists in biblical apocrypha begun to transcend the Christian apocrypha. Specialists will be aware of balkanisation imposed on it for a variety of some of these texts, but few will know all of them. historical and theological reasons. Although By collecting introductions and translations of certain distinctions among the categories remain these documents, we aim to raise their profile important, it is now clear that they do not among both scholars and nonspecialists. automatically warrant the rigid classification of the corpus of apocryphal literature on the basis of chronology, canon, or confession. This paper Theodore De Bruyn examines two of these historical categories, the University of Ottawa Jewish Pseudepigrapha and the Christian The Power of Apocryphal Narratives in Late Antiquity: Apocrypha, with the goal of identifying avenues The Testimony of Amulets and approaches by which current research on the In the Graeco-Roman world amulets were a means first collection of texts might inform the study of to appeal to the divine for healing from sickness, the second. The paper focuses on the related protection against harm, and success in life. As issues of definitions, terminology, and boundaries, Christian institutions and rituals became more 8 and on the confirmed and potential points of apologetic works, consciously supplementing, even contact between the two collections. modifying the tradition of the canonical Gospels. In some ways what these early Christian theologians and apologists were doing was not Peter W. Dunn much different from the objectives and activities Faculté de Théologie Evangélique de Bangui of the modern research. The present study The Acts of Paul as an Experimental Control for the undertakes a critical investigation of the status of Criticism of the Acts of the Apostles the question today, advocating an openness to the possibility of early, reliable tradition in these texts, There is a rift in New Testament scholarship but at the same time urging greater caution in their between those who maintain an early date for the use. canonical Acts and those who maintain that it takes place at least one generation after the events that it describes. The Acts of Paul may serve as an Ian Henderson experimental control for the claim that Acts was McGill University written in the post-apostolic period, because the The Usefulness of Christian Apocryphal Texts in the former document should be dated in the first half Research on the Historical Jesus of the second century. By comparing Acts with the Acts of Paul in the areas of titles of officials, Increasing awareness (and textual availability) of geography, historical persons, historical events, non-canonical Gospels has had an ambiguous and orthodoxy and heresy, we will see that the impact on Historical Jesus Research, an impact latter belongs squarely in the second century, and more hermeneutical than methodological or that the former is more native to the first century material. Most concretely a wider variety of texts and an early date for its writing is very much more labeled as “Gospel” raises questions of genre, plausible. influence and referentiality. Many scholars (and fiction writers) have publicly pointed to non- canonical Gospels as a warrant for re-imagining Craig A. Evans the “Historical Jesus.” Ironically, few non-fictional Acadia Divinity College historical reconstructions actually rely on non- The Apocryphal Jesus: canonical Gospels for decisive evidence. Assessing the Possibilities and Problems Ultimately, increased access to non-canonical Gospels serves mainly to focalize the question of The debate surrounding the usefulness of the imagination, fiction and history in public as well as extracanonical Gospels for historical Jesus research scholarly discourse about Jesus. is a long one, which in one form or another can be traced back to the early church. One thinks especially of second, third, and fourth-century Fathers who appeal to various Gospels or Gospel recensions in commentaries, treatises, and 9 Cornelia Horn Michael Kaler Saint Louis University McMaster University From Model Virgin to Maternal Intercessor: Gnostic Irony and the Adaptation of the Apocalyptic Genre Mary, Children, and Family Problems in Late Antique For gnostic authors as for other early Christians, Infancy Gospel Traditions Jewish and Christian apocalyptic writings were Marian theology in early Christian and late antique valued sources of information and inspiration. settings has already received a considerable Apocalyptic works provided their readers with amount of scholarly attention in past decades. information about the true meaning of history, the More recently, the study of private life in the nature of the cosmos, and humanity’s origins and ancient household as well as the more specific area destiny. The influence of apocalyptic works, and of children’s experience have entered the arena of of the apocalyptic genre, on gnostic writings of all scholarly discussions. This study offers a close-up sorts is clear. But one of the fundamental examination of the intersection of both areas in elements of apocalyptic writings was a glorification late antique apocryphal acts and gospels, primarily of the creator-God, a divinity whose status gnostic those preserved in Syriac and Arabic. The works radically downgraded. The tension caused development of women’s religions and Marian by this basic difference in attitudes towards the piety in the Christian and early Islamic Near East creator-God and his creation led to the ironic may have played a role in the apparent shift from reappropriation of the norms of the apocalyptic focusing on a blatant asceticism to a positive re- genre on the part of some authors. In this paper, I valuation of family life. will examine such reappropriation as manifested in the gnostic Apocalypse of Paul, the Apocalypse of Adam, and Allogenes. F. Stanley Jones California State University Nicole Kelley The Genesis of the Pseudo-Clementine Novel Florida State University This paper explores the relationship of the Pseudo-Clementine Polemics against Sacrifice: Pseudo-Clementine novel to the other novels of A Window onto Religious Life in the Fourth Century? antiquity. Similar motifs are examined to determine which ancient novels the author of the Thanks in part to the heresiological testimony of Periodoi Petrou knew. Chronological conclusions are church fathers such as Irenaeus and Epiphanius, then drawn to aid in the dating of the ancient opposition to animal sacrifice usually has been novels. The implications of the evidence for the considered a hallmark of “Jewish-Christian” belief. working-method of the Pseudo-Clementine author The Pseudo-Clementine Homilies and Recognitions, are considered. perhaps our most important late antique literary sources for “Jewish Christianity,” contain polemics against sacrifice that are often interpreted in light of this religious heritage. My paper suggests that 10 we might fruitfully reconsider this prevailing Timothy Pettipiece interpretation of the Pseudo-Clementines’ anti- University of Ottawa sacrificial elements. I propose that the Homilies Manichaean “Apocrypha”? and Recognitions’ polemic against sacrifice can be From Mani to Manichaeism read not simply as a remnant of a sectarian past, In their efforts to construct a religion to replace all but as a timely response to late antique religious religions, Manichaeans were quite adept at developments that occurred during the reign of the interacting with and absorbing a wide variety of emperor Julian. religious literature from both east and west, including, of course, what modern scholars classify Dennis R. MacDonald as Judaeo-Christian “apocrypha.” This paper will Claremont Graduate University examine Manichaean attitudes towards and use of these “apocryphal” writings at a variety of stages in The Gospel of Nicodemus (or, the Acta Pilati) as a the history of this dynamic religious movement Christian Iliad and Odyssey from Late Antiquity and address the validity of this In 1898 J. Rendel Harris suggested that the Gospel literary category for the study of Manichaeism. of Nicodemus (which he called the Acts of Pilate) was a two-volume work, the first half of which was a Christian Iliad and the second half, the so-called Robert R. Phenix, Jr. Descensus Christi, was an Odyssey. Unfortunately, Saint Louis University Harris did not make a compelling case, in part The Problem of the Source of Balai’s Sermons on because he wished to attribute at least some of the Joseph and the Nachleben of Pseudepigraphical Joseph Homeric imitation to a second century lost poetic Material gospel. But the Homeric parallels are most The Syriac Sermons on Joseph of Balai (4th-5th c.) is an extensive than Harris recognized. The implications example of a work that reflects the Nachleben of of this observation are profound for understanding pseudepigraphical Joseph material as well as Jewish the relationship of the various recensions of this midrash and haggadah. Its peculiarities relative to strange book to each other. It also shows that at other Syriac Joseph material pose the problem of least one early Christian was aware of parallels the source of Balai’s narrative framework. The between the death and burial of Jesus and the basic outline of the Sermons on Joseph follows that of death and burial of Hector and the strategic Genesis, with seamless incorporation of extra- differences between Odysseus’s visit to Hades and biblical expansions. The overall shape of the Jesus’ emptying Hades of the righteous dead. Sermons on Joseph reflects a bi-partite structure: part one tells the story of Joseph through his reunion with his family and their establishment in Egypt and part two tells the story of the deaths of Jacob and Joseph, a division that is unique to the earliest Syriac Joseph material. A similar structure is found