Re: Wiki EarlyChristian writings Missing from our Forum'sWeb
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 10:13 am
Good advice.
Investigating the roots of western civilization (ye olde BC&H forum of IIDB lives on...)
https://earlywritings.com/forum/
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/actsthomas.htmlEstimated Range of Dating: 200-225 A.D.
Some form of the work was clearly in circulation by the end of the 4th century when testimonies begin. Epiphanius (Anac. 47.1 and 60.1.5) records its use by Encratites. Augustine (de serm. dom. in monte 1.20.65; c. Adiamantium 17; c. Faustum 14 and 22.79) attests its use by Manicheans
Some sections, particularly the originally independent Hymn of the Pearl, presuppose conditions in the Parthian period, which ended with the establishment of the Sassanian Empire in 226 C.E. It is likely that Acts Thom. underwent redactional development, including adaptation by Manicheans, in the late 3d or 4th centuries.
The Acts of Thomas, edited by Albertus Frederik Johannes KlijnTher Acts of THomas show the closest relation with the Acts of Peter. If this means that the Acts of THomas are dependent on the Acts of Peter, the Acts of Thomas were written in the beginning of the third c.
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The oldest description known is obviously met in the Apocalypse of Peter dating from the first half of the second c. On account of this early date the description in the Acts of THomas is generally supposed to be dependent on the Apoc. of Peter.
A thorough study of the Apocalypse of Peter and the Acts of Thomas however shows that the agreement between these two is limited to the way in which the different punishments are described only.
Susan Myers writes at length on this question in her book Spirit Epiclesis:"The Acts of Thomas" (see APOCRYPHAL ACTS, sec. B, V), a Gnostic work dating from the 2nd century, tells how when the world was partitioned out as a mission field among the disciples
https://www.shroud.com/pdfs/dreisbc2.pdfWhile Kuryluk38would date it from the early third century, Judah Segal sees this hymn "composed originally in Syriac, [a work antedating] the main text of the Acts of Thomas and may go back to the first century A.D."39
Jean Danielou, in an article entitled "Christianity as a Jewish Sect", seems to settle this debate when he declares:The earliest documents we have on Edessan Christianity - namely the Gospel of Thomas,the Song[Hymn]of the Pearl contained in the Acts of Thomas, and the Odes of Solomon-go back, in part, to the end of the 1st century and display the characteristic features ofJudaeo-Christianity40
39. Segal, J. 1970.pgs. 31 & 68.
40. Danielou, J. 1969.The Crucible of Christianity. Ed. Arnold Toynbee. New York: WorldPublishing Company,, p. 277. See also A. Adam (Die Psalmen des Thomas und dasPerlenlied als Zeugnisse vorchristlicher Gnosis [Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für dieneutestamentliche Wissenschaft 24; Berlin: Alfred Töpelmann, 1959], 60, 70) who judge sit to have been written in the first century C.E. and G. Widengren (“Der iranische Hintergrund der Gnosis,”Zeitschrift für Religions - und Geistgeschicte4 [1952] 97-114)1969 who dates this hymn as early as 150 B.C.E.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymn_of_the_PearlSome scholars believe the hymn antedates the Acts, as it only appears in one Syriac manuscript and one Greek manuscript of the Acts of Thomas. The author of the Hymn is unknown, though there is a belief that it was composed by the Syriac gnostic Bardaisan [second half of the 2nd c.] due to some parallels between his life and that of the hymn.
"If the Hymn of the Pearl was written in a Gnostic milieu, only later to be incorporated int o the Acts of Thomas, it may have been composed sometime in the late 2nd c. of the pearl" Bart Ehrman, Lost Scriptures
Modern scholars believe that Second Clement is actually a sermon written around 95-140 CE by an anonymous author, one who was neither the author of 1 Clement nor Clement of Rome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Epistle_of_Clement
If that's surprising, maybe it's better to give an earlier dating?Grant also writes (op. cit., p. 1061):http://earlychristianwritings.com/2clement.htmlScholars have noted the "synoptic-type" Jewish piety of the sermon, perhaps surprising around A.D. 140-160 (the epistle's approximate date). The work appears to rely upon the Gospel of John as well, however, notably in 9:5-6: "
http://www.christian-history.org/gospel ... mas-2.htmlthe Gospel is quoted in 2 Clement!"For the Lord himself, being asked when the kingdom would come, replied, ‘When two shall be one, that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female’" (2 Clement 12).
This is clearly a quote from the Gospel of Thomas, saying 22...
2 Clement is considered an orthodox work; however, no reputable scholar has ever considered it to be actually written by Clement, not even Eusebius, who makes the first mention of it in A.D. 323. In style, it is nothing like 1 Clement. It is only called 2 Clement because the 5th century Alexandrian manuscript includes it with 1 Clement as "the epistles of Clement."
Despite the fact that no one believes Clement authored it, it's universally considered orthodox.
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2 Clement is usually given a date from A.D. 140-160, specifically because of this quote.
No Christian writer before Eusebius in A.D. 323 makes reference to 2 Clement; however, the reason for dating it to c. A.D. 150 is that it quotes words of Jesus from something other than the four Gospels. That would have been unacceptable in an orthodox work, especially a sermon like Second Clement, anytime after the late 2nd century.
Of course, if 2 Clement is from A.D. 150 and it cites the Gospel of Thomas, then the Gospel of Thomas is at least that old.
Interestingly enough, Clement of Alexandria quotes the same words and attributes them to an apocryphal and unknown "Gospel of the Egyptians," which he does not regard as authoritative. The Gospel of Thomas has been found in Coptic (Egyptian) and Greek. Is it an Egyptian Gospel? If so, it's almost certainly Alexandrian, the intellectual center of Egypt, which would explain Clement of Alexandria would be quoting it.
https://books.google.com/books?id=TE4-T ... 3&lpg=PA63&dq=%22Second+Clement%22+OR+%222+clement%22+date+OR+dating&source=bl&ots=ISeGktgZpG&sig=V6HL6ZueKVPY20Ga5tilLon-W2g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjnlvqDrO3RAhUC4yYKHZvlBtYQ6AEINTAD#v=onepage&q=%22Second%20Clement%22%20OR%20%222%20clement%22%20date%20OR%20dating&f=falsetraces of the redactional work of both Matthew and Luke are visible [in 2 Clement's citings of Jesus]... The author is thus at a point in the development of at least the synoptic tradition that post dates the present synoptic gospels. A date after the end of the first century thus seems most likely.
Donfried suggests it could have been written even before 1 Clement."suggest that 2 Clement was written in ROme during the time of Hyginus 136-140, but Grant himself admits that this is a wild hypothesis. ... Lightfoot holds 2 Clement to be a homily written about 120 or earlier...
https://books.google.com/books?id=Ham9C ... ng&f=false2 Clement represents a very early stage in the total process which eventually leads to the formation of a New Testament canon. As we will show, 2 Clement is still largely dependent on an oral, as opposed to a written, gospel tradition. Further 2 Clement shares a number of themes and expressions with Valentinian gnosticism; however these are clearly a part of a gnosticisng trajectory which lead to Valentinian gnosticism, but which are not yet a part...
many of these are late in their present form. The Liturgy of Addai and Mari probably goes back to a very early liturgy although in its present form it is later.rakovsky wrote:What are the oldest liturgies? Do we have anything from close to the 1st century? I heard of:
Liturgy of Addai and Mari, and liturgies of: St. James, St. Mark, St. Hippolytus, and the Anaphora of the Twelve Apostles.
The Greek is here: http://ocp.tyndale.ca/docs/text/LivPro.rakovsky wrote:I found LIVES OF THE PROPHETS online here:
http://www.summascriptura.com/html/live ... orrey.html
Well,Ben C. Smith wrote:The Greek is here: http://ocp.tyndale.ca/docs/text/LivPro.rakovsky wrote:I found LIVES OF THE PROPHETS online here:
http://www.summascriptura.com/html/live ... orrey.html