Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Sun Sep 17, 2017 10:00 am
As Kunigunde said, Heracleon appears to be making Capernaum signify the extreme material portions of the cosmos, not because anything in the name suggests that, but rather because that is where Jesus "descended" (so to speak).
Mmm... I would be not so rapid in this so drastic conclusion. You say what is the etymology of Capernaum shortly after:
Capernaum probably comes from Kfar Nahum, which means village of Nahum. However, since all Hebrew names mean something, and since Nahum means comfort(er) or consolation/consoler, Capernaum can also be held to mean village of consolation.
Village of the conforter: this remembers me what Couchoud said about the first epistle of John.
The Epistle shows itself to be earlier than the Gospel, because the Parousia (ii. 28) is still taught, whereas in the Gospel it is no longer expected, and because the Paraclete in the Epistle is Jesus himself, whereas in the Gospel the Paraclete is a sort of double of Jesus, the Spirit which is to be sent and which, in practice, takes the place of the Son of Man whose Coming was formerly hoped for. It is evident, then, that between the writing of the Epistle and that of the Gospel the urgent expectation of the Revelation had lapsed.
(
The Creation of Christ, p. 226, my bold)
Capernaum means the place where the Paraclete had to arrive. The ''village of the Paraclete''. This does allude
at least partially to the idea expressed by Heracleon. At least more than to idea of what the Gospel Jesus did
particularly in Capernaum and only there (the particular exorcism of someone).
What I am saying is that,
even so,
Capernaum is more expected in the incipit of a Gospel (alluding to the general goal of Jesus: being a Paraclete)
than as particular name of a particular place of a particular episode where Jesus did a particular action.
Therefore I repeat what I said before: the presence of Capernaum in the incipit of
Mcn alone proves the Marcionite priority.