Dunno. Don't care. The main thing is that this is increasingly known as 'misrepresentation' (& I did wonder^ about saying misrepresented).
Litwa has also producedLeucius Charinus wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 7:57 pm Simon of Samaria and Helen of Tyre
M. David Litwa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYQME7S_aL0
- a review of Salles Dabadie's book, Simon le Mage
- a review of Karlmann Beyschlag's Simon Magus
- a review of Gerd Ludemann's Simonian Gnosis
- a review of Sami Yli-Karjanma's Reincarnation in Philo to see if Philo's views about reincarnation/transmigration might have been able to influence Simonian Christians)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RH9mICMd4s&t=96s
Litwa concludes Philo's views did pave the way for consideration of transmigration by early Alexandrian Christian authors, with "figures like Carpocrates, Basilides, and possibly Simonians, all affirming some version of transmigration." [17.15f]
There's a few more video's and articles on Litwa's Patreon about 'Simon' and Simonians such as
- a review of Jarl Fossum's, The Name of God, in which Fossum gives a grand synthesis of how Simon of Samaria was 'a heretical Samaritan'. Therein Litwa focuses on weakness of method.
- Simon the Sorcerer I
- an exposition of Simon in the book of Acts 8:9-24 ... how this passage in Acts was constructed; the significance of the Great Power title; and what Acts indicates about Simonians in second-century Samaria.
- Simon the Sorcerer II
- "Did Justin lie about Simon’s statue in Rome? Was he just confused? Were Simonians misled or did they reasonably see Simon in the statue? How did they get from Samaria to Tiber island in Rome? Find out. Rome [was] not as Catholic as you think …"
- 'Who were the Samaritans'
- Who were the Magi?
Hence, I think a book by Litwa about Simon and Simonians will be forthcoming.