Ancient Judaism: Between Christian Memory and Jewish Forgetting:
But for Tatian’s teacher, Justin, the Gospels were the “Memoirs of the Apostles” (ἀπομνημονεύματα τῶν ἀποστόλων), that were read in the services together with the Old Testament prophets (1 apol. 67.3). Tatian rejected marriage as “corruption and fornication,”13 and held other Encratite views
propagated by Saturninus and Marcion...Encratite’ (Latin, encratita), cf. ἐγκράτεια, ‘self-control’. Petersen (Tatian’s Diatessaron, 79) observes that Eusebius (h.e. 4.28.2) “adds a new twist by calling Tatian the ‘founder’ (ἀρχηγός) of the Encratites,” in which he is followed by Epiphanius and Jerome, whereas Irenaeus previously called “Tatian a follower of Saturninus and Marcion, whom he credits with the founding of Encratism”
Manichaean texts written in Parthian and found at Turfan in China, preserve distinctive Diatessaronic readings.
Asiatic Johannine school. https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/15999
Irenaeus admits “the apostles had known hidden mysteries, which they were in the habit of imparting to the ‘perfected’ apart and privily from the rest” of Christians and so we can be sure “they would have delivered them especially to those to whom they were also committing the Churches themselves” (Against Heresies 3.3.1).
Irenaeus boasts the most about Clement, the author of 1 Clement that conspicuously shows no knowledge of an earthly Jesus or any Gospel narrative at all....
"There are also those who heard from him [Polycarp] that John, the Disciple of the Lord," - Irenaeus
Irenaeus thus never actually says Polycarp said he was “instructed by apostles” and “conversed with many who had seen Christ.” Irenaeus just believes that he did, because it is what “the Asiatic Churches” say about Polycarp,...Irenaeus then says “there are also those who heard from” Polycarp a possibly apocryphal story about John the Disciple. Notably, Irenaeus did not evidently hear any such story from Polycarp himself, despite having attended his lectures and sermons....even this unnamed, unvetted source did not say Polycarp learned this story about John from John.
“Polycarp told stories about John the Disciple” becomes “Polycarp knew John the Disciple,”...Polycarp never mentions knowing John in this letter, but does quote the Epistle 1 John, twice, without attribution—thus easily inspiring the legend that maybe Polycarp was quoting John personally, and not just some revered letters attributed to said John. Again, how legends are made....
describes Papias as “the hearer of John and a companion of Polycarp” (in Against Heresies 5.33.4). Not Polycarp was the hearer of John. Moreover, we know from Eusebius (History of the Church 3.39) that the “John” Papias meant was not John the Apostle, but a much later John, John the Elder (Ibid. 4-6). Papias was older than Polycarp. Yet Papias himself never says he met any Apostles—John or otherwise—
Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians
In like manner, let the young men also be blameless in all things, being especially careful to preserve purity, and keeping themselves in, as with a bridle, from every kind of evil. For it is well that they should be cut off from the lusts that are in the world, sinceevery lust wars against the spirit;1 Peter 2:11 andneither fornicators, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, shall inherit the kingdom of God,1 Corinthians 6:9-10 nor those who do things inconsistent and unbecoming. Wherefore, it is needful to abstain from all these things, being subject to the presbyters and deacons, as unto God and Christ. The virgins also must walk in a blameless and pure conscience.
Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles (NHC VI,1) is a 4th-century Gnostic Christian text found in the Nag Hammadi library. It follows the Apostles on a journey to a city named "Habitation," where they meet a pearl merchant named Lithargoel (revealed to be Jesus) who instructs them to heal the poor and avoid the rich...
potentially finds its roots in a Syriac context, whereas the final compilation of the work is seemingly associated with the region of Alexandria. A comparative analysis with Clement of Alexandria’s Paidagōgos highlights striking similarities between the two texts, particularly in the depiction of the apostolic ministry, bestowed by Jesus to the apostles, to serve as “healers of bodies and souls” of the faithful.
https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/38337
the extant text has Papias call these two men “Disciples of the Lord,” he must have been using that term very loosely, as even Eusebius admits neither can have been actual disciples but were from a later generation.
Irenaeus said he was once a student of Polycarp, whom he claims once knew Papias),... we have no mention of Papias discussing the Gospel of John, “therefore” he must predate it (though dating John is even more vexing).
We’ve seen Irenaeus fabricate this claim for Polycarp and Papias, so we have no reason to believe any of his sources “actually saw John” (at all, much less as saying this weird thing about brobdingnagian grapes). Irenaeus is both a wantonly gullible author and a man of dubious honesty. And odds are, he’s fibbing about his sources actually being second hand.
Benjamin A. Edsall Justin Martyr without the “Parting” or the “Ways”
Justin Martyr was anti-Jewish?
THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE APOLOGETICAL ARGUMENTS OF JUSTIN MARTYR
Justin intended his Apologies to
be read by the emperors for the purposes of establishing the innocence of the Christians
against the charges of atheism, immorality and disloyalty, to end the arbitrary injustices
committed against them by the Roman judicial procedure, and to show forth Christianity as
the superior, true and perfect philosophy in order to ultimately win imperial adherence
. Justin does this in 2 Apology in his account of the
Christian woman who sought to persuade her husband to live a sober life. She threatened
him with hell-fire as the penalty for failing to change his lifestyle. However, he failed to
respond to her deliberative rhetoric and instead denounced her to the authorities as a
Christian (2 Apol. 2).
the Apostle Paul, who associates philosophy with empty deceit and a potential source of peril for Christians (Col. 2:8). Contrary to Barnard, O. Skarsaune, ―The Conversion of
Justin Martyr,‖ Studia Theologica 30 (1976), pp. 53-73 at p. 56, states, ―There is no smooth passage from Plato to Christ in Justin‘s story … It is not Platonism itself but its destruction that prepares Justin for conversion.
As early as AD 144, he [Justin] composed a treatise denouncing the heresies prevalent among the Christians in Rome. This work, known as Syntagma, was most probably a response to Marcion concerning the problem of the Jewish Law. It is now entirely lost. Justin invites Antoninus Pius to read this treatise in 1 Apol. 26. Irenaeus mentions the same work in Against Heresies 4.6.
Other heretical movements that Justin associated with the Marcionites included
Valentinians, Basilidians, Saturnilians, ―and others by other names; each called after the...Tertullian (Adv. Marc. 1.2) claimed that he had close connections with
the Syrian Gnostic Cerdo, who may have influenced his views. Marcion‘s notion of an
inferior creator God, his negative view of corporeality, and his rejection of the Old
Testament approximate views commonly associated with Gnostics, but other views of his
do not. For instance, Marcion recognised no divine spark in the human person
tension was also magnified by Christian refusal to assist the Jews in Bar
Cochba‘s revolt.142 Justin makes the claim that, ―in the Jewish war which lately happened
Bar Cochba, the leader of the revolt of the Jews, gave orders that Christians alone should be
led to terrible punishments, unless they would deny Jesus the Christ and blaspheme‖ (1
Apol. 31).
In the words of Justin, the Jews ―hate and, whenever you have the power, kill us …
And you cease not to curse him and those who belong to him‖ (Dial. 133). Justin was
aware of the Jewish prayers of eighteen petitions, which included the birkath-ha-minim, or
thrice-daily curse against the Christians pronounced in the Jewish synagogues (Dial. 16,
47, 93, 95, 123, 133; cf. 1 Apol. 31)...
Justin also believed that the Jews spread calumnies about the Christians, as well as
attacks against the person of Jesus of Nazareth himself (for example, that he was a
magician and a deceiver whose body was stolen) (Dial. 17, 108, 120, 133).145 Five times in
Dialogue he complains about Jews spreading misconceptions about Christianity (17, 32,
93, 108, 117). These ―slanders‖ were spread by emissaries, not only to Jewish communities of the Diaspora, but to ―every land‖ (Dial. 17). Justin himself entered into debate with a number of Jewish evangelists (Dial. 50). Justin considered Jewish teachers in general ―blind,‖ ―unintelligent,‖ ―foolish,‖ and ―selfish‖ (Dial. 68), and responsible for misleading their people with false interpretations of Scripture.1
..........
Justin also intended it for Hellenised, liberalising Jews.239 However,
Adolf von Harnack rejects a Jewish destination, stating of Dialogue, ―… what purports to
be a polemic is nothing but apologetics for the internal use of the Church.‖240 Rokéah has
recently resurrected a Jewish destination, maintaining that Dialogue was ―intended for the
Jews,‖ due to its ―friendly tone.‖241 However, Dialogue‘s harsh tone of language and severe
portrayal of the Jews in numerous instances (Dial. 32, 39, 44, 55, 64, 68, 92, 110, 134)
tends to negate Rokéah‘s opinion
..................
Justin‘s philosophical journey and conversion (1-9).
(ii) The abrogation of the Mosaic Law (10-30).
(iii) Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ (31-108).
(iv) On the superiority of the Christians as the ―New Israel‖ and the conversion of
the nations (109-141).
(v) Conclusion and wishes for conversion of the Jews (142)Hints of missionary action directed at Jews are ―… at most, marginal
comments.‖257 Setzer argues for the same conclusion, believing that if Justin intended to
convert Jews he would have had Trypho admit the superiority of his arguments and convert
......................
whether Justin‘s purpose was to offer an alternative to Philonic Judaism, ―showing that philosophy and the revealed religion of the New Israel are compatible in a more straightforward way than the highly obtruse ideas and exegesis of the school of Alexandria … ‖ S
to establish continuity between Judaism and Christianity, to represent Christianity as
the fulfilment of the mystical and ancient books of the Old Testament, and to find in the
Old Testament prophetic descriptions of the person and work of Christ.270 All this was in
order that his reader ―may be of the same opinion as ourselves, and believe that Jesus is the Christ of God‖ (Dial. 142).
............
G. Stroumsa, ―From Anti-Judaism to Antisemitism in Early Christianity?‖ in O. Limor and G. G. Stroumsa (eds), Contra Iudaeos: Ancient and Medieval Polemics between Christians and Jews, Texts and Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Judaism 10, J. C. B. Mohr, Tübingen, 1996, pp. 1-26 at p. 1
Reflecting on these truths as found in pagan philosophy Justin sought to recognise
them as a praeparatio evangelica, a preparation for the gospel, planted by the work of the
Logos-Christ.
"Hellenization" and Logos Doctrine in Justin Martyr
Throughout his works Justin Martyr equates the “gods of the nations”
with demons (cf. LXX Ps 95.5) and explores the various ways in which
they deceptively imitate the divine in order to lead unwary humans awaythe fallen angels inseminated human women with demonic offspring and how they enslaved
humankind through trickery, coercion, and magic, encouraging them to
worship the demons as gods.the fallen angels corrupted humankind through teachings of metalworking, cosmetics, magic, and celestial divination, thereby depicting angelic descent as the ultimate cause of evil on the earth.
Thereafter, a number of Christian thinkers—including Tatian, Athenagoras,
Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Cyprian, Commodian, and
Minucius Felix—would follow Justin in using the angelic descent myth to
denounce pagan culture as demonic.7Justin uses the sins of the primeval couple to explicate the nature of Jewish wickedness
as willful disobedience, his retelling of the angelic descent myth functions
to account for pagan error as the product of unwitting deception by the
demonic mimesis of the divine.presupposes extrabiblical developments in the tradition. Specifically, Justin’s
version of the angelic descent myth appears to adopt its purpose and
structure from the Book of the Watchers9 while integrating motifs from
the Testament of the 12 Patriarchs, a Christian reworking of earlier
Jewish testamentary sources.10 In interpreting the descent of the Watchers
as a transgression of the natural order of the cosmos, Justin follows both
1 Enoch 15–16 and Testament of Naphtali 3.Justin
here cites the elements of heaven, the fruitfulness of agricultural produce,
and the predictable rotation of the seasons as evidence for the governance
of divinely instituted natural law (2 Apol. 5.2; cf. 1 Enoch 5.1–2). When
describing the cosmic situation prior to the angel’s descent, he focuses
exclusively upon God’s delineation of separate realms of human and
angelic responsibility within his orderly creation. Whereas earthly things
(tå §p¤geia) are subjected to human beings, “the care of humankind and
the things under heaven [tØn m¢n t«n ényr≈pvn ka‹ t«n ÍpÚ oÈranÚn
prÒnoian]” is entrusted to the angels (2 Apol. 5.2).the Giants
will suffer a double destruction. Their bodies will be slaughtered as part
of the Watchers’ antediluvian punishment (1 Enoch 15.8–10; also 10.9–
12, 12.4–6), but their evil spirits (pneÊmata ponhrå) will roam the earth
until the final judgment, when they will be annihilated alongside human
sinners (1 Enoch 15.11–12; also 10.13–16, esp. 15).I see no need to assume that Justin
himself would have perceived the Book of the Watchers as a Jewish as opposed to
Christian text. His use of this text thus differs from his integration of other sources
that were more clearly marked as Jewish,
Prior to Justin Martyr, the Jewish and Christian writers who used this text tended to neutralize its radical approach to the
question of evil by adapting its treatment of the Watchers as archetypal
sinners, with special appeal to its extrabiblical elaboration of their punishments. Some include the Watchers alongside humans in lists of paradigmatic sinners (e.g., CD 2.14–3.1; 2 Pet 2.4) or present them as negative exemplars of men who fall prey to lust ..........
Justin states that the “prince of the evil demons” is called both “Satan” and the
“devil.
Although the intercession of the angels in the revelation of the Law to Moses at Sinai is a well-known early Christian tradition going back to a pre-Christian Jewish milieu, any specific role of Michael in this process is almost unknown (we shall browse exclusions). As to the Watchers, their intercession at Sinai is not only at odds with the mainstream Jewish and Christian traditions, but goes against the well-established and prevailing in both Jewish and Christian worlds tradition identifying them with the Giants. This tradition starting from 1 Enoch (“Book of Giants”, 3rd cent. BC) and going through the Qumranic texts, ends with the Middle Age Byzantine historiographers, thus becoming a part of the trivial mediaeval knowledge … By the way, this is, to my opinion, the reason why our fragment was cut off from the Greek text of St Andrew’s Commentary.
No doubts, there were, in the Second Temple Judaisms, some movements where the Watchers-Giants were not painted only in black. For instance, in Jub 4:15 they taught the mankind “to make justice”, in contrast to 1Enoch where they taught to do only the bad things. Nevertheless, in Jub 7:21 the standard story of their fall with the women took place, and this “place” is before the Flood, that is, long before Moses…
However, in our Papias’ fragment the Watchers’ image is not only absolutely positive, with no connection to Giants, but even crucial for the Old Testament as a whole — because the Watchers, together with Michael, become the intercessors in the revelation of the Law to Moses. This is an independent tradition that should be traced.
https://hgr.livejournal.com/179757.html
This document explores the theme of a rivalry between the Messiah and the Watchers. After having said (4QMessAr ii, 16) that “His [Messiah’s] deed will be as the one of the Watchers ()”, the document continues: 18. […] … […] Holy One and the Watchers ) […] saying
19. […] they have spoken against him
he depicts the transgressions of the first humans as facilitated by the demonic influence of the Serpent, who is identified with Satan (Dial 88, 103, 125).
shocking anti-Judaism (see esp. Dial. 132).
Justin interprets circumcision as a punishment aimed at separating this defiant nation from all others (Dial 19, 92). He attributes a..................
similarly tainted origin to the Jewish dietary laws: “You were commanded
to abstain from certain kinds of food, in order that you might keep God
before your eyes while you ate and drank, seeing that you were prone and
very ready to depart from his knowledge” (Dial. 20).32
For Justin, the consistent failure of these measures underlines the Jewish propensity for disobeying God. He argues that the chronic disobedience of the Jews culminates in their rejection of Jesus and their causal role
in his death
Just as his interpretation of Jewish history inverts the Deuteronomistic approach to Israel’s sins and
punishments, so Justin here twists the traditional Jewish association of Israel with the angels by paralleling the corrupting influence of the Jews with the actions of the fallen angels and their demonic progeny.39
if Christ is the Logos, then Christianity must be the true philosophy. Hence, it is especially striking that Justin integrates Greco-Roman philosophical critiques of popular religion into his denunciation of pagan idolatry as demonic.
In his words, “Since they did not know the whole of the Logos, which is Christ, they often contradicted themselves” (2 Apol. 10). Consequently, the teachings of Plato are not wholly different from those of Christ, and yet: ....For each man spoke well in proportion to the share he had of the spermatic Logos [toË spermatikoË ye¤ou lÒgou] . . . he proposes
that one can recognize Logos-inspired philosophy precisely by its rejection of two
demonic creations: myth and idolatry
Demons, Angels, and Writing in Ancient Judaism
The Origin of Heresy
A History of Discourse in Second Temple
Judaism and Early Christianity
Robert M. Royalty, Jr.
"heresy" was not just a second-century invention, but a rhetorical tool used in ideological conflicts within early Christian and Jewish texts. Royalty traces the genealogy of "heresiology" (discourse against heretics) back to first-century literature, including the New Testament, suggesting that defining orthodox identity through opposition was already prevalent
Christianity in
Antioch: Partings
in Roman Syria
THE LOCAL CULTURES OF NORTHERN SYRIA PLAYED A PIVOTAL ROLE
in the partitioning of Christian identities from Jewish piety and
peoplehood.1 A striking number of the sources cited as exemplary of the
"parting(s) of the way(s)" are from or about Syria. Not only is Paul's call
to be "apostle to the gentiles" situated on the road to Damascus, but both
Paul and Luke-Acts point to Antioch as the setting of an early contro
versy concerning the interactions between Jesus' Jewish and non-Jewish
followers.2 Although the precise character of the "incident at Antioch''
remains debated, 3 it is clear that local controversies in Syria spurred
efforts to distinguish non-Jewish affiliation with the Jesus movement from
adherence or conversion to Judaism. Problems in Antioch prompted the
articulation of what became a distinctively Christian vision of biblically
based piety for gentiles.
Annette Yoshiko Reed
Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity and Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Harvard
Justin's Conversion and the Rhetoric of Heresy
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