The use of scripture in the Apocryphon of John
Subtitle: a diachronic analysis of the variant versions
By: David Creech
Series: Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. 2. Reihe -- 441; Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament -- 441.
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Published: 2017
Place of publication: Tübingen
Language: eng
Number of pages: 148
ISBN-13: 9783161529832
Subjects: Bibel; Criticism, interpretation; Rezeption; Apokryphon des Johannes; Apocryphon of John
Description: David Creech explores at length the Apocryphon of John's ambivalent treatment of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Although Moses is explicitly corrected at five points in the text, Genesis' account of creation is nonetheless the basis for the Apocryphon's cosmogony and anthropogony. Its uneven treatment of the biblical text is the result of a dispute between the authors of the Apocryphon and other early Catholics. At the earliest stage of the text the Christians who wrote and read the Apocryphon worshiped alongside other early catholic Christians without any sense of contradiction or inconsistency. The key shift in the Apocryphon occurred after Irenaeus of Lyons' assault on "Knowledge Falsely So-Called." In response to his concerted effort to bring the church under the authority of early catholic bishops, the framers inserted corrections to Moses. The corrections are primarily rhetorical and used to refute early catholic identity markers.
Notes: Slight Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--Loyola University Chicago, 2011.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 121-133) and indexes.
Table of contents: title: History of research; title: Brief overview of the argument; title: The Apocryphon and the biblical text: two common misperceptions; title: The biblical text as foundational; title: Moses the unreliable witness; title: Not a Moses said ... but just as Moses said; title: An outline of the parameters; title: The apocryphon of John in the second century; title: The Apocryphon of John after Irenaeus of Lyons; title: The Apocryphon of John at Nag Hammadi.