The Gospel According to Philip: The Sources and Coherence of an Early Christian Collection

296 Pages·1996·8.37 MB·English

by  Martha Lee Turner

The
Gospel according
to Philip
&
The
Sources Coherence
of
an Early Christian Collection
by
Martha Lee Turner
THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO
PHILIP
NAG HAMMADI
AND
MANICHAEAN STUDIES
FORMERLY
NAG HAMMADI STUDIES
EDITED BY
J.M. ROBINSON & H.J. KLIMKEIT
Editorial Board
H.W. Attridge, R. Cameron, W.-P. Funk, C.W. Hedrick,
H. Jackson, P. Nagel, J. van Oort, D.M. Parrott, B.A. Pearson, K. Rudolph,
H.-M. Schenke, W. Sundermann
XXXVIII
' ' 6 8 * ■
THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO
PHILIP
THE SOURCES AND COHERENCE OF
AN EARLY CHRISTIAN COLLECTION
BY
MARTHA LEE TURNER
' U 8 ^ ‘
E.J. BRILL
LEIDEN • NEW YORK • KÖLN
1996
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufhahme
Turner, Martha Lee:
The gospel according to Philip : the sources and coherence of
an early Christian collection / by Martha Lee Turner. - Leiden
; New York ; Köln : Brill, 1996
(Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies ; 38)
ISBN 90-04-10443-7
NE: GT
ISSN 0929-2470
ISBN 90 04 10443 7
© Copyright 1996 by E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
to
John O. Turner
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface........................................................................................................xi
Chapter One: Introduction....................................................................... 1
Historical and Religious Contexts......................................................2
The Interpretive Impasse....................................................................10
PART ONE
KINDS OF COHERENCE
Introduction to Part One.........................................................................15
Chapter Two: On the Trail of an Elusive Coherence.............................17
Categories of Analysis.......................................................................17
The Early "Florilegium" Hypothesis....................................................19
Integrations of Sequential and Recurrent Phenomena.....................24
An Experiment in Source Analysis...................................................40
Communicative Strategy and Genre...................................................46
"Collection" Hypotheses Revisited...................................................51
Tacit Assumptions in Recent Interpretation.....................................54
Summary............................................................................................58
Chapter Three: The Practical Matrix of Collections..............................60
Excerpting and Collecting Practices in Late Antiquity...................62
A Scholar's Habits.........................................................................62
The Materials of Ephemeral Writing............................................64
The Use of Intermediary Documents...........................................66
The Relationship of Private Notes to Published Works.....................68
Inadvertent Publication...............................................................68
Published Miscellanies..................................................................7 0
The Attic Nights as a Pseudo-Notebook....................................70
The Influence of Anthologies on Original Composition..............75
The Culture of Excerpting and the Category "Genre".....................76
Chapter Four: Organizing Principles of Some Collections.....................80
Demotic Instructions.........................................................................80
Organizing Principles in Demotic Instructions............................86
The Garland of Meleager and the Garland of Philip......................87
The ETEOANOE of Meleager.......................................................87
Vili TABLE OF CONTENTS
The ZTEOANOZ of Philip...............................................................92
Organizing Principles in the Garlands of Meleager and Philip.. 93
Anecdote and Sayings Collections.'.....................................................94
Plutarch (and pseudo-Plutarch)......................................................94
Organizing Principles in Plutarch.................................................98
Pirqe >Abot...................................................................................98
Organizing Principles in Pirqe yAbot..........................................99
Clement of Alexandria and Stromateis 8.............................................99
Stromateis 8..................................................................................99
The Philosophical Material and the Eclogae propheticae......102
The Excerpta ex Theodoto.........................................................103
The Sentences of Sextus and Related Collections..........................104
The Sources of the Sentences of Sextus....................................106
The Christian Redactor of the Sentences of Sextus.................109
Organizing Principles in the Sentences of Sextus........................114
Summary............................................................................................115
Chapter Five: Recombinant Mythography...........................................117
The Gnostic Proliferation of Systems.................................................117
The Phenomenon of Recombinant Mythography....................118
Myth, Belief, and the Claim to Truth...............................................124
The Function of Recombinant Mythography....................................127
Collecting Activity within the Context of Speculation....................130
PART TWO
COMPONENTS OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PHIUP
Introduction to Part Two..........................................................................135
Chapter Six: Methods and Criteria..................................................... 137
Divergences, Differentiation's, and Incompatibilities.......................139
Patterns of Source Utilization...........................................................141
Peculiarities Shared by Groups of Passages....................................143
Peculiarities Shared with Specific Traditions or Milieux................144
Chapter Seven: Indications of a Composite Character...........................146
The Distribution of Sectarian Terminology.......................................146
"Christian"...................................................................................146
"Hebrews," "Jews," "Gentiles".....................................................150
"Apostle, Apostolic"....................................................................151
The "Perfect"...............................................................................155
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
Distribution of Interests and Approaches........................................158
Etymological Exegesis and "Syrian" Provenance.....................158
Words and Actions of "Jesus," "the Christ," or "the Lord"......166
References to Other Biblical Persons and Places.......................169
Retellings of the Creation Story from Genesis.........................169
"Powers" and "Rulers"...............................................................169
The Human Problematic...............................................................176
Ethical Exhortation....................................................................176
The Distribution of Sacramental References...................................177
Summary...........................................................................................182
Chapter Eight: The "Primitive" Valentinian Block.................................184
Length and Structure of Textual Units...........................................185
Parallels with the Gospel of Truth and the Meaning of "Gnosis".. 188
Distinctive Treatment of Scripture...................................................193
The "Logos" Citation Formulae...................................................193
Gnosticizing Interpretations......................................................195
"Reverse Allegorization"............. 196
Morality and Gnosis..........................................................................198
The Transformation of Sacramental Imagery...................................201
Conclusions and Conjectures............................................................204
Chapter Nine: Some Specific Traditions in 51.29-77.14......................206
Material Associated with the "Thomas" Traditions........................206
Use of the Gospel according to Thomas....................................206
Sacramental Exemplarism and Exemplar Epicleses..................208
Sacramental Exemplarism and the Mystery of Marriage..........216
Anointing as a Sufficient Form of Christian Initiation..............218
Apostolic Authority and Initiation by Anointing......................221
Images of Eating and Becoming...............................................223
"Classical" or "Sethian" Passages....................................................226
Two Passages Related to the "Valentinian" Block.........................230
Summary..........................................................................................234
PART THREE
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PHIUP AS A COLLECTION
Introduction to Part Three.......................................:.............................239
Chapter Ten: A Collection Among Collections...................................240
Organizing Principles in the Gospel according to Philip...............241
X TABLE OF CONTENTS
Repeated Word Linkages, Simple and Complex .....................241
Motif Clusters and Analogous Associations............................246
Thematic Sequences................. 250
The Division and Dispersal of Source Materials.......................251
The Gospel according to Philip among Collections.......................252
Some Implications of This Study.....................................................255
Chapter Eleven: On Studying a Sourcebook for Speculation..............257
Bibliography..........................................................................................262
Scholarship on the Gospel according to Philip............................262
Ancient Literature: Editions and Translations Cited......................267
Other Secondary Literature Cited.....................................................269
Index......................................................................................................273