Prayer to Jesus in the Canonical and in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 89/1 (2013) 49-71. doi: 10.2143/ETL.89.1.2985322 © 2013 by Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses. All rights reserved. Prayer to Jesus in the Canonical and in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles Boris PASCHKE Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven (ETF) Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) INTRODUCTION The five major Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles (AAA), i.e., those of Andrew (AA), John (AJ), Paul (APaul), Peter (APeter), and Thomas (ATh)1, stem from the second and third centuries C.E.2 and contain about one-hundred prayers, i.e., second-person addresses to God3. With regard to the invocationes of these prayers, Hugh A.G. Houghton states, “Most prayers are addressed directly to Jesus”4. In contrast to the AAA, the canonical New Testament hardly contains prayers to Jesus. Such prayers are only found in Acts 7,59-60 (kúrie ˆIjsoÕ)5; Rev 22,20 (ˆAmßn, ∂rxou kúrie ˆIjsoÕ); and perhaps 1 Cor 16,22 (maranatha)6. 1. Unless indicated otherwise, the following text editions of these writings are used: Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, ed. R.A. LIPSIUS – M. BONNET, 2 vols, Reprint, Hildesheim, Georg Olms, 1990; Acta Iohannis: Praefatio – Textus, ed. É. JUNOD – J.-D. KAESTLI (CChr.SA, 1), Turnhout, Brepols, 1983; Acta Andreae: Textus, ed. J.-M. PRIEUR (CChr.SA, 6), Turnhout, Brepols, 1989. Unless indicated otherwise, english translations of the AAA come from The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation, ed. J.K. ELLIOTT, Oxford, Clarendon, 1993. 2. Cf. ELLIOTT (ed.), Apocryphal New Testament (n. 1), p. 229; H.-J.
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