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Discerning Witnesses: First and Second Century Textual Studies in Christian Authority

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DISCERNING WITNESSES: FIRST AND SECOND CENTURY TEXTUAL STUDIES IN CHRISTIAN AUTHORITY BY JACOB JOSEPH PRAHLOW A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Religion May 2014 Winston-Salem, North Carolina Approved By: Bill J. Leonard, Ph.D., Advisor Mary F. Foskett, Ph.D., Chair Stephen B. Boyd, Ph.D. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are a number of people whom I would like to thank for their assistance in crafting this thesis. Foremost, I offer my sincere gratitude to Dr. Bill Leonard for his continuous support, longsuffering patience, clarifying questions, and immense knowledge. Without his guidance, the completion of this project would not have been possible. Second, I would also like to offer profound thanks to the other members of my thesis committee, Dr. Mary Foskett and Dr. Stephen Boyd, for their encouragement, insightful comments, and hard questions. Third, I need to thank my wife Hayley for her enduring encouragement, many uninterrupted study hours, and the willingness to listen as I worked through concepts aloud. Many thanks also go out to Dr. Lisa Driver, Dr. Gilbert Meilaender, Dr. Ronald Rittgers, Dr. Michael Baumen, Mr. Kevin Bywater, Mr. Timothy Smith, Dr. James Powell, and Dr. Jarrod Whitaker, as well as colleagues Mr. Daniel McCluskey and Mr. Ben Cabe, for their influence on my thinking about the history of Christianity and insights into the method behind this project. Additionally, I would like to thank those who have helped me review and edit parts of this thesis, Jody Byrkett and Laura Ehlen. And a huge thank you to my chief editors, Joseph and Tamara Prahlow, who not only helped me edit this study, but also have edited and shaped who I am since they brought me into the world. The errors in this study are solely mine. Finally, I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose blessings have enabled me to seek Him with my mind, and whose Truth all of my academic works attempt to find. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents iii List of Tables iv List of Abbreviations v Abstract vi Chapter One: Framing the Discernment of Witnesses I. Introduction 1 II. Methodology 2 III. Multiple Forms of Authority 10 Chapter Two: The Marcion Problem I. Introduction 17 II. Historical Sources on Marcion 18 III. Canon as Lens: Modern Scholars on Marcion 25 IV. Conclusions 39 Chapter Three: Clement of Rome I. Introduction 42 II. Textual Authority in First Clement 46 III. Non-Textual Authority in First Clement 60 IV. Authority in Clement 67 Chapter Four: Ignatius of Antioch I. Introduction 70 II. Textual Authority in Ignatius 72 III. Non-Textual Authority in Ignatius 81 IV. Authority in Ignatius 92 Chapter Five: Discerning Witnesses I. Review of Perspectives 95 II. Conclusions and Implications 98 References 104 Appendix A: Citations in Clement 116 Appendix B: Citations in Ignatius 125 Appendix C: Additional Materials 132 Curriculum Vitae 134 iii LIST OF TABLES Table I: 1 Clement 46:8 Source Comparison (51) Table II: Citations in First Clement (117) Table III: Citations in Ignatius (126) Table IV: Comparison of Clement 13:2 with Proposed Synoptic Parallels (132) iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1Clem First Clement AF Apostolic Fathers (Grant) AFSCI Apostolic Fathers and the Search for Christian Identity (Koester) AH Against Heresies (Irenaeus) Ap. Ez. Apocryphal Ezekiel Ass. Moses Assumption of Moses BC Biblical Canon (McDonald) Canon Canon of the New Testament (Metzger) EC Early Church (T. Robinson) ECA Early Christian Artifacts (Hurtado) ECW Early Christian Writers EH Ecclesiastical History (Eusebius) Eph Ephesians GFC “I Clement: An Introduction” (Gregory) GFCW “I Clement and the Writings…” (Gregory) GT Andrew F. Gregory and Christopher Tuckett HTS HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies HWST Holy Writing, Sacred Text (Barton) IW “Epistles of Ignatius and the Writings…” (Foster) JaG Jesus and the Gospel (Farmer) JTS Journal of Theological Studies K&K Kostenberger and Kruger LXX Septuagint Mag Magnesians NA27 Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition NT New Testament NTAF New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers NTC New Testament Canon (Gamble) NTITM “The New Testament in the Making” (C.F. Evans) NTOA Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus NTSC “The New Testament in the Second Century” (Hurtado) OCS Orthodox Corruption of Scripture (Ehrman) OT Old Testament Phil Philadelphians Poly Polycarp Rom Romans Smyr Smyrneans STI “Scripture and Tradition in St. Ignatius of Antioch” (Grant) Tign “Study of Ignatius of Antioch in Syria and Asia” (Trevett) TNT in AF “Text of the New Testament in Apostolic Fathers” (Foster) Tral Trallians TTP The Teaching of Peter TU Texte und Untersuchungen WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament Standard abbreviations are used for Biblical books v ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to examine the sources of authority employed by Marcion, Clement of Rome, and Ignatius of Antioch as they navigated competing theologies during the post-Apostolic period of the early Christian church. Combining textual analysis and historical reconstruction, this study draws upon both the extant works of these early writers and the modern treatments of authority in early Christianity, finding that these authors navigated multiple forms of textual and non-textual authority in constructing their theological programs. Determining the function of the specifically Christian writings which now comprise the New Testament in their pre-canonical employment constitutes an important aspect of the current project. This study concludes that these three writers created a hermeneutic for defining and utilizing all potentially useful sources through their appeals to the central authority found in the person and event of Jesus of Nazareth. vi CHAPTER ONE: FRAMING THE DISCERNMENT OF WITNESSES I. Introduction “How do we account for the fact that, by AD 110, there was a large and vigorous international movement, already showing considerable diversity, whose founding myth (in a quite 'neutral' sense) was a story about one Jesus of Nazareth, a figure of the recent past?”1 This study examines a facet of that larger historical project, namely, discerning the sources to which followers of Jesus appealed as useful for understanding the Jesus narrative during the decades spanning the turn of the first to the second century. On one hand, this question may seem somewhat frivolous, as Christians2 have long been ‘people of the book,’ using the Bible as the primary basis for their faith and practice. On the other hand, however, this question suggests a historical problem: that followers of Jesus have long used a collection of written works as the basis for faith despite the fact that Jesus of Nazareth never seems to have written anything.3 Lacking a clear written record from their founder, those following Jesus in the decades after his life were faced with the task of determining which sources could be utilized as the basis of Christian faith and practice. This study examines appeals to textual and non-textual authorities4 found in the writings of Marcion, Clement of Rome, and Ignatius of Antioch. These early Christians, like others navigating questions pertaining to authority within early Christianity, each drew upon a variety of 1 N.T. Wright. Jesus and the Victory of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996. 90. 2 The definition and application of the term ‘Christian’ to the earliest followers of Jesus has commanded a considerable amount of scholarship in recent years (See Andrew S. Jacobs “A Jew’s Jew: Paul and the Early Christian Problem of Jewish Origins.” In The Journal of Religion, 258-286. Volume 86, 2. April 2006.). For the purposes of this study, where the earliest followers of Jesus are concerned, the term ‘Jesus Movement’ is used, designating the connection between the followers of Jesus and Judaism, while maintaining an awareness of the clear and evolving differences. The writers examined in this study are termed ‘Christian.’ This is neither to deny the complexity of the relationship between followers of Jesus and the religion of Israel in the first century nor to advocate a monolithic Christianity (see Karen King. What is Gnosticism? Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003.), but rather offers an operational definition which allows this study to focus on the sources employed by followers of Jesus. 3 F.F. Bruce. The Canon of Scripture. Downers Grove (IL): Intervarsity Press, 1988. 118. 4 This study uses ‘authority’ and ‘authoritative’ interchangeably as references to materials used in determining, adjudicating, or controlling belief and praxis within Christian communities. The current study is not concerned with inherent textual authority (i.e., inspiration), but the use of authoritative sources in early Christianity. 1 sources as they made their claims about Christian faith and practice.5 By their use of these sources, Marcion, Clement, and Ignatius sought to reinforce the veracity of their theologies and provide the basis for their claims about the Christian faith. In other words, this study considers the ways in which these early Christians developed criteria of authentic authority, and how they utilized various sources in their writings as they sought to defend and define Christian faith. The ultimate conclusion is that Marcion, Clement, and Ignatius each created a hermeneutic for defining and utilizing extant sources of authority that emphasized the central paramount authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. II. Methodology Examining sources of authority in early Christianity raises a number of methodological concerns which must be addressed before turning to the writings of Marcion, Clement, and Ignatius. Broadly speaking, the overarching methodological principles of this study have been shaped by socio-historical studies of the ancient Mediterranean cultures during the era of the Roman Empire, the reasoned eclecticism of textual criticism, and a historically and theologically informed study of early Christianity.6 This section considers the overarching context of early Christian writings7 and the problem of citation before offering nine methodological considerations for this study.
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