A Companion to Second-Century Christian “Heretics” Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae Formerly Philosophia Patrum

A Companion to Second-Century Christian “Heretics” Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae Formerly Philosophia Patrum Texts and Studies of Early Christian Life and Language Editor J. den Boeft – J. van Oort – W.L. Petersen D.T. Runia – C. Scholten – J.C.M. van Winden VOLUME 76 A Companion to Second-Century Christian “Heretics” Edited by Antti Marjanen & Petri Luomanen BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2005 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A companion to second-century Christian “heretics” / edited by Antti Marjanen & Petri Luomanen. p. cm.—(Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, ISSN 0920-623; v. 76) Including bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 90-04-14464-1 (alk. paper) 1. Heresies, Christian. 2. Heretics, Christian—Biography. 3. Church history—Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600. I. Marjanen, Antti. II. Luomanen, Petri, 1961-. III. Series. BT1319.C65 2005 273'.1—dc22 2005047091 ISSN 0920-623X ISBN 90 04 14464 1 © Copyright 2005 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill Academic Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands CONTENTS Preface .......................................................................................... vii Introduction .................................................................................... ix Basilides the Gnostic .................................................................. 1 Birger A. Pearson Sethianism .................................................................................. 32 Michael A. Williams The School of Valentinus ........................................................ 64 Ismo Dunderberg Marcion ...................................................................................... 100 Heikki Räisänen Tatian the Assyrian .................................................................... 125 William L. Petersen Bardaisan of Edessa .................................................................. 159 Nicola Denzey Montanism: Egalitarian Ecstatic “New Prophecy” .................. 185 Antti Marjanen Cerinthus .................................................................................... 213 Matti Myllykoski Ebionites ...................................................................................... 247 Sakari Häkkinen Nazarenes .................................................................................... 279 Petri Luomanen Jewish Christianity of the Pseudo-Clementines ............................ 315 F. Stanley Jones vi contents Elchasaites and Their Book ...................................................... 335 Gerard P. Luttikhuizen Notes on Contributors ...................................................................... 365 Index of Modern Authors ................................................................ 369 General Index ................................................................................ 374 PREFACE The idea for this publication sprang from an afternoon coffee break in the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Helsinki. At the table were members of two research groups of the Department: Early Jewish Christianity and Myth and Social Reality in Gnostic and Related Documents. Both groups work with texts traditionally considered more- or-less heretical. As we chatted together, somehow, rather sponta- neously, the idea of a volume focusing on the “other side” of second-century Christianity materialized. It would examine the documents and groups and persons that had been marginalized and denounced as heretical by the emerging “Great Church.” After twenty minutes of discussion (and several cups of coffee) a plan was developed to fill an obvious lacuna in current research on the develop- ment of early Christianity. A volume was envisioned that would provide an up-to-date description of the most important second- century “heresies” and these movements’ leading figures. Although it took several years to convert these plans into reality, the volume in hand suggests that coffee breaks can serve several useful purposes simultaneously. Although some of the members of the two Finnish research groups (supplemented with Prof. Heikki Räisänen, the leader of their “umbrella organization,” the Research Unit for the Formation of Early Jewish and Christian Ideology) were already working on some of the topics addressed in the chapters that follow, other topics required reaching outside Finland. We were delighted with the positive responses we received from our foreign colleagues, all experts in their fields, who shared our interest in illuminating the other side of second-century Christianity. We wish to thank them, for this publication would never have seen the light of day without their investment of time and expertise. Special thanks go to Prof. William L. Petersen (Penn State University), one of the editors of the Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae series, who not only wrote a contribution to the present volume but who also read the entire manuscript carefully and made helpful suggestions on both content and language. We also want to express our gratitude to Louise Schouten, Senior Acquisitions Editor of Brill Academic Publishers, and Ivo Romein, viii preface Editor of Brill Academic Publishers, for their help and support in all stages of the editorial process. The responsibility of revising the English of the Finnish contributors was painstakingly borne by Margot Stout Whiting and Gary Denning. During the time the present volume was under preparation, many of the Finnish contributors of this volume were employed, either for the entire period or in most cases for part of it, by the Academy of Finland and by the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies of the University of Helsinki. These institutions also provided us with technical assistance which has greatly relieved the burden on the editors: Thanks are due to research assistants Perttu Nikander (funded by the Academy of Finland) and Sanna Ingo (Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies) for their help in technical editing. Editors INTRODUCTION This collection of essays deals with persons and movements traditionally characterized as heretical. However, as the quotation marks in the title of this volume suggest, the intention is not to map the second-century religious terrain from the viewpoint of the form of Christianity that became dominant and developed into the early Catholic Church. Instead, the idea is to investigate “the other side,” by examining the thinkers and movements that were, at the time, embraced by many second-century religious seekers as legitimate forms of Christianity, but which are now largely forgotten, or are known only from the characteristics attributed to them in the writings of their main adversaries. The task is not easy since much of the crucial firsthand evidence is lost or, at best, waits to be found somewhere in secluded caves, ancient dumping grounds, or in unlisted holdings of papyri. This means that the researcher must try to glean reliable information from the church fathers’ polemical writings, their biased descriptions of their adversaries’ teaching, and assess it in light of what can be known of these persons’ own productions. The problem is that the material for comparison is often extremely scanty. As a matter of fact, Tatian is the only figure in this volume from whom a complete work exists. Even in his case, the work that has survived is not the one that he is most famous for, the Diatessaron, but Oratio ad graecos, an apologetic treatise that later served the interest of the Church in Rome very well. Bardaisan’s thoughts have to be gleaned from the Book of the Laws of the Countries which was com- posed by one of his students, Philippus. Some fragments of Basilides’, Marcion’s, Valentinus’, and the Montanists’ own works have survived in the writings of their adversaries, but no overall picture of their views can be painted on the basis of these fragments alone. Cerinthus’ ideas can also be reconstructed only from the polemical, inconsistent, and contradictory writings of the church fathers. If he ever wrote any treatises, no references to his writings have been pre- served, apart from rumors which attribute the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation to him. Although a scholar who aims at a historical-critical reconstruction of the original ideas and teachings x introduction of “heretics” like these faces difficulties, the task is by no means impossible. The chapters in this book show that after a careful assess- ment of the source materials, some distinctive ideas of these alter- native second-century Christian movements can be delineated. The articles in the present collection have been arranged in three partially overlapping thematic clusters: (1) Gnostics, (2) Teachers in the West and in the East, and (3) Jewish Christians. We have also chosen to present teachers and movements that can more squarely be fixed in history before those whose historical character

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