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The Origin of Sin in Irenaeus and Jewish Apocalyptic Literature

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The Origin of Sin in Irenaeus and Jewish Apocalyptic Literature JEIiISH THE ORTGIN OF SIN n{ IRINAEUS A]O APOC/r'LYPT IC LITffi'ATURE \ JEWISH THE ORIGIN OF SIN IN IRENAEUS AND A?OCALYPT IC LITM.ATURE By DONALD ROBFRT SCHULTZ, A.8., M'A' A. Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial- Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of PhilosoPhY Mcllaster UnlversitY November , 7.972 DOCTOR OF PHTLoSoPHY (L972) McMASTffi. UNWffi.S;TY (Religion) Il,amilton, Ontaric: TITLE: The Origin of Sin in Irenaeus and Jewish Apocalyptrc Literature AUTHOR: Donald Robert Schultz, A.B. (Gonzaga University) Lic. Phi1. (Gonzaga Universiry) M.A. TheoL. (Santa CLara Universr; M.A. Rel. Sc. Q{cMaster Univers-i.., SUPRVISOR: professor E. p. Sanders NSMBER 0F pAGES3 ix, 1-96 SCOPE AND COMENTS: The thesis contends that lrenaeus depended direccly and lndirec;iy on an earlier Jewish traditl0n both for hls interpretation of New Testament texts and for the finaL formulatlon of his own ideas on sl-n and its origin. Thls earlier Jewish tradition is substantial-ly availabie to us ttApocrypha pseudepigrapha Ln the and of the old rescament,,. rrenae,.,s drew on these writings as a hermeneutical key to the sense of Bibl:-*a:. texts. For him. the Old Testament Apocrypha belonged co the Bibiical canon, but the thesis rnainly focuses on pseudepigraphal materiai wh-:i even from Irenaeust standpoint was non-Biblical. The motifs rrom this literature which shaped his thinking about si.n and i.rs origin were apocalyptic. The lines of argument, establishing the chesis are various. i;\e two principal lines turn, respectively, on (a) lrenaeust explicit use o. notifs peculiar pseudipgraphal to texts, and (b) the impiici.t use of s...j,c;. motifs ln interpreting canonical Biblical passages. Thus, the thesis ls essenti.ally a study ln the history of ideas. There ie, however, a third, supportive line of argument which belongs to literary critlcism as such: There are a few lnstances in which it appears llkely that there is a direct llterary relat.lonship between lrenaeus and one of the pseudepigrapha. The proof must remain tentatlve, slnce ln even the best cases only Latin translations of Irenaeus and the pseudepi- graphal writing are available, although rrenaeus wrote in Greek and probably read the pseudepigrapha in a Greek version. rn these j-n- stances, however, lt is possible at least to compare Latin translation wlth Latin t,ranslation in noting the verbal and other similarities. rn other instances, in which the pseudepigraphal text belng compared is extant only syrlac, Ethiopic, or slavonic, or in which rrenaeugl wrltlng ls extant only in Armenian, the Engllsh translations are used. (n general, standard Engllsh translations of both lrenaeus and his pseudepigraphal sources are used in the thesis, in accord with the nature of its princlpal purposes and arguments.) The thesis does not airn at providirrg new view of the meaning " of sin in the theology of lrenaeus, although the role of sin j.n lrenaeus' thought is necessarily analyzed in the course of the thesis. The most recent sehoJ-arly treatments of Irenaeus I doctrine of recapitulation and of the place and signifLcance of Satan, Adam, and sin in that doctrine are seen to be accurate and satisfactory, although correetion may be possible on one or two individual points. The intention of the thesis, however, is only to identify the sources of Irenaeusr various statements about the origin of sin rather than to offer a new interpretation of tt-t- Irenaeusr theology. Though the thesis expllcitly concludes only to Irenaeust depen dence on the pseudeplgrapha for his thlnking about sln and i,tg originr, it raises the guestion of how dependent on such sources was the entlre body of patristlc thought whlch culminated ln Augustlnefe formulatlon of "orlglnal sintt. 1v ACIO{OI.ILEDGEMEI.]TS This thesis would not have been atternpted nor compl-eted if it were not for the kindly assistance which I received during three years of graduate study and the following period of research and composition. I am greatl-y indebted to my supervisor, Dr. E. P. Sanders, who has not only directed my dissertation but has introduced me into the vast area of study out of which this thesis comes. His influence upon this work and my future study will always be recognized and appreciated. An atmosphere which leads to serious and fruitful study is a nec.essary cc;rrd.i-tion of graduate work. I am thankful for such an atmospher:e r"'hich was created by a1-1 my teachers, advisors, and colleagues. Parti- cularly, do I appreciate the great contribution of Dr. George P. Grant vho is not onl-y aninentl-y qualified in the field of educati-on, but also fuas superlative capabilities to advise and encourage students toroard academie goals. l-urther needs that one has in a university are of a different order, and to the Ontario provincial- govermrent and Mcllaster University I am most grateful. Without the.ir financial assistance in the form of scholarships and teaching fellowships graduate study would have been im- possibl-e. Even with t.his generous aid, it was necessary f or me and my faurily to depend upon the beneficent Largess of Willian Shannon Parrish to p::orride needed frrnds and encouragement that I nnight complete what I had begun. There are also clerical and editorial needs that one has in the endeavor of a thesis. Such work does not seem to have the natural rewards which are afforded an author and therefore should be granted deserving recogniti.on. Among the many persons who have given me thls needed assis- tance, I single out Elaine Jones, Susan PhilJ-ips, and Richard Mulvaney to be recipients of my most grateful appreciation. Final-l-y, I must give thanks to a very loving wife who has endured, during the past six years, many hardships on my account and for my sake. V1 TABLE OF COMENTS Page INTRODUCTION. I. HISTORY OF SIN AND ITS ORIGIN ..... I 1 Sin in the Ol-d Testanent - Pre-Exilic Period.... b<il-ic Period 9 Post-kiiic Period 10 Theories of the Origin of Sin in the Inter-testamental Period" 13 The Watcher Theory ..... L4 The Watchers and the De1uge.... 22 The Adam Theory. 25 The Fa11 Developrnent. 33 The Yetzer Theory. 36 Summary. u/ Sin and its Origin in the Nevr Testament.. ...a. 46 The Source of lrenaeusts Thought on Sin and its Origin. 54 II. SIN AND RECAPIT'UT,ATION. 60 II1. UA].TED AND SINFUL ADAM .. .. .. 70 Adamts Creation in the lmage and Likeness.. ......70 Adam in Bondage.. .. '79 Recapitulation. '... 84 The Relationship between Adamfs Sin and its Effects ...90 Irenaeus and St. Paul- ,'. .95 Corporate Sin "in Adam" --.--7C2 Irenaeus and Apocalyptic on the "Pain of the Stroke'r . .. 106 The Skil-l of God and Individual- Responsibitity il lrenaeus and 2 Baruch. ...... 109 Exalted and Glorious Adam. ..113 Evets Cu1-pabil-ity in Trenaeus and Apocalyptie Writings .... f18 rV. SATAN AND HIS ANGELS ...T24 The Apostasy of the Ange.ls.... ... L24 The Means of Apostasy and j-ts Ef f ects... ... L?-9 Irenaeusts Use of Apocalyptic "Seven Heavensr'. ..I32 frenaeus and the Apocalyptic Chain of Apostasy. .. , . .. L37 tUnlawful Unions" and "Giants" in Irenaeus and Apocai-yptic Literature"" """141 I Enoch and Irenaeus on Evil Teachings ..... f45 Irenaeusrs Apccalyptic Cause for the Deluge. .... f48 T, Enoch and Irenaeus on the "!'ires of He11".... ...... 152 vl-a Page II THE TUSION OI' THE ?ARADISE NARMTIVE AND THE ANGELIC FALL STORY..TSZ The Tusion.... L57 The Instrumentality of the Serpent in lrenaeus and Apocalyptic Literature...... LOL Irenaeusts Apocal-yptie Cause (Eavy) for Satants Fal1 "'f66 VI. CONCLUSION.... 17I APPFIDIX I.... L76 APPENDIX II... 185 BIBLIOGRAPHY.. 787 Sources. ]-87 Books. 189 794 Periodicals. vl_a.l- ABBR.EVTATIONS A. H. Adversus Haereses CD The Damascus Document (Qumran Scroll) CBQ Catholic Biblical QuarterlY ch. (plural-, chs. or cc.) chaPter Dia1. Dialogue with Trypho n:i;EF UIILU Dictionnaire de tir6ofogie Catholique iTIR Harvard Theological Review HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual Ido-c Information Docr.unentation on the Conciliar Church Irenaeus Hitchcock, Irenaeus of Lugdunurn (see BibLiography) JTS Journal of Theological- Studies LTTA Hitchcock, "Loqfrs Theory of Theophil-us of Antioch as a source of Irenaeus" (see BibLiography) .LfI Robbin Scroggs, The Last Adam (see Bibliography) llrn Nouvell-e revue gh6ologique NTS New Testament Studies pref. preface IJO( Septuagint IQH The Thanksgiving Psalms (Qurnran $croll) TQM The War Scrol-L (Qunran ScroLl) IQS The Manual- of Discipline (Qurnran Scrol-l-) REG Revue des Etudes grecques RHPR Revue dtHistoire et de Philosophie religieuse I'Romans Rom Robbin Scroggs, VI, 7" (see Bibliography) RSR Recherches de Science Religieuse RSPhTh Revue des sciences philosophiques et thdologiques RSV Revtsed Standard Version of the Oxford Annotated Bible with the-,rlpocrygha (s.. ffi SC Sources Clretienne Schul-betrieb hI. Bousset, Judisch - Christlicher Schulbetrieb in Al-exandria und Rom SCM student ffiPress SJT Scottish Journal of Theology SPCK Society for Promoting Christian Ihowledge Test. Testament of Benj Benj anin Iss. " Issachar Jos. Joseph Jud. Judah Naph. Naphtali Reub. Reuben Zeb. Zcbul-un ,,;bLZ- TheoLogische Litcraturzeitung tr.; trana. translacor; translatcd by; translation ZIC Zeicschrift ftir Katholische Theologie ZThK Zeitschrift fur Theolocie und Kirche Zeitechrift frir wissenlchafliche Theologle 1x INTRODUCTION Drawing upon Jewish heritage and faced with doctrinai and philo- sophical problons of its day, the Christian Church formulated a doctrine called "original sint'. From a cerlaiJr perspective, the formation of this doctrfure appears as a gradual proce-ss extending from the earliest days of Israel-ite histor)' to the fourth century A.D., when Augustine f inall-y [email protected] pages the 01d Testament into this doctrjne ar:e found in the earliest of ' but these elements were not moulded into a ftrll-blor,m doctrile until Augustine rvrote his Ad Simpl-icitatem.
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