Allert, Craig D. (2001) Revelation, truth, canon and interpretation: studies in Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Access from the University of Nottingham repository: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11370/1/391541.pdf Copyright and reuse: The Nottingham ePrints service makes this work by researchers of the University of Nottingham available open access under the following conditions. · Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. · To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in Nottingham ePrints has been checked for eligibility before being made available. · Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not- for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. · Quotations or similar reproductions must be sufficiently acknowledged. Please see our full end user licence at: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/end_user_agreement.pdf A note on versions: The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. For more information, please contact [email protected] "Revelation, Truth, Canon, and Interrpretation: Studies in Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Twho" By Craig D. Allert Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, May 2001 UN1i!Jic RSITY LIBRARY NOTTINGHAM Table of Contents Table of Contents ii-lv Abstract v-vi Abbreviations vii-ix Introduction 1-40 1. Revelation,Truth, Canon,and Interpretation 2 A. Revelation 5 B. Truth II C. Canon 15 1. Who is the intendedaudience of the Dialogue? 18 2. How much importanceshould be attributedto Marcion in NT canon formation? 21 3. Did Justin employ a harmony? 23 4. Is the singular/pluralof euayyiXtov significant? 23 5. Does Justin reversethe trend of placing Apostolic Writings on par with the prophets? 25 D. Interpretation 28 11. The Life of Justin 31 A. Justin's Autobiography 32 1. Birth 32 2. Life 32 B. Justin's Biography 33 1. Birth 33 2. Life 33 3. Death 34 Ill. The Writings of Justin 36 IV. The Dialogue with Trypho 37 A. Date 37 B. Text 39 Chapter 1: The Concept of Revelation in Dialogue with Trypho 41-107 Introduction 41 [I. Background-Epistemology 45 A. Platonic Epistemology 46 1. "Becoming" 48 2. "Being" 50 3. Plato's Allegory of the Cave 51 B. Justin's Platonic Epistemology 53 C. Toward a Christian Epistemology 55 D. Concluding Remarkson Epistemology 57 III. Background-Theology Proper 58 A. Common Staring Point? 58 1. Justin's Conceptof God 60 a. Pre-Conversion 60 b. Post-Conversion 61 2. Trypho's Judaism 66 3. ApophaticTheology 69 B. Knowledgeof God and Revelation 73 IV. Witnessesto Revelation 74 A. The Prophets 74 B. Memoirs of the Apostles 82 V. The Logos as Revelation 86 VI. Salvation 96 A. Creation 100 B. Fall and Sin 101 C. Redemption 103 VII. Summaryand Conclusion 105 Chapter 2: The Concept of Truth In Dialogue With Trypho 108-182 1. Truth in its SecondCentury Context 108 A. Truth in HebrewThought 109 B. Truth in PlatonicThought 110 1. The Divided Line 110 2. The Simile of the Sun 113 3. Platonic Truth 115 C. Truth in New TestamentThought 116 11. Dialogue as a Searchfor Truth 118 A. Ancient Near Eastern Dialogues 118 B. Pre-Socraticand Socratic Dialogues 119 C. Platonic Dialogues 120 111. Justin's Dialogue and the Genreof Dialogue 123 A. Similarity to Platonic Dialogue 123 B. DivergenceFrom Platonic Dialogue 123 IV. Philosophyas a Searchfor Truth 125 A. Justin's Post-ConversionView of Philosophy 125 1. Ethical Behavior 126 2. Diversification of Philosophy 127 a. Primordial Philosophy 129 b. Primordial Philosophy in Justin Martyr 130 c. The Writings of Moses (Prophets) 133 d. Logos 133 e. KaTaTrig TW 135 B. Justin's Pre-ConversionView of Philosophy 136 C. The Spirit 142 V. Justin's Presentationof Truth 145 A. The Argument from Prophecy 146 1. The Prophetsand Jesus 146 2. The Argument Proper 149 3. The Interpretationof Eventsand Truth 154 B. Jesus as the New Covenant or Law 160 1. The Problemof the Old Law 162 a. Old Law Inadequatein Motive 163 b. Old Law Inadequatein Content 164 c. Old Law Inadequatein Effect 164 2. Necessityof a New Law 164 3. Supremacyof the New Law 165 C. Jesusas the Logosof God 168 1. God 169 2. The Logos as God's Mode of Expression 170 3. The Logos and John's Gospel 171 4. Distinction Betweenthe Logosand the Father 174 5. Generationof the Logos 176 6. The Logosand the Will of the Father 176 VI. Summaryand Conclusion 178 Chapter 3: The New Testament Canon and the Dialogue with Trypho 183-221 I. The drroµvrlµovdliaTa 184 A. Authorship, Reliability and Content 184 1. Written Documents 184 2. The Memoirs and the Argument From Prophecy 185 3. The Memoirs and Psalm22 187 a. Generation 187 b. Birth 187 c. Life 188 d. Crucifixion 188 C. Resurrection 189 B. Identification of the Memoirs 189 C. Non-ReferencedMaterial in the Dialogue 191 D. Sourceof the Non-ReferencedMaterial 193 Ii. The New TestamentCanon 201 A. The Rule of Faith 202 1. Irenaeusand the Rule of Faith 203 2. Tertullianand the Ruleof Faith 205 3. The Rule of Faith and Canon 206 B. Scriptureand Canon 210 C. Rule of Faith, Scripture,and Canon in the Second Century 214 Ill. Justin's Memoirs and the New Testament"Canon" 215 A. Apostolic Writings as Scripture 216 B. The Implications of Justin's Use of a Harmony 218 IV. Summaryand Conclusion 219 Chapter 4: Interpretational Foundations in the Dialogue with Trypho 222-259 I. Introduction 222 it. Foundationsfor Interpretation 224 A. Two Laws 225 1. New CovenantForetold 226 2. Old Law for JewsOnly 227 3. Justification of Patriarchs 228 4. Spiritual Obedience 229 a. PerpetualSabbath 231 b. UnleavenedBread 232 c. Fastingand Circumcision 232 d. Lasting Precepts 232 B. Two Advents 233 1. The Problemof a Suffering Messiah 234 IV 2. The Predictionof a Suffering Messiah 235 3. Examplesof a Suffering Messiah 238 4. Recapitulationof the Curse 240 5. Subjugationof the First Advent 242 111. Baptism, Illumination, and Interpretation 244 A. Baptism 250 B. Illumination or Enlightenment 252 C. Interpretation 255 IV. Evaluationof Justin's OT Interpretation 256 Appendix I: Gospel Quotations and Allusions Found in the Dialogue 260-271 1. Passagescontained in the Gospelor Memoirs 260 II. Passagessaid to be words or commandsof Jesus 263 III. Passageswith no indication of source 266 Appendix II: Purpose and Destination of the Dialogue with Trypleo 272-300 I. PaganDestination 273 A. The Addressto Marcus Pompeius 273 B. The PhilosophicalPrologue 276 C. The Use of the Hebrew Scriptures 279 D. Appeals to Gentiles 282 1. Dialogue 23.3 282 2. Dialogue 24.3 and 29.1 283 3. Dialogue 32.5 285 4. Dialogue 64.2 286 5. Dialogue119.4 286 E. The LiteraryForm of the Dialogue 287 F. Other Argumentsfor a PaganReadership 288 1. MisconceptionsAbout Christianity 288 2. The Theme of Forgiveness 289 3. The Historical Context of the Dialogue 290 4. Tertullian's AdversusJudaeos 291 II. Christian Destination 292 A. The Addressto Gentiles in 24.3 and 29.1 292 B. The Liturgical Styling of 24.3 and 29.1 292 C. Justin's Portrayalof Jews 292 D. Criticism's of Cosgrove'sPosition 293 III. Other Argumentsfor a Jewish Audience 296 A. Jewish-Christian Polemics 296 B. Eschatalogical Remnant of Jews 298 1. Dialogue 32.2 298 2. Dialogue 55.3 299 3. Dialogue 64.2-3 299 IV. Conclusion 300 Bibliography 301-325 Abstract Revelation,Truth, Canon,and Interpretationare four fundamentalissues in pre-NiceneChristianity. This dissertationseeks to examinethese in Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho. The INTRODUCTION indicatesthe impetusfor this investigationand reviews the pertinent secondarysources and their contributionsto theseissues. A review of Justin's life and his extant writings is also included. CHAPTER ONE examinesJustin's conceptof Revelation.Justin's conversion to Christianity is placed in the context of his Middle Platonism.From this context we learn that, as a philosopher,Justin's primary goal was knowledgeof God. The case Justin builds throughoutthe Dialogue is that the true philosophy,the incarnateLogos, is witnessedto only in the Prophetsand the Apostles.The incarnateLogos is seenas the culmination in God's plan for salvationand is thus revelation. CHAPTER TWO examinesJustin's conceptof truth. From the genrethat Justin chose and his understanding of the attainment of truth as the goal of a philosopher, we see that Justin saw truth as located in the Logos. Justin is differentiated from the Hebrew and the Platonic concepts of truth and continues the line of argument established in the NT writers. Truth is fulfilled and found in Jesus Christ, through his pre-existence and his incarnation. CHAPTER THREE examinesJustin's conceptof canon.Justin did not conceive of a closedcollection of Christian writings. While his referencesto Memoirs are important, they should not be seenas implying a closed collection of Christian writings. Concernsabout this belongto an age later than Justin's. CHAPTER FOUR highlights the foundationsupon which Justin interpreted the Hebrew scriptures.The determiningfactor here is the new Covenantwhich was vi Christ himself. Becauseof Christ, the old Law has becomeobsolete and a new Law has replacedit. This is why the Jew and the Christian can usethe samescripture yet end up with differing interpretations.