Citation for published version (APA): Bremmer, J. N. (1996). The Apocryphal Acts of Paul And Thecla. (2 ed.) Kampen: Kok Pharos Publishers.

Transcription

1 University of Groningen The Apocryphal Acts of Paul And Thecla Bremmer, Jan IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 1996 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Bremmer, J. N. (1996). The Apocryphal Acts of Paul And Thecla. (2 ed.) Kampen: Kok Pharos Publishers. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date:

2 Preface After the fall of the Berlin Wall the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen decided to intensify contacts with universities in Eastern Europe. In 1991 the then Head of the Department of Church History, Professor Hans Roldanus, took this opportunity to forge links with the Karoli Gaspar University of Budapest. In the search for a common research project, which would also prove to be attractive to classicists working at the Lorant-Eotvos University of Budapest, it was decided to focus on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. This particular choice hardly needs to be defended. The world of early Christianity is currently the recipient of an ever increasing attention from New Testament and patristic scholars, as well as from ancient historians. Various Apocryphal Acts have recently been re-edited or are in the process of being re-edited, but the contents of these Acts are still very much under-researched. It is the object of the Dutch-Hungarian cooperation to study the major Apocryphal Acts in a series of yearly conferences, of which the proceedings are published in the series, Studies in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. The editors envisage in principle publishing five volumes, but they are open to further suggestions. Whereas the first volume of the new series contained the fruits of the conference on the Acts of John (1995), the present study centres on the Acts of Paul. The first chapters analyse various persons or passages of the Acts: the description of Paul, Queen Tryphaena, Thecla, the baptized lion, the Corinthian correspondence and the martyrdom of Paul. There follow then some analyses of different aspects: the relation of the Acts of Paul to the Western text of the Acts of Luke, the resurrection of the dead and

3 11 PREFACE the problem of the New Testament parallels. Thirdly, two studies discuss the still largely unexplored reception of the Acts: its use by Tertullian and the Church Fathers. A final contribution examines the Acts from a certain distance, viz. as one example of the application of narrative techniques of the Old Testament to the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. The volume is rounded off by a bibliography and an index. The conference which formed the starting-point of this book took place at the KBroli Ghsphr University of Budapest in the autumn of Our 'theological' colleagues and the classicists of the Lorhnt-Eotvos University made our stay in Hungary a most memorable event through their warm hospitality. During our discussions we greatly profited from the presence of Willy Rordorf, whose new edition of the Acts of Paul is eagerly awaited. For their share in the success of the conference we would also like to thank the then Dean JBnos Phsztor, Bishop Lorhnt Hegediis, Phl NCmeth, who gave an illuminating talk about a contemporary Thecla monastery in Syria. We are also grateful to the Faculty of Theology and Science of Religion of the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen for its financial support towards the conference. Tjalling de Vries of the Computer Department of the Faculty of Arts readily prepared the camera-ready copy of this book. Stijn ten Hoeve, Alasdair MacDonald, Janneke Wayer and, especially, Pieter Lalleman assisted in various ways. Without their generous help it would have been impossible to prepare this volume in such an efficient manner. Jan N. Bremmer Groningen, I October 1996

4 Notes on Contributors Tamais Adamik b. 1937, is Professor of Latin at the Lorlnt- Eotvos University of Budapest. He is the author of the following studies in Hungarian: A Commentary on Catullus (1971), Martial and His Poetry (1 979), Aristotle 's Rhetoric (1982), Jerome 's Selected Works (1991), A History of Roman Literature I-IV ( ). He is also the editor of a new Hungarian translation of The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles (1996). JBnos BolMk b. 1944, is Associate Professor of Latin at the Lorhnt-Eotvos University of Budapest. He is the author of the following studies in Hungarian: Firmicus Maternus: Astrology. The Error of Pagan Religions (1984), co-author of A Commentary on Vergil's Aeneid I-VI (1988) and Philo of Alexandria: The Life of Moses (1995). JBnos Bolyki b , is Professor of New Testament Studies at the Khroli Ghsphr University of Budapest. He is, in Hungarian, the author of The Questions of the Sciences in the History of Theology in the 20th Century (1970), Faith and Science (1989), Principles and Methods of New Testament Interpretation (1990) and The Table Fellowships of Jesus (1992), and co-author of Codex D in the Book of Acts (1995) Jan N. Bremmer b. 1944, is Professor of History and Science of Religion at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. He is the author of The Early Greek Concept of the Soul (1983) and Greek Religion (1994), co-author of Roman Myth and Mythography (1987), editor

5 iv CONTRIBUTORS of Interpretations of Greek Mythology (1987), From Sappho to de Sade: Moments in the History of Sexuality (1989) and The Apocryphal Acts of John (1995), and co-editor of A Cultural History of Gesture (1991), Between Poverty and the Pyre. Moments in the history of widowhood (1995) and A Cultural History of Humour (1997). Istvin Czachesz b. 1968, teaches Biblical Studies at the School for Diaconal Workers in Budapest and prepares a dissertation on the Books of Acts at the Kiroli Gaspar University of Budapest. He is, in Hungarian, the author of Gaia's Two Faces (1996) and coauthor of Codex D in the Book of Acts (1995). Pi1 Herczeg b. 1939, is Professor of History of Religion at the Karoli Gaspk University. He is the author of the following studies in Hungarian: The History of the New Testament (1979), The Plot of the Theology of the New Testament (1986), "Do you understand what you are reading?" (1990) and History of Religions (1993). A. Hilhorst b. 1938, is Associate Professor of Early Christian Literature and New Testament Studies at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. He is the author of Skmitismes et latinismes duns le Pasteur dlhermas (1976) and co-author of Apocalypse of Paul: a new critical edition of three long Latin versions (1996), editor of De heiligenverering in de eerste eeuwen van het Christendom (1 988), and co-editor of Fructus Centesimus. Me'langes G.JM Bartelink (1 989), The Scriptures and the Scrolls. Studies A.S. van der Woude (1992), Early Christian Poety (1993) and Evangelie en beschaving. Studies Hans Roldanus (1 995). Istvin Karasszon b. 1955, is Professor of Old Testament Studies at the Karoli Gaspar University of Budapest. He is the author of the following studies in Hungarian: The Methodology of Old Testament Interpretation (1 99 l), The History of Ancient Israel (1992) and Religion in Ancient Israel (1995).

6 CONTRIBUTORS V Pieter J. Lalleman b. 1960, is Research Associate at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and prepares a dissertation on the Acts of John. Magda Misset-van de Weg b. 1943, is Research Associate at the Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht and prepares a dissertation on women as models of faith in I Peter and the Acts of Thecla. Gerard Luttikhuizen b. 1940, is Professor of Early Christian Literature and New Testament Studies at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. He is the author of The Revelation of Elchasai (1985) and Gnostische Geschriften I (1 986). Monika Pesthy b. 1954, is Research Fellow at the Center of Jewish Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. She is the author of the following study in Hungarian: Origen and the Prophets (1995).

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8 List of abbreviations AAA ANR W Bremmer, AAJ CIL JAC JTS NTA PG PL RAC RE SEG TRE TWNT VigChris ZNW ZPE Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles Aufitieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt Jan N. Bremmer (ed), The Apocryphal Acts of John (Kampen, 1995) Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Jahrbuch fir Antike und Christentum Journal of Theological Studies W. Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha, tr. and ed. R. McL. Wilson, 2 vols (Cambridge, 1992) Patrologia Graeca Patrologia Latina Reallexikon fir Antike und Christentum Realencyclopadie des classischen Altertumswissenschafr Supplementum Epigraphicurn Graecum Theologische Realenzyklop adie Theologisches Worterbuch zum Neuen Testament Vigiliae Christianae Zeitschrifr fir die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft Zeitschrzj? firr Papyrologie und Epigraphik All translations, if not otherwise indicated, are from NTA I1 (by K. Schaferdiek).