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Conflicting Versions of Valentinian Eschatology: Irenaeus' Treatise vs. the Excerpts from Theodotus*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Elaine H. Pagels
Elaine H. Pagels
Affiliation:
Barnard CollegeNew York, N.Y. 10027
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Extract

For more than a hundred years the Excerpts from Theodotus (especially 42–65) and Irenaeus' Treatise have served as primary sources of Valentinian eschatology. Since Dibelius' article appeared in 1908, discussion of Valentinian eschatology has followed his premise that these two sources contain essentially the same teaching, and may be derived from a common source. Dibelius makes this claim on the basis of observable parallels of terminology and structure between the two passages.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 67 , Issue 1 , January 1974 , pp. 35 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1974

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References

1 Henrici, G., Die Valentiniansche Gnosis und die heilige Schrift (Berlin, 1871), 92Google Scholar; C. Barth, Die Interpretation des Neuen Testaments in der Valentinianischen Gnosis (TU 37.3, 1911), 11f.; Casey, R. P., The Excerpta ex Theodoto of Clement of Alexandria (London, 1934), 22–28Google Scholar; Sagnard, F., La Gnose Valentinienne et le Temoignage de Saint Irénée (Paris, 1947), 526–37Google Scholar.

2 Dibelius, O., Studien zur Geschichte der Valentinianer: Die Excerpta ex Theodoto und Irenäus (ZNW, 1908), 230Google Scholar.

3 Foerster, W., Von Valentin zu Heradeon (Giessen, 1928), 77–78, 89–90Google Scholar; Casey, Excerpla, 24–25; Sacnard, Extraits de Théodote (Sources Chrétiennes, 23), 27; Gnose, 413–15.

4 Extraits, 113; Gnose, 302–03: “… l'Église, c'est à dire l'Assemblee idéale des élus, des initiés à la gnose … Le préfixe κ à toute sa force: on est appelé … parmi d'autres, et de préférence à eux, ce qu'indique nettement encore le terme κ-λογ que les Valentiniens emploient aussi.”

5 See, for example, Foerster, 78, 89; Sagnard, Gnose, 387–415; Casey, Excerpta, 20f.

6 Hippol., Ref 5.27: ο πνɛματικοἰ ξντɛς ἄνθρωποι (ed. Wendland, 3.133); CLEM. Al., Strom. 4.89 (ed. Stählin, 2.287).

7 Extraits, 99, n. 4: “semance supérieure (ον pneumatique)”; Casey (Excerpta, 69) also translates here “superior seed.”

8 Excerpta, 133–34; note on Exc. 39–1.

9 Extraits, 143–44, n.5.

10 Cf. Casey (Excerpta, 152, n.2): “This represents a stage where the righteous ψυχικο and the πνɛματικο are together in the Ogdoad. It is the final goal of the former, but only a temporary resting place for the latter, who advance with the Savior and Sophia into the Pleroma.” So also Sacnard (Gnose, 518–19).

11 Excerpta, 126; Extraits, 106–07.

12 Excerpta, 119; Extraits, 121.

13 Schottroff, L., Animae naturaliter salvandae, in Christentum und Gnosis, ed. Eltester, W. (Berlin, 1969), 93Google Scholar.