The Gnostic Apocalypses

doi:10.1017/9781108394994.004

4 - The Gnostic Apocalypses

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2020

Dylan M. Burns

Edited by

Colin McAllister

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Colin McAllister: Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

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Summary

This chapter surveys the body of ancient Gnostic apocalypses, works that differentiate God from the creator of the world and identify humanity as divine. These apocalypses are important for our understanding of Greek, Jewish, Coptic, and Manichaean literature, as well as early Islam, but a brief look at two such apocalypses—the Apocryphon of John and the Apocalypse of Paul—reminds us that their use of visionary motifs and pseudepigraphy also served diverse ends in the world of early Christianity.

Keywords

Nag Hammadi codices revelation dialogue Valentinian reception history

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Companion to Apocalyptic Literature , pp. 59 - 78

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108394994.004 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2020

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References

Selected Further Reading

Attridge, Harold W. “Valentinian and Sethian Apocalyptic Traditions.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 8, no. 2 (2000): 173–211.CrossRef Google Scholar

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Burns, Dylan M. Apocalypse of the Alien God: Platonism and the Exile of Sethian Gnosticism. Divinations. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.Google Scholar

Collins, John J. “Introduction: Towards the Morphology of a Genre.” In “Apocalypse: The Morphology of a Genre.” Edited by Collins, John J.. Special issue, Semeia 14 (1979): 1–19.Google Scholar

Frankfurter, David. “The Legacy of Jewish Apocalypses in Early Christianity: Regional Trajectories.” In The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity, 129–200. Edited by VanderKam, James C. and Adler, William. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1996.CrossRef Google Scholar

Hartenstein, Judith. Die zweite Lehre: Erscheinungen des Auferstandenen als Rahmenerzählungen frühchristlicher Dialoge. Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 146. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2000.Google Scholar

Kaler, Michael. Flora Tells a Story: The Apocalypse of Paul and Its Contexts. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008.Google Scholar

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Reeves, John C. Heralds of That Good Realm: Syro-Mesopotamian Gnosis and Jewish Traditions. Leiden: Brill, 1996.Google Scholar

Wurst, Gregor. “Apokalypsen in den Nag Hammadi-Codices.” In Die Nag-Hammadi-Schriften in der Literatur- und Theologiegeschichte des frühen Christentums, 69–78. Edited by Schröter, Jens and Schwarz, Konrad. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017.Google Scholar