4 - Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions 1.27–71

Summary

Introduction

In the last chapter, we saw that Luke-Acts contains a view of the nations rooted in Genesis 9–11, particularly as mediated through the Book of Jubilees. In Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions 1.27–71, we find additional evidence for this argument. For the Pseudo-Clementine text is probably the earliest extensive commentary on Luke-Acts, and it contains a similar view of the nations rooted in Genesis 9–11, particularly as mediated through the Book of Jubilees. Some of these comparisons have already been noted in Chapter 3. In the following, we shall examine Rec. 1.27–71 in its own right. Then, we will attempt to draw further comparisons between the Pseudo-Clementine text and Luke-Acts.

Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions 1.27–71

The Pseudo-Clementines have attracted considerable attention as a source for the development of Christianity in general and Jewish Christianity in particular. Ever since the Tübingen School in the nineteenth century, many attempts have been made to unravel the literary complexities of the Ps.-Clementines and to get back to the supposed Jewish–Christian source material. Within the Ps.-Clementine Recognitions, 1.27–71 has been isolated as a Jewish–Christian source, which can possibly be dated to ca. 100–15 CE, somewhere in the traditional land of Israel.

Arnold Stötzel dates the source between 70 and 135 CE, because it expects a future return to the Land. Against this suggestion, Jones argues that Rec. 1.27–71 employs Hegesippus' work (written ca. 173–90 CE) and seems to presuppose the edict of Hadrian (Rec. 1.39.3). Hence, Jones himself dates the composition to about 200 CE.[…]