The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles (NHC VI,1), despite its brevity, is a remarkably diverse document, drawing from an array of sources and themes, and displaying a broad spectrum of literary genres and Christological interpretations. The pearl’s theological-literary motif potentially finds its roots in a Syriac context, whereas the final compilation of the work is seemingly associated with the region of Alexandria. A comparative analysis with Clement of Alexandria’s Paidagōgos highlights striking similarities between the two texts, particularly in the depiction of the apostolic ministry, bestowed by Jesus to the apostles, to serve as “healers of bodies and souls” of the faithful. Additional evidence in Clement’s other works indicates parallels between the Christian’s journey towards gnosis and the allegorical-spiritual voyage undertaken by the apostles in the Acts. A potential correlation can be identified between the angelological and ascetic motifs present in Clement’s works and those in the Acts. Further exploration of vernacular themes from Alexandria to Upper Egypt and Nubia reveals considerable influences from popular magic and Greco-Coptic piety. The final version of the work seems to weave Clementine theological motifs into a popular framework, merging these foundational themes with the broader cultural milieu.

This paper offers an investigation into the Gǝʿǝz (Classical Ethiopic) version of the shorter ending of the Gospel of Mark. After a short introduction of the different endings in the various manuscript and linguistic traditions of the Gospel of Mark, we present a new edition of the conclusio brevior (or shorter ending) on the basis of newly discovered fourteenth- and fifteenth-century manuscripts. Then we shall attempt to unveil, through a careful comparison with the other ancient versions, the origin of the Gǝʿǝz shorter ending, suggesting a whole new theory on the subject. Indeed, we surmise that the Gǝʿǝz shorter ending was translated on a Sahidic Coptic Vorlage between the seventh and thirteenth centuries, when Ethiopia and Egypt forged renewed and strengthened relationships.

Feldman, Ariel, Cioată, Maria, Hempel, Charlotte (éd.), Is There a Text in This Cave?: Studies in the Textuality of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Honour of George J. Brooke (Xavier Lafontaine) Gore-Jones, Lydia, When Judaism Lost the Temple : Crisis and Response in 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch (Xavier Lafontaine) Orlov, Andrei A., Yetzer Anthropologies in the Apocalypse of Abraham (Gavin McDowell) Schirr, Lennart H., Die Gemeinde als kosmische Größe : Eine Untersuchung zum Selbstverständnis der paulinischen Gemeinde im Diskurs antiker Kosmologien (Boris Paschke) Cirafesi, Wally V., John within Judaism: Religion, Ethnicity, and the Shaping of Jesus-Oriented Jewishness in the Fourth Gospel (Boris Paschke) Porter, Stanley E., et Yoon, David I. (éd.), Paul and Gnosis (Mariano Troiano) Frey, Jörg, Kunath, Friederike et Schröter, Jens (Hrsg.), unter Mitwirkung von Ruben A. Bühner, Perspektiven zur Präexistenz im Frühjudentum und frühen Christentum (Boris Paschke) Tefera, Amsalu et Stuckenbruck, Loren T. (éd.), Representations of Angelic Beings in Early Jewish and in Christian Traditions (Gavin McDowell) Frey, Jörg, Clivaz, Claire et Nicklas, Tobias (éd.), en collaboration avec Jörg Röder, Between Canonical and Apocryphal Texts : Processes of Reception, Rewriting, and Interpretation in Early Judaism and Early Christianity (Pierluigi Piovanelli) Zervos, George Themelis, The Protevangelium of James. Greek Text, English Translation, Critical Introduction: Volume 1; The Protevangelium of James. Critical Questions of the Text and Full Collations of the Greek Manuscripts: Volume 2 (Paul-Hubert Poirier) Schwarz, Konrad, Gleichnisse und Parabeln Jesu im Thomasevangelium. Untersuchungen zu ihrer Form, Funktion und Bedeutung (Stephanie Janz) Miroshnikov, Ivan, The Gospel of Thomas and Plato, A Study of the Impact of Platonism on the “Fifth Gospel” (Jean-Daniel Dubois) Nicklas, Tobias, Studien zum Petrusevangelium (Eric Junod) Johnston, Steve, Du créateur biblique au démiurge gnostique. Trajectoire et réception du motif du blasphème de l’archonte (Mariano Troiano) Crégheur, Éric, Les « Deux Livres de Iéou » (Ms Bruce 96, 1-3). Les livres du grand discours mystérique – Le livre des connaissances du Dieu invisible – Fragment sur le passage de l’âme. Textes établis, traduits et présentés par Éric Crégheur (Anna Van den Kerchove) Mimouni, Simon Claude, Les baptistes du codex manichéen de Cologne sont-ils des elchasaïtes ? (Anna Van den Kerchove) Towers, Susanna, Constructions of Gender in Late Antique Manichaean Cosmological Narrative (Anna Van den Kerchove) Zieme, Peter, Uigurorum veterum fragmenta minora (Damien Labadie) Illert, Martin, Presbyter Kozma, Gegen die Bogomilen. Orthodoxie und Häresie auf dem mittelalterlichen Balkan (Alexey Morozov) Guldentops, Guy, Laes, Christian et Partoens, Gert (eds), Felici Curiositate: Studies in Latin Literature and Textual Criticism from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century in Honour of Rita Beyers (Nicholas Paxton)

This article provides the editio princeps of the two parchment leaves housed at the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris - viz., Copte 12918 fol. 88 and Copte 12918 fol. 160 - which belong res...

Chapters 12 to 16 of the Acts of Pilate form a coherent textual entity organised around the figure of Joseph of Arimathea, who is imprisoned by the Jews and miraculously liberated by the resurrected Jesus. This “story of Joseph of Arimathea”, attested also in other ancient texts, is almost independent of the first part of the apocryphal work. It is presented, initially, from the point of view of the Jews, but later elaborated through three eye-witness accounts : by the guards who report on the resurrection, by the three rabbis who testify to the ascension, and by Joseph himself, who relates his release from prison. The indications of time given in the Greek manuscripts as well as in the Eastern and Latin versions project an inconsistent chronology of events : although numerous, they do not allow to establish unambiguous temporal relationships among Joseph’s imprisonment, Jesus’ resurrection, and Joseph’s liberation. This chronological incoherence may be as much an echo of ancient arguments about the exact moment of the resurrection, as it is evidence of the special place given to Joseph as the first witness of the risen Jesus. In his final speech, Joseph narrates his encounter with Jesus as a baptismal scene in which he, like a second Noah, is the righteous one and the first beneficiary of the New Covenant.

This edition is designed as a tribute and as a complement to the irreplaceable work of Oscar von Gebhardt, Passio s. Theclae virginis. Die lateinischen Übersetzungen der Acta Pauli et Theclae (1902). It is the result of a new research on the Latin tradition of the Acts of Paul and Thecla (APThe) and intends to increase the accuracy of the apparatus of the Greek text edited by Willy Rordorf and Jean-Daniel Kaestli (to be published in the Corpus christianorum, Series apocryphorum). Two texts are edited, translated and annotated on facing pages. The left page contains a new edition of version A of the Latin APThe, based on three manuscripts : A = Paris, BnF, 5306, fourteenth cent. ; B = Toulouse, Bibl. municipale, 479, fourteenth cent ; Du = Dublin, Trinity College, 174, eleventh cent. For his edition, Gebhardt used A and B, which have been copied from the same model, but Du was hitherto unknown. The right page is devoted to a quasi-diplomatic edition and translation of the Dublin manuscript, which is characterised by largely rewritten passages alternating with passages remaining very close to the original text. The new evidence supplied by Du allows improving in several ways the text edited by Gebhardt as « Übersetzung A ». Du preserves some passages omitted by A B (see in particular chapters 5 and 43) ; it often reflects the original text of latA more accurately than A B ; it contains traces of it even in totally rewritten chapters ; it helps arbitrate between A and B and identify the secondary readings of one or the other. But the Dublin MS is of great interest not only as a valuable witness of version latA, but also as a very original rewriting of the same version. This rewriting presents several noteworthy characteristics. Beside the already mentioned alternation of rewritten and unchanged passages – whose logic is sometimes difficult to grasp – three features are standing out ; (1) direct speech is frequently, but non systematically, changed into indirect speech, with the result that the text is amplified, and not abbreviated as it is normally the case (cf. Monique Goullet, Écriture et réécriture hagiographiques, Turnhout 2005, p. 165) ; (2) the rewriter aims at enhancing the style of the source text ; (3) he strives to anchor the text in the Biblical world, as it happens with hagiographical rewritings of the Carolingian period (cf. M. Goullet, op. cit., p. 35).

The very inclusion of the Shepherd of Hermas in the literary genre of apocalyptic has been disputed many times over, due in part to the prominence in its text of non-apocalyptic, largely moral material. This paper offers a survey of the apocalyptic features of this writing and then approaches the less apocalyptic material in the Shepherd, usually omitted from such enquiries. The proposal will be put forward that, even beyond its apocalyptic frame, further apocalyptic features are embedded in the moral material in Hermas, including a so-called “interiorized apocalyptic” sui generis. On the whole, the Shepherd offers an instructive example of how the purpose of an early Christian work can modify its genre.