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  • From: "David C. Hindley" <dhindley AT compuserve.com>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Paul in the Gospels
  • Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 18:39:23 -0400


Robert Brenchley asked:

>>There are, of course, numerous covert references to the First Jewish
War in the NT, but it is not openly referred to. I assume this to be
due to a desire to distance the church from rebellious Jews, or
something along those lines. Does anyone know of any references in
apocryphal material?<<

While I would agree with you that the NT contains several veiled
references to the Jewish war of 66-74, there are many, many, who will
dispute these identifications. Personally, I think the war is the only
historical event near the time of Jesus/Paul which would have produced
psychological trauma severe enough to cause people to radically change
their theology in the direction of proto orthodox Christianity.

I have elsewhere noted the parallel development of "Jewish" Gnosticism
in this same time period. In that case, it was Jews who turned from
their traditional theology and reidentified themselves with a
radically different means of looking at the world and the nature of
salvation. A good reference is _Gnosticism, Judaism, and Egyptian
Christianity_ (Birger A. Pearson, Fortress, 1990)

The thesis that Gnosticism developed out of disappointed apocalyptic
hopes after the destruction of Jerusalem was advanced, and later
abandoned, by R. M. Grant, _Gnosticism and Early Christianity_
(Columbuia Univ. Press, 1959, and Harper & Row, 1966, respectively).
He originally proposed that this event itself was decisive in the
development of Gnosticism in general, and this is the form of the
thesis that was ultimately abandoned. The war would have had little
impact on "Pagan" Gnostic development. That it played some role in
*Jewish* Gnostic development is what Pearson thinks was the case.
Jewish Gnosticism also could not have occurred without the influence
of middle Platonic concepts and related salvation myths. The
controversy, IMHO, has to do with the *degree* to which Jewish Gnostic
movements represented Gnosticism in general.

Regards,

Dave Hindley
Cleveland, Ohio, USA






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