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  • From: John Lupia <JLupia2 AT excite.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: The Dutch Radical Approach to the Pauline Epistles
  • Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 11:44:22 -0700 (PDT)


As for the palaeographic evidence for an early date of P46 to c. AD 85 see
Kim's article in Biblica, as I have already posted this reference.

Jurgens (1970) has given the dating of c. AD 80 to 1 Clement based on
internal evidence in chapter 64 wherein are cited the names of the two
emissaries: Claudius Ephebus and Valerius Vito. Accordingly, these two man
were manumitted from Claudius' household no later than c. AD 54 and AD 48
respectively. Since Roman law prohibited the manumission of slaves until at
least the age of thirty then Claudius Ephebus (whose name implies he was at
least twenty according to the Athenian manner of expressing legal age) could
not have been born later than AD 24, and Valerius Vito not after AD 18.
That the onomastica of Claudius "Ephebus" emphasizes his "legal age" shows a
strong association to his "legal manumission". Jurgens' dating of this
epistle to c. AD 80 is a very sound historical approach to the dating. In
this case Claudius Ephebus was at least 56 years old and Valerius Vito at
least 62 years old in AD 80. The calamities referred to in 1 Clement would
then signify the aftermath of the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79
which left a trail of disasters including fires and pestilence spreading
over a 200 mile radius and imperiled passage from Rome to Corinth. Moreover
the martyrdom of SS. Peter and Paul are reported as recent events compelling
a date closer to AD 80 than any proposed later date (cf. W. A. Jurgens, The
Faith of the Early Fathers (Collegeville: MN, 1970) 6-7). As for the
epistles of St. Ignatius (see Jurgens, ibid. 17) their authenticity had been
amply demonstrated by J. B. Lightfoot, Adolph von Harnack, Theodore Zahn,
and F. X. Funk which had given them universal acceptance. St. Polycarp's
epistles to the Philippians are also shown to be authentic and are what we
should expect to find in St. Polycarp's association to St. Ignatius (see
Jurgens, ibid. 28-29). Moreover, the details found in all of these letters
would hardly have made sense to have been invented by Marcionites in the 2nd
century. An important weakness of the arguments against the authenticity of
these epistles is focused around the question as to why Marcion or any of
his following would put details, for example, regarding Claudius Ephebus and
Valerius Vito in a fraudulent or Ersatz epistle when this information could
hardly have been available to him (or them) in the second century to pull
off such an elaborate deception, or by any later Catholic redactors for that
matter? See also Bauer who asserts the authenticity of these two epistle
messengers in Orthodoxy and heresy in the Earliest Christianity (Walter
Bauer, (Tübingen, 1934; English trans., Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1971)
), posted online by one of the English translators: Robert A. Kraft,
professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Resources/Bauer/bauer06.htm

See also Peter Lampe, From Paul to Valentinus (Fortress Press, English
translation by Michael Steinhauser, 1987). For reviews see:

http://www.reviewcopy.com/fortpress/13_reviews.html




Cordially in Christ,
John
<><

John N. Lupia
501 North Avenue B-1
Elizabeth, New Jersey 07208-1731 USA
JLupia2 AT excite.com
<>< ~~~ <>< ~~~ <>< ~~~ ><> ~~~ ><> ~~~ ><>
"during this important time, as the eve of the new millennium approaches . .
. unity among all Christians of the various confessions will increase until
they reach full communion." John Paul II, Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 16





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