Freethought & Rationalism Archive

DCHindley · 09-11-2011, 12:24 PM

I posted this on Crosstalk2 in 2002:

Quote:

In Birger A. Pearson's Gnosticism, Judaism, and Egyptian Christianity (or via: amazon.co.uk), there is a chapter on "Anti-Heretical Warnings in Codex IX from Nag Hammadi" (pp. 183-193) but these all appear to be directed at other Gnostic groups or to adherents of more orthodox Christian practices and teachings. I cannot find anything directed at the Jewish people or Judaeans. If they were disposed to mock their opponents, the irony of the Creator God of the Jews allowing or causing the punishment of his own favored people would have been an ideal weapon.

Pearson says:

"What is of special interest ... is the hermeneutical principal at work in the Gnostic synthesis. This hermeneutical principal can be described as one of revolt. In the Gnostic reinterpretation the God of Israel, the God of history and creation, is demonized ... Inasmuch as the Gnostic synthesis reflects the use and reinterpretation of Jewish scripture and tradition, it is apparent that the Gnostic phenomenon itself originates in a Jewish environment as an expression of alienation from ("orthodox") Judaism. As a result a new religion, which can no longer be called "Jewish," is born." <pp. 37-38>

"probably the most important feature of Gnostic speculation on Seth is the idea that Gnostics constitute a special race of Seth." <pg. 68>

"Given the massive Jewish influence discoverable in Gnostic texts, how does one interpret the Gnostics' attitude vis-a-vis their roots? It is obviously not enough to speak of "Jewish Gnosticism," [not the type of Jewish mysticism that Gershom Scholem called by this name] for once the Gnostic hermeneutical shift has occurred one can no longer recognize the resultant point of view as Jewish. One finds, instead, an essentially non-Jewish, indeed anti-Jewish, attitude ... Concomitantly, one finds reflected in the Gnostic texts a radically new self understanding, expressed, to be sure, in many different ways." <pg 125>

"If the Gnostics are "no longer Jews," who, then, are they? Curiously enough, even their own self-definition turns out to be based to some extent on Jewish traditions!" <pg. 130>

If the Rabbinic condemnations of the Min and Minim in general included Jewish Gnostics, as is very likely, Gnostics must have also been rejected by their ethnic brothers, and subject to similar charges and "persecution" that was meted out to Christians, if only in their own perception. I think R. Travers Herford covers most of the Rabbinic references to the Min and Minum in _Christianity in Talmud and Midrash_ (KTAV, 1975 [1903]). Although Gnostics, like Christians, came to regard themselves an ideological "race," separate from their individual ethnic "races," on the basis of their common religious beliefs (see Denise Kimber Buell, "Rethinking the Relevance of Race for Early Christian Self-Definition," HTR 94:4 (2001), 449-476, which can be found online at their web site), I still do not see angry gloating over the misfortunes of their (former) ethnic brothers, as I feel is the case in the NT, if the authors of the NT books are truly assumed to be (mainly) ethnic Jews. This difference in polemic argues against early Christians being ethnic Jews themselves, as Jewish Gnostics would still be, ethnically, Jews, yet still manage to refrain from such gloating.

So, how then does Pearson see the Jewish influence over the development of Jewish Gnosticism?

"Judaism, as a religion that takes history seriously, and that also has a market tendency in the direction of messianism, provides ipso facto a context in which, given the critical circumstances of history, an attitude of revolt could easily develop. There is a strong case to be made for the view that ancient Gnosticism developed, in large part, from a disappointed messianism, or rather a transmuted messianism.*" <pg. 28>

* "Cf. R. M. Grant's thesis Gnosticism developed out of disappointed apocalyptic hopes after the destruction of Jerusalem, in _Gnosticism and Early Christianity_ (New York: Harper & Row, 1966 [New York: Columbia U.P., 1959]), esp 27ff. His view that the fall of Jerusalem was the decisive historical event out of which Gnosticism arose is surely wrong, and has subsequently been withdrawn, but otherwise his theory has some merit." <pg. 28>

Later, he says:

"... it seems most plausible to conclude that the earliest Gnostics were Jewish intellectuals eager to redefine their own religious self understanding, convinced of the bankruptcy of traditional verities. It is quite possible that an important factor in the development of this Gnostic attitude was a profound sense of the failure of history. This appears to be reflected in the way in which the Gnostic sources depict the foibles and machinations of the Creator.*" <pp. 133-134>

* "Robert M. Grant's well-known theory that Gnosticism arose out of the debris of apocalyptic hopes shattered by the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. has often been criticized, and has subsequently been abandoned by Grant himself; see _Gnosticism and Early Christianity_ (New York: Columbia University Press, 1959) 27-38. The socio-historical factors of the origins of Gnosticism are, nevertheless, worth pursuing, difficult as the task is. Cf. Rudolph, _Gnosis_, 275-94; and his "Forschungsbericht," ThR 36, 1971." <pg. 134>

This I take to mean that he sees the Jewish Gnostic synthesis as a psychological reaction to disappointed messianic hopes. His caution over attributing the destruction of Jerusalem as a cause for the creation of the Gnostic synthesis, it seems, is not so much directed at the idea that the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE influenced Gnostic development, but that it was *the decisive historical event* that did so. Rudolph, for sure, lists a multitude of other influences upon the Gnostic synthesis, such as Jewish apocalyptic and sectarian traditions, wisdom teaching, skepticism, Iranian ideas, Hellenistic ideas including middle Platonism, Egyptian Hermetic teachings, mystery religions, Orphism, tendencies toward individualism, esotericism and spiritualization, Graeco-oriental syncretism, socio-economic factors and forms of social protest, popularity of foreign cults, and religious intellectualism.

However, like some chemical reactions, the creation of a new substance from individual ingredients requires the influence of a catalyst. This is the function I would assign, in the case of early Christian development, to the war of 66-74 CE, especially as it affected Coele-Syria (including Judaea, Samaria, Transjordan and Galilee) and Syria (up through Tyre and Sidon).

In a similar manner, Pearson suggests the following origin for the Hermetic tractate _Poimandres_:

"How do we account for the curious mixture of Jewish piety, Gnosticism, and Hermetic paganism found here in the [Hermetic tractate] _Poimandres_? Is it possible to reconstruct the religious history of this text? To be sure, such a reconstruction would be, at best, tentative and incapable of proof. But I should like to suggest the following scenario: An individual who has been closely associated, perhaps as a proselyte or "God-fearer." with a Jewish community somewhere in Egypt (Alexandria? Hermopolis?) forms a new group devoted to the Egyptian god Hermes-Toth, the "thrice greatest," attracting like-minded followers to the new cult. In the formation of the group, familiar Jewish traditions and worship patterns are remodeled and recast, with the aid of further study of eclectic Greek philosophy and assorted other religious revelations readily available in Roman Egypt. ... Such a process would most likely occur in a historical situation in which Judaism is on the wane, and other religions and philosophies, including native Egyptian ones, are on the rise. A specific point in time and space can be suggested for this development: the aftermath of the Jewish revolt in Egypt against the Emperor Trajan, 115-117 (or 118) C.E. After this revolt Judaism ceased to represent an important religious force in Egypt, and other religions and philosophies filled the breach." <pg. 147>

It is not clear to me whether this is intended to make a differentiation between the origins of the person who wrote this Hermetic tractate (a Jewish convert or converts) and of those who synthesized Jewish Gnosticism as represented by Sethian Gnostic schools (Jewish intellectuals, presumably ethnically Jewish). However, the differences between Pearson's explanations for the Gnostic synthesis and my explanation for the Christian synthesis is that I cannot accept that early Christians were "Jewish" (ethnically, at least, for reasons indicated above and elsewhere).

Besides the different ethnic composition of the groups that synthesized Jewish Gnosticism and early Christianity, I see differences in location (Alexandria or Egypt for Jewish Gnosticism, and possibly Coele-Syria and Syria for early Christianity), each of which had different socio-economic situations, populations, etc.

As a result, I see a somewhat different set of previously existing conditions leading to the synthesis of early Christianity: Gentile associates or converts, rejected (or perceiving themselves to be rejected) by ethnic Jews in reaction to a traumatic social upheaval (the war of 66-74 CE), redefining traditions they had incorporated from their newfound Jewish faith under the influence of other ideas and traditions they were exposed to or had previously participated in, who then (re-)fashioned a new understanding of Jewish prophesy.

DCH

stephan huller · 09-11-2011, 01:09 PM

Maybe the Gnostics weren't allowed to have a history. Maybe they were “encouraged” like the Samaritans and Jews to be a historical especially with respect to the critical period between Jewish revolts

DCHindley · 09-12-2011, 09:21 AM

Oops!

While re-editing an older post on the ethnic strife in the holy land and southern Syria, I accidentally edited out where the passage can be found. It was from a 1981 reprint of Wm Whiston's 1787 English translation of Josephus, Jewish War, Book 2, Chapter 18, sections 1-5 (it's available cheap from Kregal Publishers and others, and free online).

In the newer software (I use BibleWorks v.8), it corresponds to the following sections of the text (numbered according to the sections of the Greek text of the 1890 edition of Benedict Niese, here given in full and without my typos, although the translation is still that of Whiston, from an 1828 reprint edition):

457 Now the people of Caesarea had slain the Jews that were among them on the very same day and hour [when the soldiers were slain], which one would think must have come to pass by the direction of Providence; insomuch that in one hour's time more than twenty thousand Jews were killed, and all Caesarea was emptied of its Jewish inhabitants; for Florus caught such as ran away, and sent them in bonds to the galleys.

458 Upon which stroke that the Jews received at Caesarea, the whole nation was greatly enraged; so they divided themselves into several parties, and laid waste the villages of the Syrians, and their neighbouring cities, Philadelphia, and Sebonitis, and Gerasa, and Pella, and Scythopolis,

459 and after them Gadara, and Hippos; and falling upon Gaulonitis, some cities they destroyed there, and some they set on fire, and then went to Kedasa, belonging to the Tyrians, and to Ptolemais, and to Gaba, and to Caesarea;

460 nor was either Sebaste (Samaria) or Askelon able to oppose the violence with which they were attacked; and when they had burnt these to the ground; they entirely demolished Anthedon and Gaza; many also of the villages that were around everyone of those cities were plundered, and an immense slaughter was made of the men who were caught in them.

461 However, the Syrians were even with the Jews in the multitude of the men whom they slew; for they killed those whom they caught in their cities, and that not only out of the hatred they bare them, as formerly, but to prevent the danger under which they were from them;

462 so that the disorders in all Syria were terrible, and every city was divided into two armies encamped one against another, and the preservation of the one party was in the destruction of the other;

463 so the daytime was spent in shedding of blood, and the night in fear--which was of the two the more terrible; for when the Syrians thought they had ruined the Jews, they had the Judaizers in suspicion also; and as each side did not care to slay those whom they only suspected on the other, so did they greatly fear them when they were mingled with the other, as if they were certainly foreigners.

464 Moreover, greediness of gain was a provocation to kill the opposite party, even to such as had of old appeared very mild and gentle toward them; for they without fear plundered the effects of the slain, and carried off the spoils of those whom they slew to their own houses, as if they had been gained in a set battle; and he was esteemed a man of honour who got the greatest share, as having prevailed over the greatest number of his enemies.

465 It was then common to see cities filled with dead bodies, still lying unburied, and those of old men, mixed with infants, all dead, and scattered about together; women also lay among them, without any covering for their nakedness: you might then see the whole province full of inexpressible calamities, while the dread of still more barbarous practices which were threatened, was everywhere greater than what had been already perpetrated.

466 And thus far the conflict had been between Jews and foreigners; but when they made excursions to Scythopolis, they found Jew that acted as enemies; for as they stood in battle array with those of Scythopolis, and preferred their own safety before their relation to us, they fought against their own countrymen;

467 nay, their alacrity was so very great, that those of Scythopolis suspected them. These were afraid, therefore, lest they should make an assault upon the city in the night time, and to their great misfortune, should thereby make an apology for themselves to their own people for their revolt from them. So they commanded them, that in case they would confirm their agreement, and demonstrate their fidelity to them, who were of a different nation, they should go out of the city, with their families, to a neighbouring grove:

468 and when they had done as they were commanded, without suspecting anything, the people of Scythopolis lay still for the interval of two days, to tempt them to be secure; but on the third night they watched for their opportunity, and cut all their throats, some as they lay unguarded, and some as they lay asleep. The number that was slain was more than thirteen thousand, and then they plundered them of all that they had.

469 It will deserve our history to relate what befell Simon; he was the son of one Saul, a man of reputation among the Jews. This man was distinguished from the rest by the strength of his body and the boldness of his conduct, although he abused them both to the mischievousness of his countrymen;

470 for he came every day and slew a great many of the Jews of Scythopolis, and he frequently put them to flight, and became himself alone the cause of his army's conquering.

471 But a just punishment overtook him for the murders he had committed upon those of the same nation with him; for when the people of Scythopolis threw their javelins at them in the grove, he drew his sword, but did not attack any of the enemy; for he saw that he could do nothing against such a multitude; but he cried out, after a very moving manner, and said--

472 "O you people of Scythopolis, I deservedly suffer for what I have done with relation to you, when I gave you such security of my fidelity to you, by slaying so many of those who were related to me. Therefore we very justly experience the perfidiousness of foreigners, while we acted after a most wicked manner against our own nation. I will therefore die, polluted wretch as I am, by mine own hands; for it is not fit I should die by the hand of our enemies;

473 and let the same action be to me both a punishment for my great crimes, and a testimony of my courage to my commendation, that so no one of our enemies may have it to boast of, that he it was that slew me; and no one may glory over me as I fall."

474 Now when he had said this, he looked around him upon his family with eyes of pity and of rage; (that family consisted of a wife and children, and his aged parents);

475 so, in the first place, he caught his father by his grey hairs, and ran his sword through him; and after him he did the same to his mother, who willingly received it; and after them he did the like to his wife and children, everyone almost offering themselves to his sword, as desirous to prevent being slain by their enemies;

476 so when he had gone over all his family, he stood upon their bodies to be seen by all, and stretching out his right hand, that his action might be observed by all, he sheathed his entire sword into his own bowels. This young man was to be pitied, on account of the strength of his body and the courage of his soul; but since he had assured foreigners of his fidelity [against his own countrymen], he suffered deservedly.

477 Besides this murder at Scythopolis, the other cities rose up against the Jews that were among them: those of Askelon slew two thousand five hundred, and those of Ptolemais, two thousand, and put not a few into bonds;

478 those of Tyre also put a great number to death, but kept a greater number in prison; moreover, those of Hippos and those of Gadara, did the like, while they put to death the boldest of the Jews, but kept those of whom they were afraid in custody; as did the rest of the cities of Syria, according as everyone either hated them or were afraid of them;

479 only the Antiochians, the Sidonians, and Apamians spared those who dwelt with them, and would not endure either to kill any of the Jews or to put them in bonds. And perhaps they spared them, because their own number was so great that they despised their attempts. But I think the greatest part of this favour was owing to their pity of those whom they saw to make no seditions.

480 As for the Gerasens, they did no harm to those who abode with them; and for those who had a mind to go away, they conducted them as far as their borders reached.

If anyone hadn't thought that Josephus was an "eye opener" before, you will after leafing through it.

DCH (on lunch break boss)

09-12-2011, 09:21 AM	#53
DCHindley Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Mondcivitan Republic Posts: 2,550	That citation of Josephus earlier Oops! While re-editing an older post on the ethnic strife in the holy land and southern Syria, I accidentally edited out where the passage can be found. It was from a 1981 reprint of Wm Whiston's 1787 English translation of Josephus, Jewish War, Book 2, Chapter 18, sections 1-5 (it's available cheap from Kregal Publishers and others, and free online). In the newer software (I use BibleWorks v.8), it corresponds to the following sections of the text (numbered according to the sections of the Greek text of the 1890 edition of Benedict Niese, here given in full and without my typos, although the translation is still that of Whiston, from an 1828 reprint edition): 457 Now the people of Caesarea had slain the Jews that were among them on the very same day and hour [when the soldiers were slain], which one would think must have come to pass by the direction of Providence; insomuch that in one hour's time more than twenty thousand Jews were killed, and all Caesarea was emptied of its Jewish inhabitants; for Florus caught such as ran away, and sent them in bonds to the galleys. 458 Upon which stroke that the Jews received at Caesarea, the whole nation was greatly enraged; so they divided themselves into several parties, and laid waste the villages of the Syrians, and their neighbouring cities, Philadelphia, and Sebonitis, and Gerasa, and Pella, and Scythopolis, 459 and after them Gadara, and Hippos; and falling upon Gaulonitis, some cities they destroyed there, and some they set on fire, and then went to Kedasa, belonging to the Tyrians, and to Ptolemais, and to Gaba, and to Caesarea; 460 nor was either Sebaste (Samaria) or Askelon able to oppose the violence with which they were attacked; and when they had burnt these to the ground; they entirely demolished Anthedon and Gaza; many also of the villages that were around everyone of those cities were plundered, and an immense slaughter was made of the men who were caught in them. 461 However, the Syrians were even with the Jews in the multitude of the men whom they slew; for they killed those whom they caught in their cities, and that not only out of the hatred they bare them, as formerly, but to prevent the danger under which they were from them; 462 so that the disorders in all Syria were terrible, and every city was divided into two armies encamped one against another, and the preservation of the one party was in the destruction of the other; 463 so the daytime was spent in shedding of blood, and the night in fear--which was of the two the more terrible; for when the Syrians thought they had ruined the Jews, they had the Judaizers in suspicion also; and as each side did not care to slay those whom they only suspected on the other, so did they greatly fear them when they were mingled with the other, as if they were certainly foreigners. 464 Moreover, greediness of gain was a provocation to kill the opposite party, even to such as had of old appeared very mild and gentle toward them; for they without fear plundered the effects of the slain, and carried off the spoils of those whom they slew to their own houses, as if they had been gained in a set battle; and he was esteemed a man of honour who got the greatest share, as having prevailed over the greatest number of his enemies. 465 It was then common to see cities filled with dead bodies, still lying unburied, and those of old men, mixed with infants, all dead, and scattered about together; women also lay among them, without any covering for their nakedness: you might then see the whole province full of inexpressible calamities, while the dread of still more barbarous practices which were threatened, was everywhere greater than what had been already perpetrated. 466 And thus far the conflict had been between Jews and foreigners; but when they made excursions to Scythopolis, they found Jew that acted as enemies; for as they stood in battle array with those of Scythopolis, and preferred their own safety before their relation to us, they fought against their own countrymen; 467 nay, their alacrity was so very great, that those of Scythopolis suspected them. These were afraid, therefore, lest they should make an assault upon the city in the night time, and to their great misfortune, should thereby make an apology for themselves to their own people for their revolt from them. So they commanded them, that in case they would confirm their agreement, and demonstrate their fidelity to them, who were of a different nation, they should go out of the city, with their families, to a neighbouring grove: 468 and when they had done as they were commanded, without suspecting anything, the people of Scythopolis lay still for the interval of two days, to tempt them to be secure; but on the third night they watched for their opportunity, and cut all their throats, some as they lay unguarded, and some as they lay asleep. The number that was slain was more than thirteen thousand, and then they plundered them of all that they had. 469 It will deserve our history to relate what befell Simon; he was the son of one Saul, a man of reputation among the Jews. This man was distinguished from the rest by the strength of his body and the boldness of his conduct, although he abused them both to the mischievousness of his countrymen; 470 for he came every day and slew a great many of the Jews of Scythopolis, and he frequently put them to flight, and became himself alone the cause of his army's conquering. 471 But a just punishment overtook him for the murders he had committed upon those of the same nation with him; for when the people of Scythopolis threw their javelins at them in the grove, he drew his sword, but did not attack any of the enemy; for he saw that he could do nothing against such a multitude; but he cried out, after a very moving manner, and said-- 472 "O you people of Scythopolis, I deservedly suffer for what I have done with relation to you, when I gave you such security of my fidelity to you, by slaying so many of those who were related to me. Therefore we very justly experience the perfidiousness of foreigners, while we acted after a most wicked manner against our own nation. I will therefore die, polluted wretch as I am, by mine own hands; for it is not fit I should die by the hand of our enemies; 473 and let the same action be to me both a punishment for my great crimes, and a testimony of my courage to my commendation, that so no one of our enemies may have it to boast of, that he it was that slew me; and no one may glory over me as I fall." 474 Now when he had said this, he looked around him upon his family with eyes of pity and of rage; (that family consisted of a wife and children, and his aged parents); 475 so, in the first place, he caught his father by his grey hairs, and ran his sword through him; and after him he did the same to his mother, who willingly received it; and after them he did the like to his wife and children, everyone almost offering themselves to his sword, as desirous to prevent being slain by their enemies; 476 so when he had gone over all his family, he stood upon their bodies to be seen by all, and stretching out his right hand, that his action might be observed by all, he sheathed his entire sword into his own bowels. This young man was to be pitied, on account of the strength of his body and the courage of his soul; but since he had assured foreigners of his fidelity [against his own countrymen], he suffered deservedly. 477 Besides this murder at Scythopolis, the other cities rose up against the Jews that were among them: those of Askelon slew two thousand five hundred, and those of Ptolemais, two thousand, and put not a few into bonds; 478 those of Tyre also put a great number to death, but kept a greater number in prison; moreover, those of Hippos and those of Gadara, did the like, while they put to death the boldest of the Jews, but kept those of whom they were afraid in custody; as did the rest of the cities of Syria, according as everyone either hated them or were afraid of them; 479 only the Antiochians, the Sidonians, and Apamians spared those who dwelt with them, and would not endure either to kill any of the Jews or to put them in bonds. And perhaps they spared them, because their own number was so great that they despised their attempts. But I think the greatest part of this favour was owing to their pity of those whom they saw to make no seditions. 480 As for the Gerasens, they did no harm to those who abode with them; and for those who had a mind to go away, they conducted them as far as their borders reached. If anyone hadn't thought that Josephus was an "eye opener" before, you will after leafing through it. DCH (on lunch break boss)

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09-11-2011, 01:09 PM	#52
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	Maybe the Gnostics weren't allowed to have a history. Maybe they were “encouraged” like the Samaritans and Jews to be a historical especially with respect to the critical period between Jewish revolts

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