stephan huller

I have read over and over by various critics that there is no precedent for the idea of a 'secret gospel.' Of course no one seems to mind when Irenaeus introduces a gospel of four. That's our inherited tradition so it can't be contrived. But is the concept of an (openly) revealed gospel and a 'hidden gospel' really without precident?

The concept might not show up in the writings of the Catholic Church Fathers but that would be expected. Anyone who openly acknowledged another 'system' would be deemed to have 'fallen into heresy.'

If Christianity derived ultimately from Judaism there is an uncanny precedent in the Jewish writings and still preserved in the rabbinic literature - the juxtaposition between Moses' 'received Torah' and the 'hidden Torah' (torat HaNistar) or 'secret Torah' which stayed in heaven.

I just thought about this today. It is central concept in Zionism but it goes back much further. Let's start with the best known near contemporary reference of Nahman of Bratzlav (Ukraine, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries):

Love that seeks no return was the quality with which he sustained the world before the Torah was given, and it was this very love that was hidden in Eretz Yisrael. It was the hidden Torah, for the Land of Israel and the Torah are one and the same thing. Then, when Israel received the Torah, and came to Erez Israel, they were able to continue in the revelation of holiness, and to lift hidden holiness into the open. And so, even though later on they offended the holiness that had been made apparent, and were lax in the fulfillment of the Torah, they could still long endure in Eretz Israel, because of the strength of that love which seeks no return, and because of the love that was hidden in the land even when it was still in the hands of the Canaanites. That is why we are always waiting to return to our land, for we know that in secret it is ours.
The idea is central to the writings of the thirteenth century Kabbalist Abraham Abulafia who argues that this text contradicts the structure of the revealed text (see Idel).

I don't want to get too deeply into this concept but the idea was already present in the earliest rabbinic sources - in the report that in the first and second century there were 'two Torahs' in Israel. Here is a summary of the concept that might prove enlightening to some:

the "Hidden Torah," was given at Sinai together with Torat HaNigleh i.e. the Written and Oral Torah. Whereas the Revealed Torah is to be taught in public, the Hidden Torah is not. Citing the verse "like honey and milk, it lies under your tongue" (Shir HaShirim 4:11), the Talmud expounds: "Matters sweeter than honey and milk [ie, mysticism] should remain under your tongue [not discussed]. The Mishnah in Chagigah restricts the dissemination of Kabbalah.59 It is to be taught secretly and only to those uniquely qualified. According to the Kabbalist R. Moshe Cordovero, students must be married, at least twenty years old (or forty according to other opinions) ... [those instructed] were called 'knowers of secret wisdom." During the Talmudic and Geonic periods, anyone who improperly revealed the secrets of Kabbalah was subject to excommunication (cherem).
http://books.google.com/books?id=P9G...one%22&f=false

I can go on to develop the idea that this wasn't just a collection of oral teachings but in fact a 'secret book.' The place of the Zohar in the Sephardic tradition is clearly related to the tradition of the 'secret Torah' - indeed the Zohar is explicitly referenced as the Torat HaNistar http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/...baryochai.html

One other point that I have been working on at my blog. The traditional title for people who specialized in this type of learning were called Anshei Chochmas HaNistar, "men of the hidden wisdom," commonly abbreviated as Anshei HaChein (chein = 'grace'). This is the exact same term i.e. 'hidden wisdom' that the apostle uses to differentiate what was given 'to the perfect' from the simple message of 'Christ crucified' given in an earlier period.