gnosis92

Has anyone here read Odes of Solomon?

If you have not, but wish to do so, this site has a complete text,
http://www.misericordia.edu/users/da...homas/odes.htm

Is it Christian or proto-Christian mythicism?

Earl Doherty argues it is proto-Christian, part of the Christ-mythicist stream here
http://home.ca.inter.net/~oblio/supp04.htm


He responds to Charles Charlesworth claim that it is Christian, however, I do not have access to the original Charles Charlesworth interpretative essay.

Doherty writes "But to spray paint them in the colors of the Gospels is a travesty of restoration which effectively buries what glimmer of meaning we might derive from these golden, subtle poems."

While I don't deny that Doherty could be right that it is proto-Christian, I do take issue with some of his conclusions on the grounds that

1- as a "ode" there is no necessary reason for the poet to give concrete gospel-Jesus details, but

what details that are present are "Christian" and not "proto-Christian"

since the Odes alludes to "Virgin" and "Messiah" and "Holy Spirit" "dove descends", the theology of the incarnation, I find it likely that the Odist was alluding to gospel-Jesus events his audience would know.

I base my argument on probability and multi-variate analysis: how many first century Jewish sects would have all of these concepts present in one work, as opposed to the null hypothesis that these details come from or are an allusion to Gospel Jesus?

In otherwords, in opposition to Doherty's conclusion "But to spray paint them in the colors of the Gospels is a travesty of restoration which effectively buries what glimmer of meaning we might derive from these golden, subtle poems" it seems to me that the Odes terminology and references were references by the Odist to Gospel Jesus details.

The term "Lord" seems pretty ambigous since in the Gospels and Pauline epistles, "Lord" refers to Jesus just as it refers to God. In Ode 7, the Odist (it is not clear if it is one author or multiple authors)

states "# For there is a Helper for me, the Lord. He has generously shown Himself to me in His simplicity, because His kindness has diminished His dreadfulness.
# He became like me, that I might receive Him. In form He was considered like me, that I might put Him on.
# And I trembled not when I saw Him, because He was gracious to me.
# Like my nature He became, that I might understand Him. And like my form, that I might not turn away from Him"

This "Lord" "became like me" makes most sense as the idea of Johnine "Word made flesh and dwelt among us".