Description
Book SynopsisApocryphal traditions, often shared by Jews and Christians, have played a significant role in the history of both religions. The 26 essays in this volume examine regional and linguistic developments in Ethiopia, Egypt, Syria, Armenia, the Balkans, and Italy. Dissenting groups, such as the Samaritans, followers of John the Baptist, and mediæval dualists are also discussed. Furthermore, the book looks at interactions of Judaism and Christianity with the religions of Iran. Seldom verified or authorized, and frequently rejected by Churches, apocryphal texts had their own process of development, undergoing significant transformations. The book shows how apocryphal accounts could become a medium of literary and artistic elaboration and mythological creativity. Local adaptations of Biblical stories indicate that copyists, authors and artists conceived of themselves as living not in a post-Biblical era, but in direct continuity with Biblical personages.
Table of ContentsPreface List of Figures and Tables Notes on Contributors Introduction Part 1 Esoteric Writing and Esoteric Cults in the Biblical Religions 1 The Exoteric Settings of Jewish Esotericism Ithamar Gruenwald 2 The Gospel of Peter between the Synoptics, Second Century, and Late Antique ‘Apostolic Memoirs’ Tobias Nicklas 3 All Mysteries Revealed? On the Interplay between Hiding and Revealing and the Dangers of Heavenly Journeys according to the Ascension of Isaiah Joseph Verheyden 4 Early Christianity and the Pagan Mysteries: Esoteric Knowledge? Jan N. Bremmer 5 The Medieval Dualist Nachleben of Early Jewish and Christian Esoteric Traditions: The Role of the Pseudepigrapha Yuri Stoyanov 6 The Esoteric Cardinal: Giorgios Gemistos, Bessarion and Theurgy Ezio Albrile Part 2 Bridging the Account of the Origins and the Messiah’s Advent 7 La création d’ Adam à Noravank̔: Théologie et narrativité Jean-Pierre Mahé 8 Translatio corporis Adæ: Trajectories of a Parabiblical Tradition Sergey Minov 9 Apostles, Long Dead ‘Heretics’, and Monks: Noncanonical Traditions on Angels and Protoplasts in Two Late Antique Coptic Apocalypses (7th–8th Century CE) Daniele Tripaldi 10 Face as the Image of God in the Jewish Pseudepigrapha Andrei A. Orlov 11 On the Perdition of the Higher Intellect and on the Image of Light: Critical Edition, Translation, and Commentary Maria V. Korogodina and Basil Lourié 12 Bridging the Gaps in the Samaritan Tradition Abraham Tal 13 ‘On the Mountains of Ararat’: Noah’s Ark and the Sacred Topography of Armenia Nazénie Garibian 14 The Historian’s Craft and Temporal Bridges in Apocrypha and in Early Christian Art: Para-Biblical Sources in the Light of the Work of Marc Bloch Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev Part 3 Symbols and Figures of the Messianic Expectation 15 Quellen der nichtbiblischen Mose-Überlieferung in der Kratkaja Chronografičeskaja Paleja Dieter Fahl and Sabine Fahl 16 Whether Lamb or Lion: Overlapping Metaphors in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism Abraham Terian 17 Rescuing John the Baptist Albert I. Baumgarten 18 The Esoteric Legacy of the Magi of Bethlehem in the Framework of the Iranian Speculations about Jesus, Zoroaster and His Three Posthumous Sons Antonio Panaino 19 Visual Apocrypha: The Case of Mary and the Magi in Early Christian Rome Felicity Harley 20 Gnostic and Mithraic Themes in Sefer Zerubbabel Yishai Kiel Part 4 Angels, Heavenly Journeys and Visions of Paradise 21 1 Enoch 17 in the Geneva Papyrus 187 David Hamidović 22 Enochic Traditions in Slavia Orthodoxa Florentina Badalanova Geller 23 Visions of Paradise in the Life of St Andrew the Fool and the Legacy of the Jewish Pseudepigrapha in Byzantium Emmanouela Grypeou 24 Eternal Chains and the Mountain of Darkness: The Fallen Angels in the Incantation Bowls Yakir Paz 25 Iconography of Angels: Roots and Origins in the Earliest Christian Art Cecilia Proverbio 26 The Gardens of Eden: Compositional, Iconographic and Semantic Similarities between the ‘Birds Mosaic’ of the Armenian Chapel in Jerusalem and the Mosaic of the Synagogue at Maʿon (Nirim) Zaruhi Hakobyan Postscript: Border-Crossing Texts Hartmut Leppin Index
