Second Epistle of Clement

The Second Epistle of Clement is a witness of scripture of early Christianity. The designation as a letter is misleading, the text is " more of a template to a sermon read aloud ," because it is not addressed, and concludes with an "Amen ."

Dating and author

The second Epistle of Clement is, among other things of interest, since it contains a number of quotations of early Christian texts that are otherwise unknown. He quotes several passages from the New Testament ( Gospels, Paul's letters ), but apparently also the first Epistle of Clement. For example, originate ( by Clement of Alexandria ) some of the quotes in the 12th chapter of the apocryphal and lost Greek Gospel of the Egyptians. The letter must therefore have originated before the four canonical Gospels were generally accepted as the only Gospels. The dating is carried out by means of indirect evidence, since the text contains no references to historically datable events. The treated in the letter issues are considered theology of the middle of the second century before Gnostic currents occurred in the church. Accordingly, formation of the letter in the years 120-170 AD is assumed. " Since neither Paul nor are known written Gospels, ...", Berger / North " keep was built around 75 AD. possible. "

The author of the letter is unknown. The term " Second Epistle of Clement " may thus come that the church tradition Clement of Rome attributed to two letters. Apart from the fact that the text makes no reference to an author, authorship of Clement is now also excluded due to the writing style that differs from respected as genuine first Epistle of Clement. Similarly, the origin is unknown.

Content

In the center is the exhortation to repentance. It is repeated the öftern.

Criticism

The text is in two important Greek manuscripts (Codex Hierosolymitanus, Codex Alexandrinus ) narrated, in which he immediately follows the first Epistle of Clement. There is also a Syrian source. Eusebius of Caesarea is the first to mention the letter in his "Ecclesiastical History ". He thinks he is " less important than the first Epistle of Clement ," because he is not used by the Church Fathers (ie quotes ) will.