Apocryphon of James
The Apocryphon of James or Secret Book of James (Latin: Epistula Jacobi, " Epistle of James ", symbol: EpJak ) is a pseudepigraphe writing from the 2nd century and part of the writings of Nag Hammadi (NHC I, 2). Is passed a secret doctrine ( Apocryphon ) to have James and Peter received after Jesus' resurrection and before his ascension. From the genre wise, it is a mixture of letters, dialogue and vision report.
An important issue is the need to accept suffering as inevitable. The two main characters, James and Peter suggest that Scripture originated in a Jewish- Christian community. It shows no dependence on canonical texts. Presumably it was written between the middle and end of the 2nd century. The Apocryphon has a certain proximity to the Gnosis, but can not be attributed to a certain Gnostic direction. Some scholars argue that it is to count the Gnosis.
Origin, dating
The text is preserved in a single manuscript from the fourth century. It is found in the second part of the so-called Codex Jung, the first of thirteen codices of the Nag Hammadi ( NHC = I). The manuscript is damaged, but no line is completely lost, so that the text with some certainty can be reconstructed. The Coptic text is probably a translation from the Greek, but the author claims to have written it in Hebrew. A writing after 313, ie after the Constantinian turn seems unlikely because of the references to persecution and martyrdom. Other clues in the text indicate a transcript in the 2nd century, possibly in the first half. Kirchner holds a drafting font already towards the end of the 1st century possible.
Content
The text is designed as the Epistle of James, which is aimed at a single person whose name appears in the manuscript, however, is illegible. The author describes Jesus as he comments on various sayings and answers questions. This happens 550 days after the resurrection, but before His ascension. James and Peter received secret instructions, but finally understands only James, what has happened; is indirectly hinted that Peter had missed the cause of Christ.
Jesus teaches in unusual and seemingly contradictory sentences, he also tells short parables. He invites Peter and James in the Kingdom of God, but because they can be distracted from the issues of the other apostles, they miss their chance. It then describes how James sends out the twelve apostles. This would be - that James was originally the followers of Jesus as the leader of the movement - as in other apocryphal texts.
Assumptions concerning the textual history
The short- end content frame letter should be from the rest of the text independently. According to some researchers view, this suggests that the Apocryphon is a result of the editorial joining several separate texts. The frame - letter refers to a previous " secret gospel" that would be lost accordingly. Within the Apocryphon discussions of martyrdom and prophecy also appear to be independent of each other, indicating that the main part of the document originally goes back to a text that was composed of short sayings. Discussed is still whether the closest parallels to the New Testament are part of the final editing of the Apocryphon or part of his sources.
Relationship to the canonical texts
Many scholars see the sayings as gnostic colored, primarily because their statements do not comply with the Orthodox understanding of the canonical Scriptures. In addition, the manuscript was in the midst of a collection found clear and explicit Gnostic writings at Nag Hammadi. The text used Gnostic terminology such as the "fullness " as a means to salvation. The teachings of the Apocryphon however agree with safety not match the Valentinianism or other developed Gnostic cosmologies. Therefore, the Apocryphon is not counted usually the really Gnostic texts.
Numerous sayings give the impression to be the common property with the canonical Gospels. In this document, the amounts paid are other sayings: " It was enough for some people to draw attention to the lessons and words such as, the shepherds ', ' the seed ', the building ', the lamps of the virgins ', the wages of the workers ', who Doppeldrachme ' and ' the woman ' to understand '.
The remuneration for the redemption and salvation by " the cross " seem to show familiarity with the letters of the apostle Paul, or at least with his teachings.
In the introduction, however, provides: " And 550 days after he rose from the dead, we said to him: ...". This is considerably longer than the 40 days mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. This difference could accept some that the material of the Apocryphon was transmitted orally and that the community which it wrote that Luke -Acts (Gospel and Acts ) either rejected or did not know. On the other hand, Irenaeus of Lyons was in his work Adversus haereses a period of 18 months between the resurrection and ascension, and Irenaeus was certainly familiar with Luke's two-volume work. Some researchers posit that the oldest version of the Apocryphon of the canonical Gospels was independent, but that an unknown redactor took note of the Gospels with respect to the canonical works and allusions einarbeitete in the Apocryphon.