yamauchi, edwin - pre-christian gnosticism in the nag hammadi texts

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Pre-Christian Gnosticism in the Nag

Hammadi Texts?

One of the most important and controversial issues in Gnostic studies is

the age of Gnost ic ism. W a s it a post -Ch ris t ian heresy? W as i t roughly

contem poraneous wi th the r ise of C hr is t ian i ty? W a s it Chr is t iani ty 's twin , as

someone ha s called i t ? O r wa s i t a fully developed movement preceding

Chris t iani ty and inf luencing i t?

In genera l , German New Tes tament scho la r s , under the in f luence o f

Rudolf Bu l tm ann , have assumed a pre-Chris t ian Gnost icism as the bas is for

thei r in terpre ta t ion of the New Testament . Other scholars such as Char les

H . D odd an d Rober t M . Gr an t have ques tioned the i r heavy re l iance upon

late Mandaean texts to support such a conviction. With the recovery of the

Copt ic Gnost ic texts f rom N ag H am m ad i a num ber of scholars, most notably

Jam es Robinson, have hai led these new mater ia ls as evidence for Bul tman n 's

hypothesis:

Rudolf Bultmann then reinterpreted the New Testament in terms of aninteraction w ith Gnosticism involving appro priation as well as confrontation. . . .One cannot fail to be impressed by the clairvoyance, the constructive power, thelearned intuitions of scholars who, from limited and secondary sources, were ab leto produce working hypotheses that in fact worked so well.'

I t was f rom the works of R ichar d Rei tzenste in , Wilhelm Bousset, and M a rk

Lidz barsk i that B ultm ann dist il led th e classic model of the G nostic redeemer

myth in a famous art icle published in 1925.' As f a r a s B u l t ma n n wa s

concerned the case for the pre -Chr ist ian nat ure of the Gnostic my th had been

already proven, even though the proofs came from texts dated much later

t h a n t h e Ne w T e s t a me n t .

I n m y 1973 book, Pre-Christian Gnosticism, I analysed the Patrist ic ,

Hermet ic , I r an ian , Syr iac , Copt ic , Manda ic , and Jewish mate r ia l s which

have been used to support the thesis that Gnosticism developed prior to

1. James M . Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library in English (N ew York, 1977), hereafterNHL, pp. 24-25.

2. Rudolf Bultrnann, "Die Bedeutung der neuerschlossenen rnandaischen und rnanichaischenQuellen fiir das VerstPndnis des Johannesevangeliurns," Zeitschrift fiir die neutestament-

liche Wissenschaft 24 (1925): 100-145. For a critique of the works of Reitzenstein and

Bousset, see Carsten Colpe, Die religionsgeschichtliche Schule (Gottingen, 1961).

Mr. Yamauchi is professor of ancient history in Miami University, Oxford,

Ohio



C H U R C H H I S T O R Y

Chr i s t i an i ty . I noted a series of methodological fallacies in the use of the

evidence: 1 ) the use of late sou rces; 2) the a s sumpt ion th a t Gnos t ici sm can be

detec ted by e lements wh ich a re a l legedly Gn ost ic technica l te rms; 3) the use

of amb iguo us N ew Te stam ent passages as evidence for a n ear ly G nost ic ism;

4) the common conversion of parallels to cases of dependence; 5) t he a ppe a l

to autho rit ies instead of a n an alys is of the evidence i tself ; 6) the a s sumpt ion

tha t wha t is non -Chris t ian is ipso facto pre-C hris t ian. ' I concluded tha t the re

were two types of evidence which had been used or abused: c lear ly Gnost ic

but l a te ma te r ia l s or pre-Chris t ian but not c lear ly Gnost ic mater ia ls .

I did have on e serious reserva t ion abou t my conclus ions , a reserva tion a lso

expressed by a number of reviewers. Since at the t ime of publication only

about one - th i rd of the N ag H am m ad i tex t s had been tr ans la ted in to En gl i sh ,

F r e n c h , a nd G e r m a n , m y a na l yse s m i gh t ha ve be en p r e m a t u r e . I believe that

they have been pro lep t ic . J Now tha t the en t i r e Nag I - l ammadi corpus has

been t r ans la ted , we can be a s sured tha t the re a re no unexploded bombshe l ls .

That i s , the vas t major i ty of the f i f ty- two t rac ta tes a re Chr is t ian Gnost ic

compos i tions f rom the second an d th i rd centur ies . T h e case for pre -C hr i s t i an

Gnost ic ism can be argued f rom only a handful of the "non-Chris t ian3 '

t rac ta tes which h ad been kno wn b efore , the most imp orta nt of which a re T h e

Apocalypse of Adam, a n d T he Paraphrase of She m. Let us examine these

docum ents in some de ta i l.

THE\POCALYPSE OF , \ D A M (CG V,5)

T h e A p o c a l yp ~ e f A d a m (abbrevia ted A p o c A d ) is a rev elation of A da m to

Seth wh ich recounts the sa lva t ion of N oa h f rom the f lood an d th e sa lva t ion of

Set h's seed from destruction by fire . . \ccording to G eo rg e W. M a c R a e , " T h e

bas is for the narra t ive is the Gen es is s tory, but unl ik e m any Gn ost ic

retellings of it, the ApocAd never ac tua l ly c i tes Gen es is and seems indeed to

depen d on midras hic legend." ' T o w ar d the end of the apocalypse is a long

passage desc rib ing the or ig in of the I l lum ina tor th roug h th i r t een k ingdomsan d a f ina l "gene ra t ion wi thout a k ing. " T h e ex t rao rd ina ry impor tance of

3. Edwin Yamauchi, Pre-Chrtstian Gnosticism (Gr and Rapids and London, 1973), hereafter

PCG, pp. 170-184. Cf. H. A. Green, "Gnosis and Gnosticism," N u m e n 24 (1977):95-134.

4. Malcolm Peel, a member of the Nag Ha mma di translation committee, in a letter written on

August 17, 1971, responded to my quer y as follows: "I have recently read through the whole

of Na g Ha mma di (that so far done and at my disposal) and cannot at the moment add

anything further to your list of non-Christian tractates."

Reviews of P C G include those by: George W. hfacRae, Cath olic Biblical Qua rterly 36

(1974): 296-297; Malcolm Peel, Journal of th e American Academy of Religion 43 (1975):329-331; Gilles Quispel, Btbltotheca Ortentalis 32. 3-4 (1975): 260; John D. Turner ,

Journal of B~blicalLiterature 93 (1974). 482-484; and Robert PvlcL. Wilson, Expository

T i m e s 84 (1972-73). 379.

5. George W . PvlacRae. "Adam, Apocalypse of," T he Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible,

Supplementary Volume , ed. Keith Crim. et al. (Nashville. 1976), hereafter I D B S , p. 9.



PRE-CHRISTIAN GNOSTICISM

this document lies in the claim of the editor, Alexander Bohlig, that this is a

non-Christian, pre-Christian presentation of a redeemer figure.6 Because of

parallels with Mandaean texts, he traces the origin of this document to a

Palestinian baptist group.

James Robinson has hailed this text as the necessary evidence for

Bultmann's hypothesis of a pre-Christian Gnosticism.' H e writes:

W hy did the Gospel of John , in emphasizing the im portan ce of Jesus, make

use of religious symbolism found only in the later M an dae an texts? Even though

this symbolism w as not found in the D ead Sea Scrolls, mus t it not have been alive

somewhere in that environment? Th e Nag Ha m m ad i Codices have produced th e

missing documentation: The Apocalypse of Adam, a non-Chris t ian Jewish

Gnostic interpretation of Genesis, presents the redeemer as coming to earth,

suffering, and t riu m ph ing . It seems to have been composed in the Syrian- Jordanregion during the Firs t Cent ury A.D.-much the same t ime and place as the

Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gospel of John!'

Birger Pearson agrees with Robinson's assessment: "The Apoca lypse of

Adam (Codex V , tractate 5) is especially important, since i t appears to be

devoid of Christian influences, and it, or perhaps rather its Grundschri f t ,

may even be a pre-Christian w01-k."~ he analysis of the work as

non-Christian has also been supported, albeit more tentatively, by MacRae

who suggests that, instead of the Jewish-Iranian Gnosticism posited by

Bohlig, we should trace the origin of this apocalypse to late Jewish~ ~ e c u l a t i o n . ' ~e views the episode of the Illuminator as a kind of Gnostic

midrash on the Deutero-Isaiah Servant Songs.

But in spite of the impression left by such leading scholars, there is no

unanimity about the non-Christian nature of the document. MacRae, at

least, has conceded that others may be able to detect Christian elements in the

apocalypse," and many of the reviewers of the original publication by Biihlig

and Pahor Labib disagreed with their assessment of the document as wholly

6. Alexander Bohlig and Pahor Labib, Koptlsch-gnostische Apocalypsen nus Codex V von

Nag Hammadi (H alle-W ittenb erg, 1963); see also Alexander Bohlig, "Jiidisches und

Iranisches in der Adamapokalypse des Codex V von Nag Hammadi," Mysterion und

Wahrheit (Leiden, 1968 ), pp. 149-16 1. Bohlig later explained that by "pre-Christian" he

did not mean a Gnosticism before the birth of Christ, but a Gnosticism out of whichdeveloped the Christian Gnosticism of the second century. See Alexander Bohlig,

"Christentum und Gnosis im Agypterevangelium," in W alt he r Eltester, ed., Christentum

und Gnosis (Berlin, 1969), p. 2, n. 5.7 . James M . Robinson and Helm ut Koes te r , Trajectories through Early Christianity

(Philadelphia, 1971), p. 234, n. 4.8. James M . Robinson , The Nag Hammadi Codices: A General Introduction (Claremont,

1974), p. 13.9. Birger Pearson, "Nag Ha mm adi Codices," 7974 Yearbook of the Encyclopedia Judaica

(Jerusalem, 1974 ), p. 246.10 . MacRae , IDBS, p. 10; cf. George W . Mac Ra e, "The Coptic-Gnostic Apocalypse of Adam,"

Heythrop journal 6 (1965): 27-35.11 . MacR ae , IDBS, p. 1 0; idem, "The Apocalypse of Adam Reconsidered," SBL Book of

Seminar Papers, ed. Lane C . McG aughy (Misso ula , 1972), p . 573; idem, "Seth in GnosticTexts and Trad i t ions ," SBL 7977 Seminar Papers (M issoula , 1977), p. 21.




non -Ch ris t ian. I2 Indeed , unless one has s t ro ng reasons for be lieving in a n

independent r edeemer myth these t r a i t s o f the I l lumina tor would seem to

point inescapably to Chr is t : 1) the working of s igns and marvels , 2 ) th e

opposi t ion of pow ers wh o wil l not see the I l lum ina tor , 3) t he pun i s hm e n t of

the f lesh of the I l lum ina tor , and 4 ) the descent of the Ho ly Spir i t upo n the

I l lumina tor . " In a n a r t ic le publi shed in 196 4, Bohl ig t r ied to expla in the

suffering of the I l l um in ato r in term s of the suff erin g of a savior predicted by

Zoroas te r accord ing to Theodore ba r Kona i , who wrote a t the end of the

e ighth century but he la te r accepted M ac R ae ' s sugges t ion of a Jewish

suffer ing Mess iah." H ow ev er , the concept of the I l lum ina tor whose flesh is

punished , upon whom the Holy Spi r i t has descended , who does s igns and

marve l s , and who i s opposed by the powers i s no t I r an ian or Jewish , bu tC hr i s t i a n .

Be tha t a s it m ay, le t us for the sake of a rg um ent accept the view tha t the

ApocAd is a non-Ch r i s t ian Gno s t ic docum ent . T h e rem a in ing key ques t ion i s

i ts date. Robinson believes that i t was writ ten in the f irs t century A.D. a n d

embodies pre -Chr i s t i an t r ad i t ions which could have inf luenced John ' s

Gospe l . Mar t in Krause wr i t e s : " I t ce r ta in ly d id not or ig ina te in pre -

Ch r i s t i an t imes , bu t probably in the f ir st o r second century , an d was l a te r

revised in a gnostic sense."'%?\/lcRae also suggests first or second cent ury ."

C an we na rro w the scope of the da te to e i ther the f i rs t or the second cen tu ry ?This is a s ignif icant ques t ion for i f the answer is the f i rs t century the

document may be pre-Chris t ian; i f the answer is the second century i t i s

c lea r ly pos t -Chr i s t i an even though i t may be a non-Chr i s t i an document

12 . C:f, the reviews by Je an Dan iklo u, Recherches de sctence rel~gteure5 4 ( 1 9 6 6 ) : 2 8 5 - 2 9 3;

R o b e rt H a a r d t , W t e ne r Z e ~ t s c h r ~ f tiir dze Kunde des Morgenlandes 6 1 ( 1 9 6 7 ) : 1 5 3 -1 5 9 ;

A n t o n i o O r b e , Gregor lanum 6 6 ( 1 9 6 5 ) : 1 6 9 -1 7 2 .

13 . T h e Ber l ine r Arbe i t skre is f ii r kop t is ch-gnos ti s che Schr i f t en in Ka r l -Wo l fgang Tr i iger , ed . ,

G n o s ~ s n d ,\'cues Tes tament (Ber l in , 1973 ) , hereaf t e r G N T , p . 4 6 , co m m en t s : " T h e y w e r e

i n st r uc t ed b y h i m ( t h e au t h o r ) ab o u t t h e t r u e r ed eem er , w h o m t h e h i gh est G o d ' h ad ch o s enf rom a l l eons ' and 'upon whom the Holy Sp i r i t had come, ' - J esus . "

14 . A lexander B i ih l ig , "D ie Adamsapokalypse aus Code x V vo n N a g H a m m a d i a l s Z e u g n i s

j i idisch- i ranischer Gnosis ," Oriens Chris t ianus 4 8 ( 1 9 6 4 ) : 4 7 .

15 . Unl ik e M ac Ra e I can see no r e ference to a Pais o r Serva nt in the text , or to the suffer ing of a

M ess ia h wh o vicar ious ly expiates the s lns of Is rael before the es tabl ishm ent of his rule . Cf .

W a l t h e r Z i m m e r l i a n d J o a ch i m J e r e m i as , T he Seruant of God (Nap erv i l l e , I l lino i s , 1957) ,

p p . 7 7 - 7 8 .

1 6 . M a r t i n K r a u s e In W e r n e r F o e r s t er , Gnosis I I . Copttc and Mandaean Sources ( O x f o r d ,

1 9 7 4 ) , p . 1 5 ; i d em , " Z u r B ed eu t u n g d e s g n os t is ch -h e r m e t is ch en H an d s ch r i f t en f u n d es v on

N a g H a m m a d i , " i n M a r t i n K r a u s e , e d , Essays on the Nag Ha mm adi Tex t s in Honour of

Pahor Labib ( L e i d en , 1 9 7 5 ) , h e r ea ft e r E N H T , p . 82 : "Al l of these t ex t s, w h ~ c h o back to

the f i rs t o r s econd cen tury A .D . , a r e on account of the i r age a nd the absence of C hr i s t i anco ncept s of ex t r em e i m p o r t an ce f o r a n o n - C h r i s t i an G n o s t ~ c i s m ,which ( t ex t s ) , however , do

not thereby have to be p re-Chr i s t i an a t a l l ."

1 7 . G eo r g e W. M a c R a e i n R o b i n s o n , N H L , p . 256 . Spea k ing of non -Chr i s t i an work s in the

N a g H a m m a d i L i b r a r y , M a c R a e e c ho es th e j u d g m e n t of K r a u s e " T o c o n cl u de th a t t he s e

are pre-Chr is t ian Gnost ic works would be unjus t i f ied, especial ly in view of the relat ively

late date of the col lect ion." I D B S , p . 6 1 8 .



P R E - C H R I ST I A N G N O S T I C I S M

Biihlig cited numerous Mandaean parallels, some of which are rather

strained. T h e simple reference to baptism in the ApocAd does not justify its

derivation from the M and aea ns or a Manda ean-re lated baptist group, for asBiihlig himself notes, baptism in the apocalypse is spiritua lized an d identified

with gnosis.ls Bu t this is certainly not the case wi th M an da ea n baptism

which possesses magical significance.19 M oreo ver, u nless M an da ea nis m itself

is a pre-Christian movement, the Ma nd ae an parallels would point to a later

rather than an earl ier date.20

The same s t r ic tu re may be ra ised about the numerous Manichaean

para l l e l s wh ich have been ~ i t ed .~ 'With the publication of the Cologne

Codex, the role of the Elchasaites from whom Mani emerged has been

highlighted. M ac R ae , for one, has speculated; "It is conceivable, an d pe rha pseven probable, that there is a relationship between the background of Mani's

Jew ish-C hristia n baptist sect an d the Jew ish baptist circles ou t of which th e

ApocAd originally came."22 But let us be clear about the n atu re an d th e date

of the Elchasaites. As Albert Henrichs points out, they were a baptist sect

wi th a p redominan tly Jewish-Chr is t ian ra ther than a Gnostic ~ r i en ta t i o n , ~ '

and they may be dated confidently in the second century.

According to his own account Elchasai came forward with his message in the

thir d year of Tra ja n (101); he seems to have composed his book d ur ing the reign

of the s am e empe ror, a s is suggested by the prop hecy, given in frag.7

but notfulfilled, of a universal conflict blazing u p three years afte r the P art hi an w ar

(1 14-1 16) but still und er Tra jan 's rule.24

18. Bb'hlig and Labib, Koptisch-gnostische Apocalypsen, p. 95; Biihlig, "Die Adamsapoka-

lypse," p. 46.

19. Cf. Ethel S. Drower, The Mandaeans o f l raq an d l r an (Leiden, repr., 1962), pp. 100-101.

Kurt Rudolph, "Coptica-Mandaica," in Krause, E N H T , p. 215, also notes the contrast

between baptism in the Mandaic literature and the Nag Hammadi texts: "Also the

connection between the reception of gnosis and baptism is only poorly developed in the

Mandaica, a fact which leads us to conclude that here the old cultic basis remained

dominant, in contrast to the Gnostic Coptica." Cf. Francoise Morard, "L'Apocalypse

d'Adam de Nag Hammadi," in Martin Krause, ed., Gnosis and Gnosticism (Leiden, 1975),

pp. 41-42: "We believe that we can propose that this editor belonged to a Sethian Archontic

mil ieu, and that he maintained a position of opposition with regard to the traditional

conception of baptism, whether this conception had been that of his original sect, whether it

had been that of a baptist group of the period (Elchasaism, for example), or whether finally

it had been that of Christianity." Cf. note 48 below.

20. Though such scholars as Ethel S. Drower, Rudolf Macuch, and Kurt Rudolph believe that

Mandaeanism is pre-Christian in origin, the objective evidence indicates a date no earlier

than the second century A.D. See Edwin Yamauchi, Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean On gin s(Cambridge, Mass., 1970).

21. The Berliner Arbeitskreise in Triiger, G N T , p. 47, comments: "As against other theories,

The Apocalypse of Adam is perhaps an example of that phase of Gnosticism in which

Manichaeism had already influenced existing systems."

22. MacRae, "T he Apocalypse of Adam Reconsidered," p. 577.

23. Albert Henrichs "Mani and the Babylonian Baptists," Harvard Studies in Classical

Philology 77 (1973): 44. Cf. Albert Henrichs and Ludwig Koenen, "Eine alte griechische

Mani Schrift," Zeitschrifl fur Papyrologie un d Epigraphik 5 (1970): 97-216.

24. Johannes Irmscher, "The Book of Elchasai," in Edgar Hennecke and Wilhelm Schnee-

melcher, eds., New Testament Apocrypha (Philadelphia, 1965), 2: 747.




Any de r iva t ion f rom or even a s soc ia tion wi th E lchasa i and the E lchasa i t e s

therefore requires a da te in the second century or la te r .

Bi ihl ig a lso appeals to what i s apparent ly a re ference to Mithras ' rock

bir th as evidence of a p re-C hris t ian d a te . In th e ser ies of sayings by var ious

kingdoms about the I l lu min a tor , the e igh th k ingdom says (80 , 22-26) : " that

a c loud came upon the ea r th and enve loped a rock . H e came f rom it."" T h e

rock bir th of M it h ra s is a comm on fea tu re of M ith ra i c be lie fs , an d is a lso

refer red to in :exts.*"o det erm ine wh en the rock bir th of M it h ra s could

have become known to the author of the ApocAd, we would need to

de te rmine : 1) the evidence for the ear l ies t spread of M ith ra i sm , an d 2) the

date and or igin of the ac tua l monuments which bear the rock bir th mot i f .

I have exam ined e lsewh ere the evidence for the da t ing an d the or igin of the

rock b i r th monum ents. " T h e r e a re innum erable representa tions of th i s

mot i f , but only a few exis t in a reas which may be assoc ia ted wi th ear ly

Gnos t ic i sm. One such a rea i s ea s te rn Syr ia . Gnos t ic groups seem to have

f lour i shed a t Edessa , about 2 00 mi le s nor th of D u ra Euro pos , the only s i te in

the N ea r Eas t w hich a t te s ts the rock b i r th m ot if . T h e representa t ion comes

f rom pa in t ings of the f ina l s tages of the M i th ra eu m in D u ra Eu ropo s before

i ts c a p t u r e by t he Pe r s ia ns i n the t h ir d c e n t u r y A . D . ~ ' ne m a y c on j ec tu r e

tha t a s imi la r pa in t ing decora ted the ea r l i e s t Mi thraeum founded the re in

A . D . 168 . T h e Mi t h r a e u m d is cover ed by R ob e r t B u l l a t C a e s a r e a on t hePa le s t in ian coas t in 197 3 is da ted to the four th century A .D . , an d lacks a rock

b irth r n ~ n u m e n t . ~ 'h e one l ike ly s it e wh ere the Gnos t ic au tho r of ApocAd

could have learned of the rock b ir th of M it h ra s is I ta ly which h as s ixteen

poss ible representa t ion s of the mot i f . Since a l l rock bir th m on um ent s in I ta ly

can be da ted to the second century A .D . an d la te r , we mu s t conc lude tha t th e

ApocAd was not composed ear l ie r than this century.

In the passage which descr ibes a f ie ry des t ruc t ion (75,9-14) : "Then f i re

an d su lph ur and a sph a l t w i ll be cast upon those men , an d f i re and (b l ind ing)

mist will come over those aeo ns, an d th e eyes of the pow ers of th ei l lumin ators w i ll be dark ened ,"30 H a n s Goedicke de tects verba l a l lus io ns to

the fam ous descr iption of the eru pt io n of Vesuvius in A .D . 79 in the le t te rs

(V I .16 and 20) of the Youn ger Pl iny to Taci tus ." Pl iny publ ished the le t te rs

25 . Robinson , NHL, p . 262 .

2 6 . M a a r t e n J . V e r m a s e r e n , Mithras, T he Secret God ( L o n d o n , 1 9 6 3 ) , p . 7 5 .

2 7 . E d w i n Y a m a u c h i , "The Apocalypse of Adam, M i t h r a i s m , an d P r e - C h r i s t i an G n o s ti c is m , "

Etudes M ithriaques, T extes et MCmoires (Acta Iranica) , ed J acq u es D u ch es n e - G u i l l em i n

( T eh e r a n - L i eg e , 1 9 7 8 ) , 4 : 5 3 7 -5 6 3 .

2 8. F r a n z C u m o n t , " T h e D u r a M i t h ra e u m , " Mithraic Studtes , e d . J o h n R . H i n n e l ls

( M an ch es t e r , 1 9 7 5 ) , 1 : 1 6 1

2 9. L e w i s M . H o p f e a n d G a r y L e a se , " T h e C a e s a re a M i t h ra e u m , " Biblical Archaeologist 3 8

(1975) : 1 -10 .

3 0 . R o b i n s o n , NHL, p . 259 .

3 1 . H an s G o ed ick e , " A n U n ex p ec t ed A l l us io n t o t h e V es u v i u s E r u p t i o n i n 7 9 A . D . , " Amertcan

Journal of Philology 9 0 ( I 9 6 9 ) : 3 4 0 - 3 4 1 .



P R E - C H R I S T I A N G N O S T I C I S M 135

c. A.D. 110. Professor Goedicke would therefore date the ApocAd not later

than the first decade of the second century. But assuming that Goedicke is

correct, i t would seem that A.D . 11 0 should establish the terminus a quo

ra ther than the terminus ad quem; tha t is, the ApocAd is not earlier than this

date but may be considerably later.

Recently Phem e Perkins has interpreted the ApocAd as a satiric tour de

force of Jewish traditions directed against the Go d of Israel. T h is presu p-

poses that the reade rs were qu ite familiar with Jewish apocalyptic traditions.

Sh e concludes, "Th erefore we question the view that Apoc. Adam lies close to

the origin of those traditions of gnostic e~ eg es is ." ~ 'n o ther words, instead of

being a n early G nostic wo rk, she thinks the ApocAd comes from a later stage

of Gnosticism.

W alte r Bel tz , who h as wri t ten a Ge rm an dissertat ion on the work, believes

that the ApocAd is an e lementary t racta te des igned to in troduce G n o ~ t i c i s m . ~ ~

H e dates its composition to the m id-third century A.D. as does Ha ns-M ar t in

Schenke.

THEP A R A P H R A S EF S H E M C G VII , 1 )

Along with the ApocAd James Robinson has cited especially The

Paraphrase of Shem (abbreviated ParaShem) as new evidence for pre-

Christ ian Gnost icism. H e wri tes:

It is not inconceivable tha t such a Ch ristia n Gn ostic movement as the Sethian smay simply be a Christian outgrow th of a Jewish Gnostic grou p. One text in theNag Ham mad i l ib rary , the P a r a p h r a s e of S h e m , represents a G nostic viewpoint,bu t wi thout a c lear Chr i s t i an t rad i t i~n . '~

Un til 19 77 the only translation of the ParaShem was a German version by

M ar t in Krause in a n expensive and virtually inaccessible volume.35Frederik

Wisse, the translator of the text for the Nag Hammadi Library, describes it

as a non-Christian work; elsewhere he asserts, "The tractate proclaims a

redeemer whose features agree with those features of Ne w Testam ent

32. Phem e Perkins, "The Ge nre and Function of Th e Apocalypse of Adam," Catholic Biblical

Quarterly 39 (1977): 384.33. Walter Beltz, Die Adam-Apokalypse aus Codex V von Nag Hammadi (Berlin, 1970) as

reported by MacRae, "T he Apocalypse of Adam Reconsidered," p. 576. Robert McL.Wilson, "Jewish Gnosis and Gnostic Origins," Hebr ew Union College Annual 45 (1974):179, n. 7, remarks: "The Apocalypse of Adam has been claimed by its editor, AlexanderBohlig, as evidence for a pre-Christian Gnosis, but I should assign it to a later date."Rodolphe Kasser, "BibliothSque gnostique V: Apoca lypse #Adam," Rev ue de thiologie et

dephilosophie 16 (1967 ): 317-318, thinks that th e work m ay go back to the end of the first

or the beginning of the second century . Luise Schottroff, "Animae nat ura lite r salvandae," inEltester, Chrisfentum und Gnosis, p. 83, holds that the apocalypse is non-C hristian but notpre-Christian.

34. Robinson, NHL, p. 7.35. Translated by Ma rti n Krause in Christentum am Roten Meer, ed. Fran z Altheim and Ru th

Stiehl (Berlin, 1973), 2: 2-105.




Chris tology wh ich ma y very wel l be p re-Ch ris t ian in or igin,"36 an d that the

ParaShem contains only "sl im and controversial paral lels with Christ iani-

ty. ' ' 37

Robinson and others have suggested that the ParaShem is the non-

Christ ian basis of the Paraphrase of Seth described in the Elenchos,

at t r ibuted to Hipp oly tus of R om e ( thi rd cen tury, A.D .) . Sh em , the son of

Noah, was not as popular among the Gnost ics as Seth, the son of Adam.

Des pi te the di fference in t i t le , there a re some comm on fe atures between the

two works: both describe the thre e pr imeval pr inciples of Ligh t , Spi r i t , and

Darkness and the descent of a redeemer . " O n the o ther hand , there a re

striking differences: ParaShem is characterized by a sharp polemic against

bapt i sm, but theParaphrase of Seth

refers positively to a rite usingconsecrated water." It is therefore doubtful that the Paraphrase ofSeth is the

Christ ianized version of the Paraphrase of Shem.40

The sav ior o f ParaShem i s a f igure cal led Derdekeas, whom Wisse

believes is a non-C hris t ian, p re-Ch ris t ian redeemer. I n 8,24-36 his descen t is

described:

I am Derd ekeas , the son of the inco rrupt ible , inf inite Ligh t . T h e l ight of the

inf ini te Spir it cam e down to a feeble natu re for a sho rt t ime u nt i l a l l the imp uri ty

of nature became void, and in order that the darkness of Nature might be

exposed. I put on my garment which is the garment of the l ight of the

Majesty-which I am."

O th er scholars , however , would discern in this an d other passages the f igure

of Chr i s t . Fo r examp le , Je an -M ar ie Sevr in , who ha s analyzed the Copt i c

text , wri tes:

Several features of this portrait of the redeemer have a Christological

appe arance : his or igin in the l ight , of which he is the son, the ray and the voice ,

mak es us think of the pre-existent Logos and of the Son of the Gospe l of Joh n, or

also of Ch rist "reflecting the glory of God" in He b . 1:3; his descent "into an

infirm place" correspo nds qu ite well to the coming of Ch rist into this

world. . . .4 2

36. Robinson, NHL, p. 308.

37. Frederik Wisse, "The Redeemer Figure in the Paraphrase ofShem," Novum Testamentum

12 (1970): 137. Otto Betz, "Das Problem der Gnosis seit der Entdeckung der Texte von

Nag Hammadi," Verkiindtgung und Forschung 21 (1976): 70, remarks, "But as the writer

(Wisse) himself observes, this tract contains many Jewish and also Christian elements."

38. Daniel A. Bertrand, "Paraphrase de Sem et Paraphrase de Seth," in Jacques-E. Menard,

ed., Les Textes de Nag Hammadl (Leiden, 1975), pp. 149 H.39. Frederik Wisse, "The Sethians and the Nag Hammadi Library," SBL Book of Seminar

Papers, ed. Lane C. McGaughy (Missoula, 1972), 2: 604.

40. Cf. George W. MacRae, "Nag Hammadi," IDBS, p. 616. The Berliner Arbeitskreise in

Triiger, G N T , p. 59, concludes: "What may be positively asserted is that the source of

Hippolytus and our text belong to the same Gnostic school Nevertheless a literary

relationship, in our opinion, is ruled out."

41. Robinson, N H L , p. 312.

42. J ean -Mar ie Sevrin, "A propos de le Paraphrase de Sem," Le Musion 88 (1975): 87. Th e

Berliner Arbeitskreise in Troiiger, G N T , p. 57, asks: "Is i t a matter of a secret name for



P R E - C HR I S T I AN G N O S T I C I S M

One of the most striking passages in the ParaShem is a harsh attack

against baptism (37,14-25):

For the water is an insignificant body. And men are not released, since they arebound in the water, just as from the beginning the light of the Spirit was

bound.

0 Shem, they are deceived by manifold demons, thinking that through baptism

with the uncleanness of water, that which is dark, feeble, idle, (and) disturbing,

he will take away the sins.43

But against whom is this polemic directed? Wisse interprets it as an attack

against the baptism of some pre-Christian sect44 about which we know

little.45Karl-Martin Fischer suggests that the baptism of John the Baptist is

being opposed,46 but more plausible is Sevrin's view that the baptism of the

Elchasaites is in~ ol ve d. ~'s noted above this was a group which flourished in

the second century A . D .

M y own view is that the reference is best interpreted a s a polemic against

the baptism of a worldly church, for wha t follows immediately (37, 26-34)

reads:

And they do not know that from the water to the water there is bondage, and

error and unchastity, envy, murder, adultery, false witness, heresies, robberies,

lusts, babblings, wrath, bitterness. . . 48

Such vices are characteristic of an established, institutional church which is

only nominally Christian ; they a re not likely to be found in the zealous and

presumably small baptistic sects of Palestine. In fact, the polemic of the

Christ?", and answers, p. 59, "Th e revealer of the faith, however, is Jesus." K arl -M ar tin

Fischer, "Die P arap hras e des Stem," in Krause, ENHT, p. 266, comments: "Th oug h thereare images, where one cannot find any relationship between the otherwise typical Gnostic

Chr ist a nd D erdek eas, there a re other passages, above all in the section on Soldas, with

whom Derdekeas is related, where one can trace the thematic influence of the Christian

Gnostic C hrist figure. Soldas seems once again to be a code name for Jesus, with whom the

heavenly Christ (Derdekeas) is associated."

Of this passage (37,14-25) Sevr in, p. 90 , declares: "It is at this level that it is withou tdoubt making an allusion to the baptism of Jesus." Ku rt Ru dolp h, "Coptica-Mandaica," inKrause, ENHT, p. 210, likewise observes: "Among the tractates, which express in detail

and explicitly a denigration ofwater baptism, belongs the ParShem (VII , I) . Above all this isillustra ted by me ans of John 's baptis m, that is, the baptism of Jesus by John the Bapti st(30-32; 37f.). . . ."

43. Robinson, NHL, p. 324.44. W isse, "Redeem er Figure," p. 137.

45. Cf. Joseph Tho ma s, Le mouuement baptiste en Palestine et Syria (Gembloux, 1935);

Albertus F. J . Klijn and G . J . Reinink , Patristzc Evidence for Jewish-Christzan Sects

(Leiden, 1973).46. Fischer, "D ie Para phra se des Stem ," pp. 260-261; Berliner Arbeitskreise in Tr og er, GNT,

pp. 58-5?.47. Sevr in, "A propos de le Paraphrase de Sem," p. 95: "The violent polemical character of the

passage and the fact that it seems to oppose a movement of some importance would inclineone to think of the C hrist ian baptism or the baptism of the E lchasaites: th e latter, as is wellknown, had extended their influence upon a number of other sects. Certain details would

seem to favor the E lchasa ite baptism." See note 19 above.48. Robinson, NHL, p. 324.




ParaShem i s s t rongly reminiscent of the G nost ic Herac leo n ' s polemic again s t

the church 's bapt ism which he regarde d as mere ly a "somatic" ac t performed

on the body.' '

O t he r non - C hr i s t i a n G nos t i c t e x t s f r om t he N a g H a m m a di L i b r a r y

adduced a s evidence for pre-C hri s t ian G nost ic ism inc lude: Eugnostos, The

Thunder, a n d The Three Steles ofSeth. Space preclu des a detailed an alys is of

these texts but we may br ie f ly survey them.

Kr aus e has convinc ingly dem onstra ted the pr ior i ty of Eugnostos ( C G I I I , 3

a n d V , 1 ) t o The Sophia of Jesus Christ ( C G I I I ,4 an d B G 8 5 0 2) , a

Ch rist ian ized version of the form er, by a meticulous l i tera ry ana lysis of thetwo t rea tises ." Bu t we may s t i ll ask whe the r Eugnostos is a docu men t whol ly

f ree f rom C hr i s t i an influences. Ro ber t M c L . Wi l son compi led a l i st of

poss ib le a l lusions to the Ne w Tes ta me nt and to Chr i s t i an i ty in E ~ ~ n o s t o s . ~ '

T h e na m e E ugnost os is a r a r e one w h i c h a ppe a r s i n on ly t w o K a g H a m m a d i

tractates: Eugnostos (7 0 , l ; 90 ,12-13) and the preceding t r ac ta te , The Gospel

ofthe Egyptians (CG 111, 2: 69, lO ). If these refer to the sa me in div idu al, and

I do not see why they cannot , i t i s qui te c lear f rom the la t te r passage tha t

Eugnostos was a Chr is t ian. ; '

Even i f one were to accept the premise tha t Eugnostos i s a non-Chris t iandocument there is no compel l ing reason to da te i t to the f i rs t ra ther than to

the second century, much less to the pre-Chris t ian era . ' ) Schenke cons iders

Eu~nostosto be a la te product of Valent inianism and therefore not to be

dated before the late second century."

The Thunder (CG VI ,2) is a un i qu e document in which a f ema le revea ler

(So ph ia?) expresses herse l f in a l l kinds of p aradox es a nd contradic tions :

49. Cf. Elaine Pagels. "A Valentini an Interpretation of Baptism and Eucharist," Harvard

Theologtcal Revtew 65 (1972): 153-170, especially p. 158 f f .

50. kfa rti n Krause, "Das literarische Verhaltnis des Eugnostosbriefes zur Sophia Jesu

Christi," Mullus (Festschrdt, T. Klauser) (hfiin ster, 1964), pp. 21 5-223; translations of

the two works are set forth in parallel columns in Robinson, NHL, pp. 207 ff51. Robert Mc L. Wilson, Gnosis and the New Testament (Philadelphia, 1968), p. 117: cf.

Yamauchi, PCG, p. 106. Krause refused to accept such ideas as the Son of h lan , the Savior,

and the church in Eugnostos as Christian elements "since these terms, however, are not

exclusively attested in the New Testament." Krause in Foerster, Gnosts, 2: 26. Betz, "Das

Problem," queries: "kl. Krause maintams that The Letter of Eugnostos is a pre-Christian

text; but how then should such concepts be used in it as 'the kingdom of the Son of Man,'

'savior,' 'church'?"

52. Robinson, N H L , p. 205.

53. Jean Doresse in Claas J . Bleeker and George Widengren, eds., Htstorta Reltgtonum I:

Religtons ofthe Past (Leiden , 1969), p. 549, suggested the fourth century A.D . as the period

when Eugnostos was adapted for the Sophia of Jesus Christ. Cf. Yamauchi, PCG, p.

182.54. Hans-M artin Schenke, "Nag Hammadi Studien 11: Das System der Sophia Jesu Christ i,"

Zettschriftfur Reltgtons-und Geistesgeschtchte 14 (1962). 266.



P R E - C H R I S T IA N G N O S T I C I S M

"For I am knowledge and ignorance. I am sham e and boldness. . . . I a m w a r

and peace" (14 ,2 6- 32 ) .~ ~illes Quis pel has recently hailed this text as "the

most impressive writ ing that I know."56 H e assigns an e xtraord inary

antiq uity to the text, the first century B.C." Qu ispe l especially seizes on the

lines 13,19 -20 which he translates: "I a m the prostitute and the saint, I am

the wom an and the virgin."58 T h e fact that Ish tar was called "T he

Prosti tute" in Sumerian and Akkadian leads him to postulate an ancient

tradition of As tarte/A nath /W isdo m which flourished in ancient Israel.59 n

the context of the en tire tractate, it would seem that Quispel has attempted to

erect a mighty edifice on too na rro w a base. T h e phrase "the prostitute and

the saint," after a ll, is but one of a series of pa rado xes . T h e significance of the

passage does not lie in any isolated phrase but in the overall concept ofparadox. According to M ac R ae , The Thunder "is a striking w ay to assert the

divine transcendence, for it implies the rejection of all value systems that are

at home in the world."60 T h e Berliner Arbeitskreis asks whe ther The

Thunder is a witness of pre-Christian Gnosticism or a late philosophical

abstraction which presupposes the myth of the fall and the redemption of

Sophia. The Berl in scholars conclude that the lat ter is c~rrect .~ '

The Three Steles ofS eth (CGVI I,5) is a Sethian liturgical text "without a

55. Robinson, NHL, pp. 272-273.

56. Gilles Quispel, "Jewish Gnosis and Mandaean Gnosticism," in ~ i n a r d ,es textes de NagHammadi, p. 82.

57. Ibid., p. 86.

58. Ibid., p. 89.

59. Ibid., p. 95. Cf. the speculations of Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess (New York, 1967).

Quispel argues that "holy prostitution" was unknown to the Egyptians, and derives the

figure of the Prostitute Anath/Astarte/Wisdom from Syrian-Israelite traditions. He is not

well informed on the Egyptian situation. Cf. Edwin Yamauchi, "Cultic Prostitution," in

Orient and Occident, ed. Harry Hoffner (Kevelaer, 1973), pp. 216-218; Wolfgang Helck,

Die Beziehungen Agyptens zu Vorderasien im 3. und 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr. (Wiesbaden,

1962), pp. 482-514; Rainer Stadelmann, Syrisch-paliistinensische Gottheiten in Agypten

(Leiden, 1967), pp. 110-122.

60. George W. MacRae, "Discourses of the Gnostic Revealer," seminar paper, SBL

Conference, Chicago, November 1973, p. 9. Cf. Birger A. Pearson, "The Thunder: Perfect

Mind (CG VI,2)," a paper given at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, March

1973. Pearson speculates that The Thunder may be associated with Simonian Gnosticism,

and may therefore be evidence of early if not pre-Christian Gnosticism. Recent studies,

however, have reconfirmed Lucien Cerfaux's scepticism about the patristic accounts of

Simon Magus. See Wayne A. Meeks, "Simon Magus in Recent Research," ReligiousStudies Review 3.3 (1977): 137-142.

61. Berliner Arbeitskreise in Troger, GNT, p. 47: "Is this text a witness of an original,

pre-Christian Gnosticism as it relates no myth and betrays no demonstrable Christian

influences, or is it, in contrast, a late philosophical composition, which presupposes the

myth of the Fall and the Redemption of Sophia? The latter is, in our opinion, the correct

interpretation." On Quispel's thesis, Riidiger Unger, "Zur sprachlichen und formalen

Struktur des gnostischen Textes 'Der Donner: der volkommene Nous', " Oriens Christianus59 (1975): 106, comments: "Furthermore I can also not agree with the proto-Gnostic and

pre-Christian thesis of Quispel, since I believe that I have been able to ascertain some

biblical citations (out of the New Testament) and am of the conviction that still further

examples could be added."



140 C H U R C H H I S T O R Y

clear ly Chris t ian overlay on the Jewish point of dep artu re ," according to

R o b i n ~ o n . ~ ~n the one hand , the re i s a re fe rence to Barbe lo , a Gnos t ic

F igu re , and on the o ther ha nd , the re is no opposi t ion be tween the sup rem e

Go d a nd a creator .63 Bu t i ts affin it ies with the Neoplatonism developed by

Plo t inus (A.D. 205-270) m ake i t qui te p la in that i t must d ate f rom the th ird

cen tury A.D." T h u s a tex t may be non-Chr is t ian in charac te r an d ye t

pos t -Chr is t ian in da te .65

But Robinson seems to use th is text to argue that there was an

independen t Se th ian t rad i tion p r io r to Chr is t ian i ty . " N ow it is qu i te t rue

that we have both rab binic t radi tions a bout S eth , the godly son of A da m , an d

Gn ost ic texts which feature Se th , the fa ther of the enl ightened seed of

Gnost ics . But it should be noted, f irst of a l l , that the rab binic m ater ia ls ar every la te in date ." Second, the rabbin ic t radi t ions abou t Seth have a lmost

no th ing in common w i th the G nos t ic t rad i tions . T h e fo rmer revolve a ro und

the b i r th of Se th , h is r igh teous charac te r , Se th and the M ess iah , and so

forth ." T h e Gnos t ic trad it ions , on the o ther han d , involve Se th as an au thor ,

the incarna te Se th , and so forth.6q

All scholars must ad m ire the s ingle-minded dedicat ion of J . M. Robinson

an d be g ra te fu l to h im and h is col leagues fo r t rans la t ing the Na g H am m ad iCoptic texts . I t is qui te unders tandable that Professor Robinson 's v iews on

the significance of the non-Christian tractates for Bultmann's thesis of a

pre-C hris t ian Gnost ic ism have received the greates t publ ic ity .70Ho we v e r , it

does not follow that scholars should accept this viewpoint without examining

the texts themselves , and without g iving a hear ing to others with ent i re ly

62. Robinson. N H L , p. 8.

63. Berliner Arbeitskreis fiir koptisch-gnostische Schriften, "Die drei Stelen des Seth,"

Theologzsche Lzteraturzeztung 100 (1 975): 57 1-580.

64. Robinson, N H L , p. 362; Michel Tardieu, "Les Trois Steles de Seth," Rerue des sczences

phzlosophzques et thilogzques 57 (1973): 558. Other tractates impregnated with Neoplatonic

concepts include: Zostrzanos ( C G VIII.1): Marsanes (CG X.l) ; and Allogenes (C G

XI.1).65. In this regard, Carsten Colpe, "Die Thomaspsalmen als chronologischer Fixpunkt in der

Geschichte der orientalischen Gnosis." Jahrbuch Ji ir Ant tke und Chrzstentum 7 (1964).

92-93, cites the Ivlanichaean and Ma nda ean texts. For the non-Chri stian, quasi-Gnostic

Hermetic texts, see Edwin Yamauchi, "Hermetic Literature," I D B S , p. 408.

66. Robinson, Th e Nag Hammadz Codices, p. 7 ; idem, N H L , p. 7.

67. John T. Townsend, "Seth in Rabbinic Literature," Philadelphia Seminar on Christian

Origins, December 1977, p. 1.

68. Dennis Berman. "Seth in Rabbinic Literature," Philadelphia Seminar on Christian

Origins, December 1977.

69. George W. IvlacRae, "Seth in Gnostic Texts and Tradi tions," S B L 1977 Sernznar Papers(blis soula, 1977), pp. 17-24; Albertus F. J . Klijn, Seth zn Jewish, Christian and Gnosttc

Literature (Leiden. 1977).70. E.g.. John Dart, Th e Laughzng Sar~ror (New York, 1976), an ably written popular

exposition of the Nag Hamm adi texts by a journalist from Th e Los Angeles Tzm es.

yamauchi, edwin - pre-christian gnosticism in the nag hammadi texts

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