Eschatology, Androgynous Thinking, Encratism, and the Question of Anti-Gnosticism in 2 Clement 12 (Part One)

This article problematizes the widespread use of an untenably broad definition of Gnosticism to support claims that 2 Clement 12 is antignostic. Several conclusions about the writing’s aims and opponents must therefore be reconsidered. It is argued that 2 Clement 12 is not polemical and does not cen...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kelhoffer, James A. 1970- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2018
In: Vigiliae Christianae
Year: 2018, Volume: 72, Issue: 2, Pages: 142-164
RelBib Classification:BF Gnosticism
KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity
NBE Anthropology
NBQ Eschatology
Further subjects:B 2 Clement androgyny encratism eschatology gender Gnosticism Gospel of the Egyptians Gospel of Thomas
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:This article problematizes the widespread use of an untenably broad definition of Gnosticism to support claims that 2 Clement 12 is antignostic. Several conclusions about the writing’s aims and opponents must therefore be reconsidered. It is argued that 2 Clement 12 is not polemical and does not censure any distinctively gnostic views or praxes. By shedding both the supposedly gnostic background of the dominical logion about “the two” becoming “one,” about the “outside” being like the “inside,” and about “neither male nor female” (12:2b, 6b) and an antignostic agenda for the interpretations of the logion (12:3-5), scholarship has a better chance of opening up promising avenues for interpreting this saying of Jesus and its interpretation in 2 Clement 12.
ISSN:1570-0720
Contains:In: Vigiliae Christianae
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700720-12341334