In early Christian literary production, Peter emerges as an early apostolic figure of prominence ripe for a prolific textual afterlife, lending his name to a wide range of literature. These works include 2 Peter, which is widely recognized as a pseudepigraphal writing. Here, the author argues that pseudepigraphy is a form of exemplarity—the constructive and strategic usage of a figure from the past as a model for the present and future. Within this model, 2 Peter is read as a pseudepigraphon styled and traditioned as a second, testamentary epistle of Peter, the leader of the apostles. Second Peter’s authoritative status is doubted in the early stages of the canonical process. But the ongoing transmission of the reputation of Peter, attested for example by the manuscript tradition, aids this work’s establishment as a Petrine text.
The use of scriptural names is a basic building block of ancient paideia as it is represented by Philo and Christian ecclesiastical writers after him. After learning letters, and then syllables, students would learn words (ὀνόματα), including through lists of onomastica intended to aid students both in learning to write and in ordering the world. I argue that the grammatical-ethical instruction that is found in Philo’s and early Christian writers’ investment in the practice of writing names in the process of paideia is also evident in the paratextual practice of marking sacred names. Lists variously attributed to Pseudo-Dorotheus, Pseudo-Epiphanius, and Pseudo-Hippolytus attest to the onomastic tradition preserved in manuscripts, while the names of scriptural figures have been marked almost as nomina sacra in the texts of 3 Corinthians, Jude, and 1 and 2 Peter, which were bound with the Bodmer Composite Codex.
The stichometric list inserted into the sixth-century Codex Claromontanus presents a NT list of 27 books, but not the familiar canonical collection. Alongside one OT (Judith) and five NT titles (ad petrum prima, Barnabas, the Shepherd, the Acts of Paul, and the Revelation of Peter) horizontal dashes have been placed, which are commonly said to denote secondary status. A history of misunderstanding surrounding these obeli, originating with Tischendorf in the nineteenth century, has obscured the stichometry’s role in the history of the NT canon. This article traces that history, showing that the later addition of the obeli indicates precisely the opposite of what has often been claimed of the stichometry – that it should resemble nearly or exactly the later-canonized NT list. Rather, the original inclusion of four alternative scriptural texts in the stichometry indicates a lasting interest in such texts and the continued elasticity of the NT canon.
The TiNT project received funding in 2019 from European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union'sHorizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 847428). The project will run for 60 months from 1September 2020. The team is currently comprised of Garrick Allen (principal investigator) and Kelsie Rodenbiker (post-doctoral researcher), in partnership with the ADAPT Centre in Dublin. Another post-doctoral researcher and two PhD students will join the team in September 2021.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.