Shadowy Characters and Fragmentary Evidence

The Search for Early Christian Groups and Movements

Edited by Tobias Nicklas Edited by Joseph Verheyden Edited by Elisabeth Hernitscheck

Book cover: Shadowy Characters and Fragmentary Evidence

Extent: 285 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Religious Studies

Series: Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(January 2018)

ISBN: 9783161540851

6.46 x 9.57 inches

Price: $224.00

In stock

What role do heavily fragmented texts and hypothetical sources, “shadowy” characters and movements play in reconstructing an overall picture of developments in the theology and religious life of early Christianity? The present volume contains the proceedings of an international colloquium that dealt with these texts and the characters and movements they feature with the intention of contributing to a critical history of their research.


The present volume contains the proceedings of an international colloquium that dealt with heavily fragmented texts and hypothetical sources, and with the “shadowy” characters and movements featured in such texts. These two aspects are combined here and studied to see how they have been handled in the history of research, what they reveal about the community or the group expressing itself through (or hiding behind) them, and to ascertain the role these documents and figures or groups should be given in reconstructing an overall picture of developments in the theology and religious life of early Christianity. The essays contribute to the writing of a critical history of researching these types of documents and movements. Contributors: Gianfranco Agosti, Carl Johan Berglund, Johanna Brankaer, Jean-Daniel Dubois, Andrew Gregory, Wolfgang Grunstaudl, Elisabeth Hernitscheck, Tobias Nicklas, Michael Sommer, Christopher Tuckett, Joseph Verheyden, Korinna Zamfir

Joseph Verheyden: Introduction - Christopher Tuckett: The Community of Q - Korinna Zamfir: Elusive Opponents in the Pastoral Epistles - Michael Sommer: Die Nikolaiten und die Gegnerfiktion in der Offenbarung des Johannes - eine Annäherung an einige hermeneutische Probleme der Apokalypselektüre - Tobias Nicklas: Fragmente christlicher Apokryphen und die Geschichte des frühen Christentums - Elisabeth Hernitscheck: Im trüben Wasser des "Davidsteichs" - P.Oxy. 840 und die Suche nach seiner Provenienz - Wolfgang Grünstäudl: Enthüllung im Fragment - Notizen zu Überlieferungsgestalt und Figureninventar der Offenbarung des Petrus - Andrew Gregory: The Nazoraeans - Jean-Daniel Dubois: The Basilidians - Johanna Brankaer: Revisiting Those Elusive Sethians - Tobias Nicklas: Jenseits der Kategorien - Elchasai und die Elchasaiten - Carl Johan Berglund: Evaluating Quotations in Ancient Greek Literature: The Case of Heracleon's hypomnēmata - Gianfranco Agosti: (Re)constructing a Christian Community through its Poetry

  • Edited by Tobias Nicklas
  • Edited by Joseph Verheyden
  • Edited by Elisabeth Hernitscheck