Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 AD) reported that Valentinus (~100-180 AD) was taught by Theudas, a disciple of the apostle Paul (Strom. 7.106.4).
There's certainly a fair bit of scholarship on Valentinus's use of Pauline theology, eg.,
A. Ismo O. Dunderberg, “Paul and Valentinian morality,” in Valentinianism: New Studies, 2020, Brill, https://brill.com/display/book/97890044 ... 000020.xml, which Dundersberg starts with,
She then notes,
And
Yet another dimension of the reverence shown towards Paul is the fact that some Valentinians wrote new texts under his name.
This much said, scholarly estimations about the Valentinian interpretations of Paul are strikingly diverse. Elaine Pagels, in her study The Gnostic Paul (1975), delineated two conflicting pictures of Paul in the second century: Irenaeus and his followers developed an image of an “anti-Gnostic” Paul in opposition to “the gnostic Paul” of the Valentinians. Pagels was critical of both sides: “each of these opposing images of Paul (and each of the hermeneutical systems they imply) to some extent distorts the reading of the texts”.2
.
After noting that, in 1979, at least, Andreas Lindemann adopted a much harsher stance towards Valentinian use of Paul, Dundersberg says,
Fortunately, a much more positive view on Valentinian interpretations of Paul has gained ground. A number of specialists on Nag Hammadi texts and other early Christian sources have confirmed that Valentinians drew real inspiration from Paul and based their theological views on his. Michel Desjardins has shown that “... the Valentinian understanding of sin is fundamentally Christian in nature ... it emerges naturally out of Pauline speculations about sin”.4
Philip Tite has more recently adopted and expanded Desjardins’ line of thought in his methodologically sophisticated analysis of the moral exhortation in the Gospel of Truth and the Interpretation of Knowledge.5 Judith Kovacs notes “the great importance of Paul’s letters to Valentinian theologians”,6 arguing that “these early exegetes listened hard when they heard Paul proclaiming: ‘By the grace of God I am what I am’ (1 Cor 15:10)”.7 Minna Heimola devotes one full chapter to the reception of Paul in her study on the Gospel of Philip.8 [continues]
4 Desjardins, Sin, 131. Desjardins also emphasizes, correctly in my view, that “Valentinian ethics in general reflect the gospel injunctions in the NT, notably those in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount.”
5 Tite, “Exploration of Valentinian Paraenesis”; idem, Valentinian Ethics.
6 Kovacs, “Grace and Works,” 210.
7 Kovacs, “Language of Grace,” 84 [see B.1.1 below in this post]
8 Heimola, Christian Identity, 93–102; for a recent review of Heimola’s study, see David Brakke, CBQ 75 (2013) 572–73
4 Desjardins, Michel R. Sin in Valentinianism. SBLDS 108. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press 1990.
5 Tite, Philip L. “An Exploration of Valentinian Paraenesis: Rethinking Gnostic Ethics in the Interpretation of Knowledge (NHC XI, 1).” Harvard Theological Review 97 (2004) 275–304.
5 Tite, Philip L. Valentinian Ethics and Paraenetic Discourse: Determining the Social Function of Moral Exhortation in Valentinian Christianity. NHMS 67. Leiden: Brill 2009.
6 Kovacs, Judith L (2013) “Grace and Works: Clement of Alexandria’s Response to Valentinian Exegesis of Paul,” in T. Nicklas, A. Merkt, J. Verheyden (eds.), Ancient Perspectives on Paul (NTOA 102; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht), 191–210.
7 Judith Kovacs, “The language of grace: Valentinian Reflection on New Testament Imagery,” in Radical Christian Voices and Practice: Essays in Honour of Christopher Rowland, edited by Zoë Bennett and David B. Gowler, 2012, Oxford: OUP: pp. 69-85.
8 Heimola, Minna. Christian Identity in the Gospel of Philip. PFES 102. Helsinki: The Finnish Exegetical Society 2011.
.
B.1. Judith Kovacs, “The language of grace: Valentinian Reflection on New Testament Imagery,” in Radical Christian Voices and Practice: Essays in Honour of Christopher Rowland, edited by Zoë Bennett and David B. Gowler, 2012, Oxford: OUP: pp. 69-85. https://www.academia.edu/5603468/_The_l ... d_OUP_2012
Clement of Alexandria's The Excerpts from Theodotus...provide evidence that passages from the Pauline letters – especially Colossians and Hebrews1 – had considerable importance in the generation of Valentinian soteriology.2
1 The extent to which second century exegetes regarded Hebrews as a Pauline letter is unclear. The earliest manuscript of Pauline letters places Hebrews within the corpus: between Romans and 1 Corinthians.
Attridge, Hebrews, 1, observes: “That placement indicates the judgments about the authorship and genre of the work which were current in the Eastern church, or more specifically in Alexandria, by the middle of the second century.” In Books and Readers, 59, Harry Gamble infers from P46 that a collection of Pauline letters that included Hebrews was “already current by the middle of the second century,” alongside Marcion’s collection of ten letters which did not include Hebrews. David Trobisch, noting the varying position of Hebrews within the fourteen Pauline epistles in fourth and fifth century manuscripts of the whole Bible, infers that there was once a thirteen-letter corpus, to which Hebrews was added. But he deduces from the uniformity of Hebrews’ title – it is named for its addressees, as are the other Pauline letters – that all the manuscripts of Hebrews can be traced back to a single exemplar. “In this exemplar,” he argues, “Hebrews was already part of a collection of the letters of Paul” (Paul’s Letter Collection, 26).
Clement of Alexandria ascribes Hebrews to Paul (Strom. 1.5.27; cf. Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.14.2), as [according to Eusebius] does Origen (apud Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.25.14).
In her article in the present volume, “Valentinians and the Christian Canon”, Pheme Perkins notes: “Use of the ‘proto-canon,’ namely ‘the gospel’ comprising the four, along with apocryphal material and ‘the apostle,’ Pauline letters possibly including Hebrews, as the Valentinians do, is the norm rather than the exception.” She cites as evidence of Valentinian use of Hebrews, Exc. 38.2 and Gos. Truth 20:10–11.
In the present article I shall present further evidence for use of Hebrews by Valentinian authors.
2 I adduce other evidence for the importance of Pauline letters for Valentinian theology in “The Language of Grace.”
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Kovacs notes
And
And
- Epiphanius (mid-late 4th C. AD), however, reported or implied that Valentinus was taught by Basilides (who taught ~117-138 AD)
(maybe Valentinus was taught by both)
(maybe Valentinus was taught by Basilides and it was his followers followed Paul ...)
There's certainly a fair bit of scholarship on Valentinus's use of Pauline theology, eg.,
A. Ismo O. Dunderberg, “Paul and Valentinian morality,” in Valentinianism: New Studies, 2020, Brill, https://brill.com/display/book/97890044 ... 000020.xml, which Dundersberg starts with,
Paul’s letters represented sacred tradition and a source of authority to Valentinians. Most prominently, Paul was the source of inspiration to those Valentinians who saw themselves as being in the possession of the spiritual gift. This view was of vital importance since it was used to authorize their activity as teachers of other Christians. Valentinians also placed Valentinus himself in a chain of tradition issuing from Paul.
She then notes,
The claim linking Valentinus with an otherwise unknown Theudas, who in turn was Paul’s disciple (γνώριμος), is likely to stem from the followers of Valentinus, not his opponents.
And
Yet another dimension of the reverence shown towards Paul is the fact that some Valentinians wrote new texts under his name.
This much said, scholarly estimations about the Valentinian interpretations of Paul are strikingly diverse. Elaine Pagels, in her study The Gnostic Paul (1975), delineated two conflicting pictures of Paul in the second century: Irenaeus and his followers developed an image of an “anti-Gnostic” Paul in opposition to “the gnostic Paul” of the Valentinians. Pagels was critical of both sides: “each of these opposing images of Paul (and each of the hermeneutical systems they imply) to some extent distorts the reading of the texts”.2
.
After noting that, in 1979, at least, Andreas Lindemann adopted a much harsher stance towards Valentinian use of Paul, Dundersberg says,
Fortunately, a much more positive view on Valentinian interpretations of Paul has gained ground. A number of specialists on Nag Hammadi texts and other early Christian sources have confirmed that Valentinians drew real inspiration from Paul and based their theological views on his. Michel Desjardins has shown that “... the Valentinian understanding of sin is fundamentally Christian in nature ... it emerges naturally out of Pauline speculations about sin”.4
Philip Tite has more recently adopted and expanded Desjardins’ line of thought in his methodologically sophisticated analysis of the moral exhortation in the Gospel of Truth and the Interpretation of Knowledge.5 Judith Kovacs notes “the great importance of Paul’s letters to Valentinian theologians”,6 arguing that “these early exegetes listened hard when they heard Paul proclaiming: ‘By the grace of God I am what I am’ (1 Cor 15:10)”.7 Minna Heimola devotes one full chapter to the reception of Paul in her study on the Gospel of Philip.8 [continues]
4 Desjardins, Sin, 131. Desjardins also emphasizes, correctly in my view, that “Valentinian ethics in general reflect the gospel injunctions in the NT, notably those in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount.”
5 Tite, “Exploration of Valentinian Paraenesis”; idem, Valentinian Ethics.
6 Kovacs, “Grace and Works,” 210.
7 Kovacs, “Language of Grace,” 84 [see B.1.1 below in this post]
8 Heimola, Christian Identity, 93–102; for a recent review of Heimola’s study, see David Brakke, CBQ 75 (2013) 572–73
4 Desjardins, Michel R. Sin in Valentinianism. SBLDS 108. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press 1990.
5 Tite, Philip L. “An Exploration of Valentinian Paraenesis: Rethinking Gnostic Ethics in the Interpretation of Knowledge (NHC XI, 1).” Harvard Theological Review 97 (2004) 275–304.
5 Tite, Philip L. Valentinian Ethics and Paraenetic Discourse: Determining the Social Function of Moral Exhortation in Valentinian Christianity. NHMS 67. Leiden: Brill 2009.
6 Kovacs, Judith L (2013) “Grace and Works: Clement of Alexandria’s Response to Valentinian Exegesis of Paul,” in T. Nicklas, A. Merkt, J. Verheyden (eds.), Ancient Perspectives on Paul (NTOA 102; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht), 191–210.
7 Judith Kovacs, “The language of grace: Valentinian Reflection on New Testament Imagery,” in Radical Christian Voices and Practice: Essays in Honour of Christopher Rowland, edited by Zoë Bennett and David B. Gowler, 2012, Oxford: OUP: pp. 69-85.
8 Heimola, Minna. Christian Identity in the Gospel of Philip. PFES 102. Helsinki: The Finnish Exegetical Society 2011.
.
B.1. Judith Kovacs, “The language of grace: Valentinian Reflection on New Testament Imagery,” in Radical Christian Voices and Practice: Essays in Honour of Christopher Rowland, edited by Zoë Bennett and David B. Gowler, 2012, Oxford: OUP: pp. 69-85. https://www.academia.edu/5603468/_The_l ... d_OUP_2012
B.2. Judith Kovacs, “Participation in the Cross of Christ: Pauline Motifs in the Excerpts from Theodotus,” in Valentinianism: New Studies, 2020, Brill, https://brill.com/display/book/97890044 ... 000021.xml, which Kovacs starts with,Abstract
Among the earliest interpreters of Paul were followers of Valentinus ... This chapter explores these teachers’ radical understanding of Paul’s message of divine grace. Valentinian exegetes were especially attuned to Paul’s insistence that salvation is pure gift, not a reward for human ‘works’ (Romans: 3–4), and they paid particular attention to his language of election and his images of kinship (father, son, child, slave, brother, seed). The chapter argues that the influence of Paul on Valentinian teaching extends far beyond the explicit quotations from his letters.
Clement of Alexandria's The Excerpts from Theodotus...provide evidence that passages from the Pauline letters – especially Colossians and Hebrews1 – had considerable importance in the generation of Valentinian soteriology.2
1 The extent to which second century exegetes regarded Hebrews as a Pauline letter is unclear. The earliest manuscript of Pauline letters places Hebrews within the corpus: between Romans and 1 Corinthians.
Attridge, Hebrews, 1, observes: “That placement indicates the judgments about the authorship and genre of the work which were current in the Eastern church, or more specifically in Alexandria, by the middle of the second century.” In Books and Readers, 59, Harry Gamble infers from P46 that a collection of Pauline letters that included Hebrews was “already current by the middle of the second century,” alongside Marcion’s collection of ten letters which did not include Hebrews. David Trobisch, noting the varying position of Hebrews within the fourteen Pauline epistles in fourth and fifth century manuscripts of the whole Bible, infers that there was once a thirteen-letter corpus, to which Hebrews was added. But he deduces from the uniformity of Hebrews’ title – it is named for its addressees, as are the other Pauline letters – that all the manuscripts of Hebrews can be traced back to a single exemplar. “In this exemplar,” he argues, “Hebrews was already part of a collection of the letters of Paul” (Paul’s Letter Collection, 26).
Clement of Alexandria ascribes Hebrews to Paul (Strom. 1.5.27; cf. Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.14.2), as [according to Eusebius] does Origen (apud Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.25.14).
In her article in the present volume, “Valentinians and the Christian Canon”, Pheme Perkins notes: “Use of the ‘proto-canon,’ namely ‘the gospel’ comprising the four, along with apocryphal material and ‘the apostle,’ Pauline letters possibly including Hebrews, as the Valentinians do, is the norm rather than the exception.” She cites as evidence of Valentinian use of Hebrews, Exc. 38.2 and Gos. Truth 20:10–11.
In the present article I shall present further evidence for use of Hebrews by Valentinian authors.
2 I adduce other evidence for the importance of Pauline letters for Valentinian theology in “The Language of Grace.”
[/box]
Kovacs notes
"Clement’s work, whose longer title is Excerpts from the Works of Theodotus and the So-called Oriental Teaching at the Time of Valentinus...often cited rather casually as if all of its 86 paragraphs reflect the teaching of the eponymous Theodotus – a follower of Valentinus otherwise known only from a brief reference in Theodoret (Haer. fab. 18),...appears to be a private notebook in which Clement copied parts of several Valentinian works and added a few of his own reflections."
And
...the Pauline image of the “body of Christ”...which first appears in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, was progressively expanded, in Colossians and Ephesians and then in both Valentinian and Clementine parts of the Excerpts.
And
...the soteriology expressed in all four parts of the Excerpts can be understood as an expansion of ideas found in the Pauline letters
Statistics: Posted by MrMacSon — Sat Oct 05, 2024 6:32 pm