Christian Texts and History • Re: Irenaeus references to Gnostic texts?

Gospel of Judas

Irenaeus' reference to the Gospel of Judas is Against Heresies (Book I, Chapter 31)
Some scholars have noted a number of problems with the reference.

• Doctrines of the Cainites.
  
  Others again declare that Cain derived his being from the Power above, and acknowledge that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and all such persons, are related to themselves. On this account, they add, they have been assailed by the Creator, yet no one of them has suffered injury. For Sophia was in the habit of carrying off that which belonged to her from them to herself. They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas
  
  https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103131.htm

The earliest extant manuscript for Irenaeus a Latin MS and from the 10th/11th century


Gospel of Truth

Against Heresies (Book III, Chapter 11)
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103311.htm


Apocryphon of John

Frederik Wisse writes:

The section on the "Barbelo-Gnostics" is based on some early form of the Apocryphon of John. In spite of the remarkable agreements in order and content, the numerous differences in detail
make clear that the source of Adv. haer. 1,29 could not have been identical with our Apocryphon of John.49 At best 1,29 is an abbreviation or paraphrase, although this does not account for the
changes in detail, e.g. concerning the origin of Sophia and the nature of her sin. 393

p.217, The Nag Hammadi Library and the Heresiologists;
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1583319

None of these are compelling testimonies IMO.

Statistics: Posted by Leucius Charinus — Tue Nov 26, 2024 2:49 am

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