Christian Texts and History • A Pre-Markan Gospel with Fire

Cyprian (or pseudo-Cyprian), On Rebaptism 100.17: 17 There is a concocted book which is inscribed as the Preaching of Paul, in which book, against all the scriptures, you will find Christ even confessing his own sin, who alone failed in nothing at all, and that he was compelled by his own mother Mary almost unwillingly to accept the baptism of John, that likewise, when he was baptized, a fire was seen over the water, which is written in no gospel, and that after so much time Peter and Paul, after the bringing together of the gospel in Jerusalem and the mutual cogitation and the altercation and disposition of matters to be done, finally were in the city (of Rome), as if there first they recognized each other, and certain other things of this nature, absurdly and disgracefully concocted, which you will find all congested in that book.

The idea that the fire motif was suppressed or transformed into "light" makes a lot of sense.

At the same time, it opens up the question of whether we need to reconsider "Markan priority" as so often conceived. There may be a gospel before it.

Statistics: Posted by Peter Kirby — Sat Jan 25, 2025 4:22 pm