Thank you.You, LC, are of course free to sort Christian literature into three categories for your purposes.
Contrary to your caution here, the OP is quite clear that these three categories are not distinct and separate from one another. There will be overlap areas as highlighted by a Venn diagram"Though some don't seem to fit.
E.g., 1 and 2 Clement,
which many do not regard as heretical,
which some consider patristic,
and which may contain one or more instances of agrapha, sayings of Jesus.
Perhaps I could have been clearer by including overlap areas between all the categories.Overlap between 1 and 2: There will of course be some (small number of) texts which fall into a Venn Diagram intersection between the collection of texts classed as those of the NTC and those of the NTA.
Here is a triple Venn diagram (which I am having a problem displaying other than using right-click and opening in another tab):
The features of this diagram highlight the following:
NTC NTA EH Triple Venn Diagram with Overlaps
0) The great majority of the texts involved in Christian literature will automatically fall into their respective categories
* The 27 books of the NTC will all fall into the NTC without overlap area
* The Gospel of Judas and hundreds of other books will all fall into the NTA without overlap area
* The hundreds of books of Eusebius along with the Ante Nicene, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers will all fall into EH without overlap area
Then we get to the overlap areas. These may in cases be contentious however as I have indicted in this discussion the number of texts in these overlap areas is relatively small when compared to the above. The appropriate allocation of various (small number of) texts to each overlap area can be discussed separately.
1) NTC and/or NTA: Books of the Evangelists and/or books of the "Heretics"?
* Gospel of Thomas ???
* Portions of the Gospel of Peter (Cross gospel)
* Portions of the Clementine literature (sayings of Peter)
2) NTC and/or EH: Books of the Evangelists and/or books of the "Fathers"?
* Shepherd of Hermas (Sinaiticus)
* 1 Clement (Alexandrinus)
* 2 Clement (Alexandrinus)
* Epistle of Barnabas (Sinaiticus)
* Epistles (7) of Ignatius
* Didache (aka "The Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations")
* Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians
* Epistles of Clement of Rome (via Pseudo-Isidore)??
* Note that many of these are represented in the earliest extant Greek NT mss but were not included in the 27 NTC collection at the end of the canonisation process.
3) NTA and/or EH: Books of the "Heretics" and/or books of the "Fathers"?
* Harmony gospel???
* I can't think of any here off the top of my head (perhaps others can)
4) NTC, NTA or EH: Books of the Evangelists and/or "Heretics" and/or "Fathers"?
* This is the overlap for all three classes NTC, NTA and EH.
* Harmony gospel ?
* Again I can't think of many here off the top of my head (perhaps others can)
0) The great majority of the texts involved in Christian literature will automatically fall into their respective categories
* The 27 books of the NTC will all fall into the NTC without overlap area
* The Gospel of Judas and hundreds of other books will all fall into the NTA without overlap area
* The hundreds of books of Eusebius along with the Ante Nicene, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers will all fall into EH without overlap area
Then we get to the overlap areas. These may in cases be contentious however as I have indicted in this discussion the number of texts in these overlap areas is relatively small when compared to the above. The appropriate allocation of various (small number of) texts to each overlap area can be discussed separately.
1) NTC and/or NTA: Books of the Evangelists and/or books of the "Heretics"?
* Gospel of Thomas ???
* Portions of the Gospel of Peter (Cross gospel)
* Portions of the Clementine literature (sayings of Peter)
2) NTC and/or EH: Books of the Evangelists and/or books of the "Fathers"?
* Shepherd of Hermas (Sinaiticus)
* 1 Clement (Alexandrinus)
* 2 Clement (Alexandrinus)
* Epistle of Barnabas (Sinaiticus)
* Epistles (7) of Ignatius
* Didache (aka "The Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations")
* Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians
* Epistles of Clement of Rome (via Pseudo-Isidore)??
* Note that many of these are represented in the earliest extant Greek NT mss but were not included in the 27 NTC collection at the end of the canonisation process.
3) NTA and/or EH: Books of the "Heretics" and/or books of the "Fathers"?
* Harmony gospel???
* I can't think of any here off the top of my head (perhaps others can)
4) NTC, NTA or EH: Books of the Evangelists and/or "Heretics" and/or "Fathers"?
* This is the overlap for all three classes NTC, NTA and EH.
* Harmony gospel ?
* Again I can't think of many here off the top of my head (perhaps others can)
In conclusion I am certainly not proposing that these three major classes of Christian literature are distinct and separate from each other. I agree that a small number will not automatically fit into one or the other category. Rather I have from the beginning understood that overlap areas must be included in order to reflect an appropriate classification for a small number of the texts involved in the full assessment of Christian literature.
I trust this has clarified my position.
Statistics: Posted by Leucius Charinus — Wed May 22, 2024 7:04 pm