The Fate of the Dead. Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (Supplements to Novum Testamentum 93)

441 Pages·1998·21.54 MB·English

by  Richard Bauckham

SUPPLEMENTS TO
NOVUM TESTAMENTUM
EDITORIAL BOARD
C.K. BARRETr, Durham - P. BORGEN, Trondheim
J-K. ELLIOTr, Leeds - H.J- DE JONGE, Leiden
M.J-J- ~IENKEN, Utrecht -J- SMIT SlBtNGA, Amsterdam
Executive Editors
A.J- MALHERBE, New Haven
D.P. MOESSNER, Adanta
VOLUME XCIII
THE FATE OF THE DEAD
Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocaly/JSes
BY
RICHARD BAUCKHANI
BRILL
LEIDEN . BOSTON· KOLN
1998
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bauckham. Richard.
The Fate of the Dead: Sludies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses
/ by Richard Bauckham.
p. cm. - (Supplements to Novum Testamentum, ISSN 0167-9732 ;
v.93)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004112030 (cloth: alk. paper)
I. Apocalyptic literature-HistOIY and criticism. 2. Eschatology
History of doctrines~·Early church, ca. 30-600. 3. Future life-
Christianity-Hislory of doctrines-Early church, ca. 30-600.
4. Eschatology, Jewish-History of doctrines. 5. Future life-
Judaism -History of doctrines. I. Title. .11. Series.
BL501.B38 1998
291.2'3--dc21 98-16848
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-EinheitsaufnahDle
BauckhaDl, Richard:
The Fate of the Dead: Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses /
by Richard Bauckham. - Leiden ; Boston ; Koln: Brill, 1998
(Supplements to Novum testamentum; Vol. 93)
ISBN 90-04"'1 1203-0
[Novum Testamentum I Supplements]
SlIpplements to Novum testamentum _. Leiden ; Boston; Koln: Brill
huher Schriftenreihe
Fnrliauiende Beiheftreihe zu: Novum testamenlum
\101. 93. Ballckham, Richard: The Fale of the Dead. - 1998
ISSN 0167-9732
ISBN 90 04 11203 0
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PRlNrED IN THE NETHERLANDS
CONTENTS
Preface.............. ........................... ....... ...... ........... ............... ....... .... VII
Abbreviations ......................... ........................................... ............. IX
Texts and Translations ................................................................. XIII
Introduction .~ ................................................................................ .
I Descents to the Underworld ........ ................. ........... .... ....... 9
II Early Jewish Visions of Hell ..............................................' . 49
IU Visiting the Places of the Dead in the Extra-Canonical
Apocalypses .............................. ......................................... ... 81
IV The Rich 'Man and Lazarus: The Parable and the
Parallels............ ............. ..... .................................. .......... ...... 97
V The Tongue Set on Fire by Hell (Tames 3:6) .................... 119
VI The Conflict ofJ ustice and Mercy: Attitudes to the
Damned in Apocalyptic Literature ............... ...................... 132
VII Augustine, the "Compassionate" Christians, and the
Apocalypse of Peter .................. ............ .... ................ ... ........ 149
VIII The Apocalypse of Peter: AJewish Christian Apocalypse
from the Time of Bar Kokhba ............. ........................ ...... 160
IX A Quotation from 4Q Second Ezekiel in the Apocalypse
of Peter ................................................................................. 259
X Resurrection as Giving Back the Dead ............ ...... ...... ...... 269
XI 2 Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter .................................. 290
XII The Apocalypse of the Seven Heavens: The Latin
Version ................................................................................. 304
XIII The Four Apocalypses of the Virgin Mary ........................ 332
XIV The Ascension of Isaiah: Genre, Unity and Date ............. 363
Indices ................. ....... ...... .......... ...... ................. ............... .......... .... 391
DETAILS OF PREVIOUS PUBLICATION OF CHAPTERS
Note: In most cases previously published articles haue been reuised for this uolume.
1 Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. D. N. Freedman (New York:
Doub1eday, 1992) vol. 2, pp. 145-159.
2 ]TS 41 (1990) 355-385.
3 Proceedings if the Irish Biblical Association 18 (1995) 78-93.
4 NTS 37 (1991) 225-246.
5 not previously published.
6 Apocrypha 1 (1990) 181-196.
7 not previously published.
8 Apocrypha 5 (1994) 7-111.
9 Reuue de Qymran 59 (1992) 437-446.
10 J. H. Charlesworth and C. A. Evans ed., The Pseudepigrapha and
Early Biblical Interpretation (Studies in Scripture in Early Judaism
and Christianity 2; jSPSS 14; Sheffield: jSOT Press, 1993) 269-
291.
11 not previously published.
12 Apocrypha 4 (1993) 141-175.
13 not previously published.
14 not previously published.
PREFACE
The studies collected in this volume reflect some fifteen years of study
of the extra-canonical Jewish and Christian apocalypses. Those which
have been previously published (nine of the fourteen chapters) were
published in the years 1990-1995, but many incorporate work done
in the 1980s, as do some of the previously unpublished studies. I
should like to acknowledge the circumstances in which some of them
originated.
Chapter 6 originated as a paper delivered to an International Col
loquium held to celebrate the Centenary of the Section des Sciences
Religieuses (Veme Section) de l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (of
the Sorbonne), in Paris, in September 1986. The session in which it
was given ('Les Litteratures Apocryphes') reflected the lively interest
in and pioneering research on the Christian apocryphal literature
which characterize the Section and its research centre, CAi'1AL
(Centre d'analyse pour l'histoire du Judaisme hellenistique et des
origines chretiennes). It also introduced me to the work and many of
the members of the Association pour l'Etude de la Litterature
Apocryphe Chretienne (AELAC), which is responsible for the re
search for and ongoing publication of the volumes of the Corpus
Christianorum Series Apocryphorum, and to which I was later ad
mitted as a member. Like all who study apocryphal literature, I am
much indebted to the work of the members of this Association. Fur
ther fruitful contact with the circle of its members in Paris came when
I was invited by Pierre Geoltrain to be a visiting Director of Studies at
the Ecole in the spring of 1991. The lectures I gave t.hen on 'The
Apocalypse of Peter in it~ Literary and Historical Contexts' formed
the basis of chapter 8 of the present volume. I am gratefi.ll to those
who discussed them with me and entertained me at that time, espe
cially Pierre Geoltrain, Jean-Daniel Dubois (President of AELAC),
Alain Desreumaux, Jean-Claude Pi card and Pierluigi Piovanelli.
Chapter 12 of the present volume was also written at the invitation of
CANAL, and these three chapters (6, 8, 12) were first published in
the excellent journal Apocrypha, which was launched by the Paris
members of AELAC in 1990, and has become an invaluable reposi
tory of new research on the apocryphal literature.
Chapter 7 originated as a paper given to a conference of the
Historical Theology group (now the Christian Doctrine group) of the
Tyndale Fellowship at Tyndale House, Cambridge, in 1983. Chapter
vrn PREFACE
II was originally planned as an appendix to my commentary onJude,
2 Peter (Word Biblical Commentary 50; Waco: Word Books, 1983),
but had to be excluded for reasons of space and has only reached
publishable form in the preparation of the present volume. Chapter 3
originated as a lecture to the annual meeting of the Irish Biblical
Association in Dublin in April 1995. I am most grateful to Michael
Maher for inviting me on that occasion and for his and Martin
McNamara's hospitality. Chapters 4 and 10 originated as papers read
to the Ehrhardt Seminar in the Faculty of Theology (now the Depart
ment of Religions and Theology) in the University of Manchester.
This biblical studies research seminar, which flourished under the
chairmanship of the late Professor Barnabas Lindars, S.S.F, and then
of Dr George Brooke, was a regular source of academic stimulation
during the period (1977-1992) when I was Lecturer and then Reader
in the History of Christian Thought in the Department of Historical
and Contemporary Theology at Manchester. The contents of this
present volume must also be indebted in countless ways to the almost
continuous conversation, on all matters Jewish and apocalyptic, in
which I engaged with my friend Philip Alexander during the many
years when we were colleagues in Manchester.
Other scholars who have contributed to my studies in this volume
by generously supplying me with their own published or unpublished
work include Antonio Acerbi, Philippe Gignoux, Julian Hills, Johan
de long, Martin McNamara, Paolo Marrassini, Enrico Norelli,
Mauro Pesce,Jean-Marc Rosenstiehl and Ben Wright. I should espe
cially like to mention the late Roger Cowley, with whom I had begun
to collaborate in work on the Apocalypse of Peter not long before his
untimely death in 1988. I am also grateful to Mark Bredin for under
taking the complex and laborious task of compiling the indices.
December 1997
RICHARD BAUCKHAM
ABBREVIATIONS
The following list provides a key to the abbreviations used in this
volume for Jewish and Christian apocryphal works, and other Jewish,
early Christian and Gnostic works. Where possible, the abbreviations
conform to those used in J. H. Charlesworth ed., The Old Testament
Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols. (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1983,
1985).
Not listed here are abbreviations for biblical works, which follow
SBL style, and abbreviations for journals and series, which also follow
SBL style.
ActsJn Acts ofJ ohn
ActsThom Acts of Thomas
G, Syr Greek, Syriac
ApAb Apocalypse of Abraham.
ApEl Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah
ApElfrag Apocalypse of Elijah: Latin fragment
1A pJas First Apocalypse of James (CG V, 3)
ApMos Apocalypse of Moses
ApocrJas Apocryphon ofJames (CG 1,2)
ApPaul Apocalypse of Paul.
P Paris Latin text
StG St Gall Latin text
ApPaul Red I Apocalypse of Paul Latin Redaction I
ApPaul Red IV Apocalypse of Paul Latin Redaction IV
ApPaul Red V Apocalypse of Paul Latin Redaction V
ApPaul Red VII Apocalypse of Paul Latin Redaction VII
ApPaul Red VIII Apocalypse of Paul Latin Redaction VIII
ApPaul Red X Apocalypse of Paul Latin Redaction X
ApPet Apocalypse of Peter
A Akhmim Greek text
B Bodleian Greek fragment
E Ethiopic version
R Rainer Greek fragment
ApSedr Apocalypse of Sedrach
ApZeph Apocalypse of Zephaniah (Coptic texts)
ApZeph (Clem) Apocalypse of Zephaniah: quotation in Clement of
Alexandria, Sir. 5.11.77
ArApPet Arabic Apocalypse of Peter
AscenIs Ascension of Isaiah
b. 'Abod. Zar. Babylonian Talmud tractate 'Aboda Zara
2 Bar 2 (Syriac Apocalypse of) Baruch
3 Bar 3 (Greek Apocalypse of) Baruch
G, SI Greek, Slavonic
x ABBREVIATIONS
4 Bar 4 (The Rest of the Words of) Baruch, or Paralipomena
Jeremiae
b. 'Arak. Babylonian Talmud tractate 'Arakin
Barlaam History of Barlaam andJosaphat
Barn Epistle of Barnabas
b. Ber. Babylonian Talmud tractate Berakot
b. Gin. Babylonian Talmud tractate Gigin
b. J:Iag. Babylonian Talmud tractate J:Iagiga
b. Ket. Babylonian Talmud tractate Ketubot
BkThom Book of Thomas (CG II, 7)
BohDormMaxy Bohairic Account of the Dormition of Maxy
BohHistJos Bohairic Account of the Death of Joseph
b. Sanh. Babylonian Talmud tractate Sanhedrin
b. Shab. Babylonian Talmud tractate Shabbat
b. So~. Babylonian Talmud tractate So~a
b, Sukk. Babylonian Talmud tractate Sukka
b. Ta'an. Babylonian Talmud tractate Ta'anit
CantRab Midrash Rabbah on Canticles
CD Damascus Covenant
ChrJerah Chronicles ofJ eral?meel
1 Clem I Clement
2 Clem 2 Clement
CopApJn Coptic apocryphal Apocalypse of John
CopApPaul Apocalypse of Paul (Coptic version)
CopLifePach Coptic Life of Pachomius
3 Cor '3 Corinthians' (part of the Acts of Paul)
Did Didache
DidascLord Didascalia of our Lord Jesus Christ
EcclRab Midrash Rabbah on Ecclesiastes
1 En 1 (Ethiopic Apocalypse of) Enoch
2 En 2 (Slavonic Apocalypse of) Enoch
3 En 3 (Hebrew Apocalypse of) Enoch
EncJnBapt Encomium onJohn the Baptist by John Chrysostom
EpApp Epistle of the Apostles
EpPetPhil Epistle of Peter to Philip (CG VIII,2)
EthApMary Ethiopic Apocalypse of the Virgin
EthBkMyst Ethiopic Book of the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth
ExodRab Midrash Rabbah on Exodus
4 EzraArm Armenian version of 4 Ezra
GBart Gospel of Bartholomew = The Book of the Resurrec
tion
GedMos Gedulat Moshe
GenRab Midrash Rabbah on Genesis
GkApEzra Greek Apocalypse of Ezra
GkApJn Greek apocryphal Apocalypse ofJ ohn
GkApMary Greek Apocalypse of the Virgin
GNic Gospel of Nicodemus
GPet Gospel of Peter
HebApEl Hebrew Apocalypse of Elijah