By the same word: The intersection of cosmology and soteriology in Hellenistic Judaism, early Christianity and ''Gnosticism'' in the light of Middle Platonic intermediary doctrine

450 Pages·2004·2.2 MB·English

by  Cox, Ronald R.

BY THE SAME WORD:

THE INTERSECTION OF COSMOLOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY IN

HELLENISTIC JUDAISM, EARLY CHRISTIANITY AND “GNOSTICISM”

IN THE LIGHT OF MIDDLE PLATONIC INTERMEDIARY DOCTRINE

A Dissertation

Submitted to the Graduate School

of the University of Notre Dame

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

by

Ronald R. Cox, B.S., M. Div.

___________________________________

Gregory E. Sterling, Director

Graduate Program in Theology

Notre Dame, Indiana

April 2005
UMI Number: 3171614
UMI Microform 3171614
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BY THE SAME WORD:

THE INTERSECTION OF COSMOLOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY IN

HELLENISTIC JUDAISM, EARLY CHRISTIANITY AND “GNOSTICISM’

IN THE LIGHT OF MIDDLE PLATONIC INTERMEDIARY DOCTRINE

Abstract

By

Ronald R. Cox

Middle Platonism espoused an intellectual system that would explain how a
transcendent supreme principle could relate to the material universe. The central aspect of
this system was an intermediary, modeled after the Stoic active principle, which mediated
the supreme principle’s influence to the material world while preserving its
transcendence. Having similar concerns as Middle Platonism, three religious traditions
from the turn of the era (Hellenistic Jewish sapientialism, early Christianity, and
“Gnosticism”) appropriated Middle Platonic intermediary doctrine as a means for
understanding their relationship to the Deity, to the cosmos, and to themselves.
However, each of these traditions varies in their adaptation of this doctrine as a result of
their distinctive understanding of creation and humanity’s place therein. In particular
Hellenistic Jewish sapientialism (Philo of Alexandria and Wisdom of Solomon) espouses
a holistic ontology, combining a Platonic appreciation for noetic reality with an
Ronald R. Cox
ultimately positive view of creation and its place in human fulfillment. Early Christians
(those who speak in 1 Corinthians 8:6, Colossians 1:15-20, Hebrews 1:2-3, and the
Johannine prologue) provide an eschatological twist on this ontology when the
intermediary figure finds its final expression in the human Jesus Christ. On the other
hand, Poimandres (CH 1) and the Apocryphon of John, both associated with the
traditional rubric “gnosticism,” draw from Platonism to describe how creation is
antithetical to human nature and its transcendent source.
To
Elaine and Hugh Gainey,
Rikka and Eric Stewart,
and
Shelly Evans Cox

ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables ............................................................................................................. viii
Acknowledgments..................................................................................................... ix
Introduction................................................................................................................ 1
A. The Fusion of Creation Myth and Salvation History...................................... 1
B. Identifying the Vorleben of the Christological Creation Myth ....................... 4
B.1 A Liturgical Vorleben.............................................................................. 4
B.2 A Hebraic Sapiential Vorleben................................................................ 6
B.3 A Hellenistic Jewish Vorleben ................................................................ 13
B.4 A Middle Platonic Vorleben.................................................................... 23
C. One Cosmology, Three Soteriologies ............................................................. 26
C.1 The Question behind this Study .............................................................. 26
C.2 The Thesis of This Study ........................................................................ 27
C.3 Methods and Methodological Caveats .................................................... 28
Summary of Introduction..................................................................................... 31

Chapter One: Middle Platonic Intermediary Doctrine............................................... 32
A. A Transcendent Supreme Principle................................................................. 35
B. Demiurgic Activity and the Intermediate Principle ........................................ 39
C. Prepositional Metaphysics............................................................................... 49
Excursus #1: The Prepositional Phrase WR GL¨RX.......................................... 53
D. The Anagogic Function of the Intermediate Principle.................................... 57
Summary of Chapter One .................................................................................... 62

Chapter Two: Salvation as the Fulfillment of Creation: The Roles of the Divine
Intermediary in Hellenistic Judaism .................................................................... 64
Part 1: Wisdom of Solomon....................................................................................... 68
A. Introduction..................................................................................................... 68
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B. Sophia as Cosmological Agent in Wisdom of Solomon 6-10......................... 71
B.1 Sophia’s Ontology................................................................................... 74
B.2 Sophia’s Cosmogonic Function .............................................................. 81
B.3 Sophia’s Administration of the Cosmos ................................................. 85
C. Sophia, Salvation and Anthropological Fulfillment........................................ 88
C.1 “She makes them friends of God”........................................................... 88
C.2 Sophia and the Unity of Creation and “Salvation” ................................. 92
Excursus #2: Sophia and “Salvation History” in Wisdom of Solomon 10.... 95
Excursus #3: The Mystical and Philosophical Aspects of
“Friendship with God”....................................................................... 96
Conclusion to Part 1............................................................................................. 100
Part 2: Philo of Alexandria ........................................................................................ 101
A. Introduction..................................................................................................... 101
B. The Questions of Intermediary Activity as they are Raised by Philo ............. 104
C. God? ................................................................................................................ 107
D. Between God and Creation: An Intermediary Nexus ..................................... 110
D.1 The Many Names of the Intermediary .................................................... 110
D.2 The Ways of Being of the Philonic Intermediary ................................... 114
D.3 The Functions of the Intermediate Nexus: The Logos of Cosmology.... 117
E. The Logos as Agent of Creation...................................................................... 119
E.1 The Instrumental Use of the Logos: The Logos asRU>JDQRQGL¨RX_
WR SDQ
HNMRVPRSRLHL
........................................................................ 120
E.2 The Logos as Divider: The Logos as R-WRPHX WZQ
VXPSDQYWZQ ......... 129
E.3 The Paradigmatic Use of the Logos: The Logos as HLNMZQY ...................... 134
E.4 The Stoic Aspect: The Logos and Cosmic GLRLNYKVL ............................ 146
F. The Anthropological Role of the Logos .......................................................... 150
F.1 A Page from Stoic Anthropology ............................................................ 150
F.2 The Logos and Pyschic Anagogy ............................................................ 154
Conclusion to Part 2............................................................................................. 161
Summary to Chapter Two.................................................................................... 163

Chapter Three: Salvation as the Reparation of Creation: The Roles of the Divine
Intermediary in New Testament Christology....................................................... 164
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Part 1: Ontology and Eschatology in Conflict:
1 Corinthians 8:6 – An Introductory Case Study........................................... 164
A. A. The Origin and Nature of 1 Cor 8:6 ........................................................... 164
A.1 Function of the Text................................................................................ 164
A.2 Origin of the Text.................................................................................... 167
B. Whose Soteriology? Corinthian vs. Pauline Soteriology in 1 Cor 8:6............ 172
B.1 The Difficulty With Crediting Paul for Creating 1 Cor 8:6 .................... 172
B.2 The More Suitable Context: How 1 Cor 8:6 fits with the
Corinthians’ Thought ......................................................................... 175
B.3 Seeking a Solution to the Question: From Whence Comes 1 Cor 8:6? .. 181
C. Eschatological vs. Ontological Anthropology ................................................ 184
Conclusion to Part One ........................................................................................ 187
Part 2: Colossians 1:15-20 ......................................................................................... 189
A. Structure and Origin of Colossians 1:15-20.................................................... 190
A.1 Structure .................................................................................................. 190
A.2 Origin ...................................................................................................... 196
B. Cosmological Agency in Col 1:15-20............................................................. 199
B.1 The Son’s Ontological Status in Col 1:15............................................... 199
B.2 Cosmogonic Functions of the Son in Col 1:16 ....................................... 203
B.3 The Son as Continually Sustaining the Cosmos...................................... 208
B.4 Summary of the Cosmology of the Colossian Hymn.............................. 210
C. Soteriological Agency in Col 1:15-20............................................................. 210
C.1 The Son’s New Ontological Status ......................................................... 211
C.2 The Purpose (Clause) of the Second Strophe.......................................... 213
C.3 The Son’s Reparation of the Cosmos...................................................... 214
C.4 Summary of the Soteriology of the Colossian Hymn ............................. 219
D. Interrelationship of Cosmology and Soteriology in Col 1:15-20.................... 221
Part 3: Hebrews 1:1-4 ................................................................................................ 224
A. A. Origin and Nature of Hebrews 1:1-4.......................................................... 224
A.1 Structure .................................................................................................. 225
A.2 Source(s)?................................................................................................ 231
B. Cosmology in Heb 1:2c and 3ab: The Son in relation to God
and the Cosmos ........................................................................................ 236
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B.1 Heb 1:2c: “through whom he made the ages”......................................... 237
B.2 Heb 1:3ab: “his effulgence and impression” & “bearing all things” ...... 239
Excursus #4: DSMDXJYDVPD and FDUDNWKUYin Philo and in Hebrews............. 244
C. Soteriology ...................................................................................................... 253
C.1 Heb 1:2b: “heir of all things” .................................................................. 253
C.2 Heb 1:3cd: “purification for sins” & “he sat down at the right hand” .... 254
D. Interrelationship of Cosmology and Soteriology ............................................ 259
Part 4: The Johannine Prologue ................................................................................. 264
A. Origin and Nature of the John Prologue ......................................................... 264
B. The Prologue’s Cosmology: John 1:1-5.......................................................... 269
B.1 Ontology: the Divine Status of the Logos (John 1:1).............................. 270
B.2 Cosmogony: the Creative Agency of the Logos (John 1:3, 10b)............ 273
B.3 Anthropological Sustenance: the Logos as Locus of Life and Light
(John 1:3c-5 ) ..................................................................................... 275
Excursus #5: Logos-centric Interpretation of Genesis 1 in
Philo of Alexandria and the Prologue to John ................................... 282
C. Soteriology ...................................................................................................... 291
C.1 Soteriology in Strophe 2 (John 1:10-12) ................................................. 292
C.2 Soteriology in Strophe 3 (John 1:14, 16) ................................................ 298
C.3 From Cosmology to Radical Historicization........................................... 300
Excursus #6: The Extent of Historicization of Hellenistic Sophialogical
Intermediaries .................................................................................... 301
C. Interrelationship of Soteriology and Cosmology in the Johannine Prologue.. 319
Summary to Chapter Three.................................................................................. 323

Chapter Four: Salvation as the Undoing of Creation: The Roles of the Divine
Intermediary in “Gnosticism”.............................................................................. 324
Part 1: Corpus Hermeticum 1: “Poimandres”............................................................ 333
A. Introduction..................................................................................................... 333
A.1 The Content of Corpus Hermeticum 1.................................................... 335
A.2 The Religious and Intellectual Provenance of Corpus Hermeticum 1.... 337
B. Theology, Cosmology and Anthropology in the Corpus Hermeticum 1 ........ 342
B.1 Who is the First Principle in Poimandres?.............................................. 342
B.2 Cosmogony in CH 1 and the Committee of Intermediaries .................... 346
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C. Salvation in Poimandres: The Two Ways....................................................... 356
C.1 Identifying the Ways ............................................................................... 356
Excursus #7: Structure and Prepositional Phrases in CH 1.21 ...................... 358
C.2 The Presence of Mind and the Ascent of the Soul .................................. 359
D. Conclusion: Shades of 1 RX
........................................................................... 361
D.1 Summary of Poimandres’ Presentation of Intermediaries...................... 362
D.2 GLD VRX
The Calling of Hermes ............................................................ 365
Part 2: The Apocryphon of John................................................................................. 367
A. Introduction..................................................................................................... 367
A.1 Sethianism............................................................................................... 367
A.2 The Apocryphon of John ......................................................................... 372
B. The Content and Composition of Ap. John ..................................................... 373
C. Intermediate Reality and the Cosmology of Ap. John .................................... 381
C.1 The Unknowable Monad Knows Himself............................................... 381
C.2 From Transcendent Monad to Father of the All...................................... 384
C.3 The Ontology of Barb�l�......................................................................... 386
C.4 The Barb�l� and (Celestial) Cosmogony ................................................ 390
C.5 The Self Generated and the Origin of the All ......................................... 394
D. Intermediate Reality and the Soteriology of the Apocryphon of John............ 397
D.1 Recasting the Anthropology of Genesis.................................................. 399
D.2 Soteriological Anthropogony.................................................................. 400
D.3 Barb�l� as Anagogue .............................................................................. 403
Summary to Chapter Four.................................................................................... 412

Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 413

Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 420

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