The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Latin Christianity: Proceedings of the First International Summer School on Christian Apocryphal Literature (ISCAL), Strasbourg, 24-27 June 2012

142 Pages·2014·23.96 MB·English

by  Els Rose

The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
in Latin Christianity
PROCEEDINGS OF THE
INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL
ON CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHAL
LITERATURE
École internationale d'été
sur la littérature apocryphe chrétienne
International Summer School
on Christian Apocryphal Literature
Collection dirigée par
G. Aragione
R. Gounelle
Les propositions de publication doivent être envoyées à
Rémi Gounelle
Professeur d’histoire de l’Antiquité chrétienne
Faculté de théologie protestante de l’Université de Strasbourg
BP 90020
9, place de l’Université
67084 Strasbourg Cedex
[email protected]
THE APOCRYPHAL ACTS
OF THE APOSTLES IN
LATIN CHRISTIANITY
Proceedings of the First
International Summer School
on Christian Apocryphal
Literature (ISCAL),
Strasbourg, 24-27June 2012
Edited by
Els Rose
BREPOLS
© 2014 BREPOLSHPUBLISHERS, Turnhout
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
D/2014/0095/180
ISBN 978-2-503-55302-3
E-book Only
CONTENTS
Preface i
Els Rose
Introduction 3
Rémi Gounelle
Christian apocryphal literature : An overview 7
Els Rose
The apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in the Latin Middle Ages:
Contexts of transmission and use 31
Maarten Prot
New approaches to textual variants in the Virtutes apostolorum 53
Evina Steinova
The prehistory of the Latin Acts of Peter (BHL 6663) and the
Latin Acts of Paul (BHL 6575). Some observations about the
development of the Virtutes apostolorum 69
Roald Dijkstra
Apocryphal legends about the apostles in early Christian art and
poetry: A survey 85
Maïeul Rouquette / Maarten Taveirne
Fabricius’ edition of the Virtutes apostolorum and MS Vienna
ÖNB 455 113
V
CONTENTS
Evina Steinova / Olivia Adankpo / Damien Labadie
Codices and early printed editions preserved at Strasbourg 117
Rémi Gounelle
Christian apocryphal literature: A bibliography 127
V I
PREFACE
The First International Summer School on Christian Apocryphal Lit­
erature (ISCAL 1) attracted a group of students from a wide range of
countries, including France, Belgium, Germany, Romania, Denmark,
Ireland, England and the United States. Bringing along a variety of back­
grounds with regard to educational tradition and specific areas of study,
the participants all shared an interest in the heritage of the apocryphal
writings and an eagerness to specialize further in the particular problems
this kind of literature poses. They participated in the discussions during
the plenary sessions of the Summer School and delved into the sources
and matters of methodology during the workshops.
The ISCAL is founded by Gabriella Aragione and Rémi Gounelle,
both affiliated to the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the University of
Strasbourg. Their initiative has created a new, inspiring and encouraging
environment for researchers in the field of apocrypha in various stages
of their academic career to meet. Through their efforts during the first
edition of ISCAL in June 2012, the hard work of methodological scru­
tiny was combined with the pleasure of a leisurely discovery of medieval
and convivial Strasbourg. They also introduced the participants to the
Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg, where an exposé on
the interesting international history of this Library and on its collection
was followed by a cordial invitation to consult the early printed editions
of the Latin apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. This workshop in situ ena­
bled the participants to compare the early modern approach to these
texts with the medieval manuscript transmission. The results of this par­
ticular workshop are included in the present proceedings.
The organizers of the Summer School and the editor of the pre­
sent volume are thoroughly grateful for the generous support offered
The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Latin Christianity, ed. by Els Rose, Proceedings of
ISCAL 1 (Turnhout, 2014), pp. 1-2.
© BREPOLS ® PUBLISHERS 10.1484/M.ISCAL-EO.5.102709
PREFACE
by the Centre d’Analyse et de Documentation Patristiques (CADP),
member of the Équipe d’Accueil 4378 “Théologie Protestante” as well
as the Association pour l’Étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne
(AELAC). We are equally grateful to the École Doctorale de Théologie
et Sciences religieuses (ED 270), to the Équipe d’Accueil 4377 (Théolo­
gie Catholique) and to the association THAT (Textes pour l’Histoire de
l’Antiquité Tardive) for their contribution to this first edition of ISCAL.
Thematically, ISCAL 1 took as its point of departure the Latin trans­
mission of the apocryphal Acts, indicated as the ‘Latin Collection of
the Acts of Apostles’. The organizers invited the Utrecht research team
that has been working on this theme since 2008 (a project funded by the
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, NWO) to take care
of the content of lectures and workshops. Three members of the team,
working in co-operation with AELAC, presented their research and
methods, to wit Els Rose, Maarten Prot and Evina Steinova. Their con­
tributions to this collection of essays are preceded by a general reflection
on Christian apocryphal literature by Rémi Gounelle. The fifth article is
written by Roald Dijkstra, author of a doctoral thesis on the representa­
tion of the apostles in early Christian art and poetry.
In the winter of 2004, François Bovon, one of the founding fathers
of AELAC, approached me and asked whether I was interested in han­
dling the dossier of ‘Pseudo-Abdias’ with a view to a future edition in
Corpus Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum. It was François Bovon,
whose demise in November 2013 we sincerely regret, who first offered
me and the members of my team the opportunity to explore the fascinat­
ing world of the Latin afterlife of the apocryphal Acts. Until the present
day I am sincerely grateful for his trust and his initiative, as well as for
his engagement with the project until the end. François Bovon died on
November 1. We will remember him as a true witness to the most central
characteristics of scholarship: sincerity and depth, cordial hospitality,
warm and cheerful friendship.
Els Rose
Utrecht, February 2014
2
ELS ROSE
INTRODUCTION
The lives of the apostles after Pentecost are described in the books of the
New Testament only in part. Details of the apostles’ missionary wander­
ings to the remote corners of the world are found in writings not includ­
ed in the biblical canon, which we know as the Apocryphal Acts of the
Apostles. In the early Middle Ages, these originally Greek writings were
translated and rewritten in Latin and circulated under a variety of titles,
of which Virtutes apostolorum is the most commonly accepted in con­
temporary scholarship.1 These texts became immensely popular. They
were copied in numerous manuscripts, both as a comprehensive collec­
tion with a chapter for each apostle and as individual texts, echoing the
needs of monastic and other religious communities that used these texts
to celebrate the apostles as saints.
The First Summer School on Christian Apocryphal Literature
(Strasbourg, 2012) concentrated on the transmission of the apocryphal
Acts of the Apostles in the Latin world. The main aim of the Summer
School is to make students acquainted with the state of the art as well
as with the most recent developments in methodology and approach.
These learning aims are reflected by the contributions collected here by
way of proceedings.
Concerning the approach to apocryphal studies in general, the arti­
cles in the volume follow the idea of Christian apocryphal literature as a
vast literary continent (Picard), where the composition and rewriting of
texts related in one way or another to biblical persons, events or genres
(Junod) is a continuous process, which covers not only the early centu-
1 Cf. M. Geerard , Clavis Apocryphorum Novi Testamenti (Corpus Christia­
norum), Turnhout, 1992, and see the article by Els Rose elsewhere in this collection.
The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Latin Christianity, ed. by Els Rose, Proceedings of
ISCAL 1 (Turnhout, 2014), pp. 3-6.
© BREPOLS ® PUBLISHERS 10.1484/M.ISCAL-EO.5.102710
ELS ROSE
ries of Christianity but also the Middle Ages, and has not stopped to
develop until the present day (Gounelle).2 Rémi Gounelle offers a state
of the art that builds on the new approaches to apocryphal literature de­
veloped by the group of editors linked to Corpus Christianorum, Series
Apocryphorum. Gounelle presents a definition of apocrypha, character­
izes the writings that are collected under this umbrella and focuses on
the memorial character of these texts as well as their quality of being
‘founding texts’. Gounelle dismisses the idea that the apocrypha were
‘popular texts’ by revealing the multiple layers of meaning which this
literature often comprises. The article is completed with a discussion
of formal features and a classification of the development of Christian
apocryphal literature in five phases.
With regard to methodology, the authors of the present collection
put the manuscripts central, which is particularly reflected in the articles
by Els Rose and Maarten Prot. While many early Christian apocrypha,
the early medieval Virtutes apostolorum included, were edited in print in
the early modern period without much explicit attention for the manu­
script context, Rose and Prot advocate a return to the manuscripts in
order to understand the texts in their contexts of use. The search for a re­
constructed ‘Ur-text’ is in the first place very difficult in these texts that
are marked by frequent use (which becomes visible in corrections, addi­
tions, variants and changes): each manuscript offers its own text. More
important is the question whether a reconstructed Ur-text is useful at
all if we want to know more about the way these sources were used by
specific medieval audiences.
Els Rose investigates the Virtutes apostolorum in their manuscript
context. The collection as a whole reflects an increasing interest in and
importance of the apostles as Christian saints, both as individuals and
as a group. The texts themselves, particularly the prologues that precede
many of the narratives, give us information on how and why the apocry­
phal Acts of the Apostles were rewritten and/or translated into Latin in
the early Middle Ages. The variety in the presentation of the individual
texts in the manuscripts gives rise to a re-assessment of the early modern
approach to the Latin apocryphal Acts as a collection, attributable to
‘Pseudo-Abdias’, and justifies a shift in approach: the manuscripts do not
support the idea of a coherent collection, just as little as the authorship
of (Pseudo-)Abdias. Both the liturgical character of a great number of
2 See for more detailed bibliographical references the article by Rémi Gounelle in
this collection.
4