Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports About Christianity and Gnosticism

342 Pages·2002·18.62 MB·English

by  Alan F. Segal

TWO POWERS IN HEAVEN

TWO POWERS IN HEAVEN
Early Rabbinic Reports
about Christianity and Gnosticism
BY
ALAN F. SEGAL
BRILL ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS, INC.
BOSTON · LEIDEN
2002
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Segal, Alan F., 1945-
Two powers in heaven : early rabbinic reports about Christianity and
Gnosticism / by Alan F. Segal
p. cm.
Originally published: Leiden : E.J. Brill, 1977, in series: Studies in Judaism in
late antiquity.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-391-04172-X
1. Heresies, Jewish. 2. Dualism in rabbinical literature. 3. Rabbinical litera-
ture—History and criticism. 4- Church history—Primitive and early church, ca.
30-600. 5. Gnosticism. I. Title.
BM646 .S44 2002
296.3'5—dc21
2002018341
ISBN 0-391-04172-X
© Copyright 1977 by E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written
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For Meryl

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface χχ
List of Abbreviations xv
Transliterations xxvi
PART ONI׳;
INTRODUCTION
I. Two Powers in Heaven: The History and Importance of
the Problem 3
FAllT TWO
THE EARLY RABBINIC EVIDENCE
II. Conflicting Appearances of God 33
III. Aher, Metatron, Merkabah, and the Angel of YHWH . . 60
IV. A Controversy between Ishmael and Akiba . . .. 74
V. Midrashic Warnings against "Two Powers" . . .. 84
VI. Mishnaic Prohibitions against Unorthodox Prayer . .. 98
VII. "Many Powers in Heaven" and Miscellaneous Reports . 109
VIII. How Many Powers Created the World? 121
IX. Divine Powers and Angels 135
X. Summary of Rabbinic Findings 147
PART THREE
THE EXTRA-RABBINIC EVIDENCE
AND CONCLUSIONS
XI. Philo 159
XII. Jewish Sectarian Texts 182
A. Apocalypticism and Mysticism 182
B. New Testament Christianity 205
XIII. The Church Fathers 220
XIV. Marcion 234
XV. Gnosticism 244
XVI. Conclusions 260
VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS
Bibliography 268
Indices 289
I. Rabbinic Writings 289
II. Extra-Rabbinic Writings 292
III. Scriptural References 297
IV. Subjects 302
PREFACE
This study of the rabbinic heretics who believed in "two powers in
heaven" began as a dissertation at Yale. The advantage of the topic,
as Professors Goldin, Dahl, and I discussed it, was that it allowed me
to explore some relationships between rabbinic Judaism, Merkabah
mysticism, and early Christianity without becoming overly dependent
on the complicated and uncharted Merkabah texts. Ironically, what
seemed like a neat and carefully defined problem soon expanded in
an almost unforeseen direction. It became clear that "two powers in
heaven" was a very early category of heresy, earlier than Jesus, if Philo
is a trustworthy witness, and one of the basic categories by which the
rabbis perceived the new phenomenon of Christianity. It was one of
the central issues over which the two religions separated. Furthermore,
the reports of heresy began to clarify how gnosticism, Judaism, and
Christianity related—a problem which has vexed scholarship for more
than a century.
That systematic study of the reports of "two powers" in rabbinic
literature might yield some interesting clues about the history of
mysticism, gnosticism, and Christianity was not a total surprise. Prev-
ious scholarship had identified the heretics inconclusively as gnostics
and Christians. The work of Gershom Scholem had emphasized a
relationship to early Merkabah mysticism. Not unexpectedly, the sources
showed that some mysticism and apocalypticism, as well as Christianity
and gnosticism, were seen as "two powers" heretics by the rabbis. The
key factor was not that all qualified as heresy but that, with prudent
dating of the stages of the traditions, the development of the heresy
could be reconstructed.
Dating the rabbinic reports was the most complicated problem. It
depended on methods developed in New Testament scholarship for
dating the sayings of Jesus. While the use of form criticism and
tradition history has grown quite sophisticated in New Testament
studies, Jewish scholars have been slower to pick up the methods.
Jacob Neusner has consistently championed the use of form criticism
and tradition history in Judaism. This study was influenced by his
opinions but the application to the field of rabbinic polemic (where
extra-rabbinic sources can be used for dating) has not been tried