Valentinus’ Legacy and Polyphony of Voices

229 Pages·2021·3.44 MB·English

by  Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski

Routledge Studies in the Early Christian World
VALENTINUS’ LEGACY AND
POLYPHONY OF VOICES
Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski
VALENTINUS’ LEGACY AND
POLYPHONY OF VOICES
This book challenges the popular use of the term ‘Valentinian’ to describe a
Christian school of thought in the second century ce by analysing documents
ascribed to ‘Valentinians’ by early Christian Apologists, and more recently by
modern scholars after the discovery of codices near Nag Hammadi in Egypt.
To this end, Ashwin-Siejkowski highlights the great diversity of views among
Christian theologians associated with the label ‘Valentinian’, demonstrating their
attachment to the Scriptures and Apostolic traditions as well as their dialogue with
Graeco-Roman philosophies of their time. Among the various themes explored
are ‘myth’ and its role in early Christian theology, the familiarity of the Gospel
of Truth with Alexandrian exegetical tradition, Ptolemy’s didactic in his letter
to Flora, the image of the Saviour in the Interpretation of Knowledge, reception
of the Johannine motifs in Heracleon’s commentary and the Tripartite Tractate,
salvation in the Excerpts from Theodotus, Christian identity in the Gospel of
Philip, and reception of selected Johannine motifs in ‘Valentinian’ documents.
Valentinus’ Legacy and Polyphony of Voices will be an invaluable and accessible
resource to students, researchers, and scholars of Early Christian theologies, as
well as trajectories of exegesis in New Testament sources and the emerging of
different Christian identities based on various Christologies.
Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of
Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College London, UK. His research
is focused on Christian origins and the formation of Christian doctrine in the
period from the first to the third century ce. Among his recent publications are
‘Clement of Alexandria’ in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Patristics (2015)
and ‘Creeds, Councils and Doctrinal Development’ in The Early Christian World
(Routledge, 2017).
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VALENTINUS’ LEGACY AND POLYPHONY OF VOICES
Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Studies-in-the-Early-Christian-World/book-series/SECW
VALENTINUS’ LEGACY
AND POLYPHONY
OF VOICES
Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski
First published 2022
by Routledge
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© 2022 Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski
The right of Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ashwin-Siejkowski, Piotr, 1964– author.
Title: Valentinus’ legacy and polyphony of voices / Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. | Series:
Routledge studies in the early Christian world | Includes bibliographical
references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2021005639 (print) | LCCN 2021005640 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032019352 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032019413 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003181095 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Valentinians. | Theology—History—Early church, ca. 30–600. |
Church history—Primitive and early church, ca. 30–600.
Classification: LCC BT1475 .A84 2021 (print) | LCC BT1475 (ebook) |
DDC 273/.1—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021005639
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021005640
ISBN: 978-1-032-01935-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-01941-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-18109-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003181095
Typeset in Times New Roman
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Ϯⲧⲱⲃϩ̄ ⲙ̄ⲙⲁⲕ ⲡⲉⲧϣⲟ[ⲟⲡ] ⲁ̣ⲩⲱ ⲡⲉⲧϣⲣⲡ̄ ϣⲟⲟⲡ
ϩⲙ̄ ⲡⲣⲉⲛ [ⲉⲧϫ]ⲁ̣ⲥⲓ ⲁⲣⲉⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ϩⲓ̈ⲧⲛ ⲓⲏ(ⲥⲟⲩ)ⲥ ⲡⲉ-
ⲭ(ⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟ)ⲥ [ⲡϫⲁⲉⲓ]ⲥ‧ ⲛ̄ⲛⲓϫⲁⲉⲓⲥ̣ ⲡⲣ̄ⲣⲟ ⲛ̄ⲛⲁⲓⲱⲛ̣
i am calling you, who is and was before,
in the name [which is] elevated above every name,1 through
Jesus christ, [lord] of lords, the King of the ages.
The Prayer of the Apostle Paul, i, 1, a, 12–14
(trans. P. a.-s.)
to all my previous and current students ...
1 Phil 2:9; eph 1:21.
9
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1 A ‘Valentinian’ as a tag? Rethinking classification in the
light of polemic and documents 8
2 M yth and its role in education of the Christian mind and
imagination: A Valentinian Exposition, NHC, XI, 2 37
3 T he Gospel of Truth, NHC, I, 3 and its possible
Alexandrian affiliation 61
4 Ptolemy and the education of Flora 80
5 The Teacher of Immortality: The Saviour and soteriology
in the Interpretation of Knowledge, NHC, XI, 1 101
6 R eception of the Johannine motifs in Heracleon’s
Commentary on the Gospel of John and the Tripartite
Tractate, NHC, I, 5 117
7 The Excerpts from Theodotus: In search of theology
of salvation 141
8 C onstruction of the Christian identity in the Gospel
of Philip, NHC, II, 3 161
vii
CONTENTS
9 T he relationship between selected documents from the
Nag Hammadi collection and the New Testament 181
Conclusion: When did the ‘Valentinians’ cease to be
Christians? The wrong question 205
Index of ancient authors 207
Index of modern authors 209
Index of subjects 211
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is an outcome of the past five years of research at King’s College Lon-
don in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and of the generosity of
many of my academic friends.
First, I wish to thank Prof. Joan Taylor for her invitation to join many of
her seminars where we studied Philo of Alexandria and some early Christian
documents. Prof. Taylor’s ongoing support has allowed me to explore the area
of Early Christianity between the traditional subjects of the New Testament,
such as the Gospel of John and early Christian literature, including the apoc-
ryphal Gospels. Two other colleagues from King’s College London must be
mentioned: Prof. Paul Joyce, who as the former Head of the Department wel-
comed my academic activity in the Department and then encouraged me to take
up some teaching, and the current Head, Dr. Marat Shterin, who supported my
request to continue my academic affiliation with the Department. In addition,
my gratitude goes to Dr. Carol Downer (RIP), whose Coptic seminar provided
me with the opportunity to read and discuss some documents from Nag Ham-
madi. Sadly, Carol died in February; I am not able to express my indebtedness
to her. My thank you goes to Dr. Sarah Parkhouse who, as my academic friend,
critically commented on some chapters in this book. Sarah’s insightful observa-
tion helped to sharpen my argument. As this book also contains some papers
which I read at various universities, I wish to thank Prof. Francis Watson for
his invitation to give a paper at the New Testament seminar at Durham Univer-
sity. I would like to add Prof. Ismo Dunderberg (University of Helsinki), Prof.
Hugo Lundhaug (University of Oslo) and Prof. Mark Edwards (University of
Oxford) for our initial discussions of some aspects of this book. I wish to thank
my friends Fiona Morgan and Rebecca Wallis for their help with the prepara-
tion of the English manuscript. I wish to thank Tom Bedford, the copyeditor
of my manuscript, whose efficiency and professionalism helped me to fin-
ish the book on time. I also would like to thank my former parishioners from
St Mary’s Church in Twickenham for stimulating questions, discussions, and
seminars during the past seven years, recently via Zoom, and my new colleagues
ix