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Abstract
The Testimony of Truth (NHC IX,3) is characterized by polemic against other Christians and certain aspects of Judaism, and shows familiarity with Jewish textual traditions. One such case is a narrative surrounding Solomon’s building of the Jerusalem temple with the help of demons, who are incarcerated in the temple water jars and released by Roman armies, who unknowingly perform an act of purification on a demon-infected space. This paper argues that: 1) Testimony of Truth should be read as part of the wider early Christian polemical tradition presenting Rome as purveyors of vengeance against the errant Jewish people; 2) Testimony of Truth offers evidence for a flourishing Jewish presence in second or early third-century Alexandria, against the long-held argument that the community was largely annihilated following the Diaspora Revolt.
Abstract
This article proposes a reassessment of the Gnostic Apocalypse of Paul by focusing on genre, intertextuality, and structure as well as recurrent motifs. It argues that the Apocalypse situates the mission of Paul negatively in relation to a prison-like cosmos and positively in relation to the twelve apostles and that its form and objectives are best compatible with a fourth-century date.