Texts in Context

The essays collected in this volume contain the proceedings of a
colloquium held in Leuven in December 2018. The overall purpose was to
study Gnostic and other second- and early third-century Christian texts
in search for indications and criteria for determining their place in
the development of early Christian theology. A good deal of attention is
given to dating and identifying these often anonymous writings, but
other aspects are also addressed. The essays illustrate in various ways
that this development was not a uniform process. The many problems
involved in studying these texts from such a perspective have brought
some scholars to question what should be the main focus: the (presumed)
original context or their transmission and use by later generations. The
collection includes essays by P. Foster (Ignatius), C.M. Tuckett (1-2
Clement(), J.S. Kloppenborg (the (Didache( and the
(Apostolic Constitutions(), J. Frey (Jewish-Christian gospels,
especially the (Gospel according to the Hebrews(), H. Lundhaug
(methodology in studying Gnostic texts), C. Jacobi ((Gospel of
Philip(), K. Schwarz (Gospel of Thomas), F. Watson ((Apocryphon
of James(), J.-D. Dubois (criteria for dating Gnostic texts, applied
to the (Apocryphon of John(), D.M. Burns (Nag Hammadi tractates
with philosophical interests), and A. Van den Kerchove ((Gospel of
Judas().