The Other Side: Apocryphal Perspectives on Ancient Christian Orthodoxies

Which categories ought to be considered to understand an ancient, multi-dimensionally perceived Christianity?

Anyone who wishes to manage their sources adequately must work with categories that help to bring order to the transcribed material. In many cases, such categories simultaneously shape the way in which we evaluate our sources. Critical reflection of the chosen categories is therefore crucial for robust historical study. This rings especially true when certain categories are not viewed through neutral eyes, but through polemically judgemental eyes. One extreme case would be the category of apocryphalness. In some areas, associations like fraudulent versus and secret interlinked to this term in Antiquity are still shaping the way Christian apocrypha are considered to this day. Closely associated with this is the use of the adjectival categories like (proto)-orthodox, majority church versus those like heretical (again polemically pejorative). In their chapters, the contributors demonstrate not only how the set limits as referred to the categories above do indeed play a role, but more importantly, where these limits have been exceeded and where we must therefore work with new and different categories to understand the meaning of apocryphal writings and/or writings that have become apocryphal in terms of the history of an ancient Christianity perceived as multi-dimensional and dynamic. The following questions play a significant role in our understanding of this: In which contexts and by which groups are newly apocryphal writings used? Where do apocryphal writings or those newly apocryphal play a contextual role that would, nowadays, be perceived as orthodox? Which functions are assign thereto?

Autorentext
Markschies, Christoph
Dr. theol. Christoph Markschies ist Professor für Kirchengeschichte in Berlin. Dochhorn, Jan
Dr. theol. Jan Dochhorn is Lector / Associate Professor for New Testament Studies at Aarhus University. Moss, Candida R.
Candida R. Moss, Ph.D., is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity Biblical Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Verheyden, Joseph
Dr. theol. Joseph Verheyden ist Professor für Neues Testament an der Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Leuven. Nicklas, Tobias
Dr. theol. Tobias Nicklas ist Professor für Exegese und Hermeneutik des Neuen Testaments an der Katholisch-Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Regensburg.