Adam and the Logos: Aphrahat’s Christology in Demonstration 17 and the “Imponderables of Hellenization”
Abstract:
Aphrahat’s presumed unawareness of contemporary theological developments has often puzzled scholars, who as a result have deemed his theological views “archaic” and bereft of any Hellenic influence. This image, which has begun to be questioned by a series of studies, can be further corrected by an examination of the central section, dealing with the begetting of Adam, of a Demonstration devoted to proving “that Christ is God and Son of God” (= Dem. 17). The paper argues that in this passage Aphrahat is indebted to an exegetical tradition, attested by Philo of Alexandria, which read in the double account of the creation of Adam in Genesis (1:26–27 and 2:7) a two-staged making of the protoplast. It further proposes that Aphrahat fine-tuned this interpretation through the application to Adam of the prolation of the Logos, a schema that had in Philo its most prominent attestation and had been long appropriated by Greek Christian writers. Finally, it suggests that Demonstration 17 integrates the schema of the prolation with an Adamitic Christology, thus merging theological models traditionally linked to two cultural worlds (respectively Hellenic and Semitic) often posited as largely separate.[1]
Acknowledgements
My gratitude goes to Lucas Van Rompay (Duke University) for his guidance and support throughout the writing of this article. I am also very thankful to Alberto Camplani (Sapienza – Università di Roma), Malachi H. Hacohen (Duke University), Gaetano Lettieri (Sapienza – Università di Roma), Joel Marcus (Duke University), and Serge Ruzer (Hebrew University) for their reading and advice, and to Jacob Golan and Tom McGlothlin for their linguistic revisions. Very special thanks I should like to extend to Zlatko Pleše (UNC-CH), without whom this publication would not have been possible.
© De Gruyter 2016
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- Ancient Book Culture and the Literacy of James: On the Production and Consumption of a Pseudepigraphal Letter
- Cyprian, Paul, and Care for the Poor and Captive: Offering Sacrifices and Ransoming Temples
- Adam and the Logos: Aphrahat’s Christology in Demonstration 17 and the “Imponderables of Hellenization”
- Greek Lists of the Apostles: New Findings and Open Questions
- The Healing Shrines of St. Phoibammon: Evidence of Cult Activity in Coptic Legal Documents
- Rezensionen
- Alistair C. Stewart: The Original Bishops. Office and Order in the First Christian Communities
- Gabriele Spira: Paradies und Sündenfall. Stoffe und Motive der Genesis 3- Rezeption von Tertullian bis Ambrosius
- Ville Vuolanto: Children and Asceticism in Late Antiquity. Continuity, Family Dynamics and the Rise of Christianity Christian Laes, Katariina Mustakallio und Ville Vuolanto, Hgg.: Children and Family in Late Antiquity. Life, Death and Interaction
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- Anders-Christian Jacobsen: Christ—the Teacher of Salvation. A Study on Origen’s Christology and Soteriology
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- Stefan Klug: Alexandria und Rom. Die Geschichte einer Beziehung zweier Kirchen in der Antike
- Ann Conway-Jones: Gregory of Nyssa’s Tabernacle Imagery in its Jewish and Christian Contexts
- Chris L. de Wet: Preaching Bondage: John Chrysostom and the Discourse of Slavery in Early Christianity
- Philippe Blaudeau und Peter Van Nuffelen, Hgg.: L’historiographie tardo-antique et la transmission des savoirs
- Erratum
- Konrad F. Zawadzki: Der Kommentar Cyrills von Alexandrien zum 1. Korintherbrief. Einleitung, kritischer Text, Übersetzung, Einzelanalyse
- Stellenregister für Band 20/Index for Volume 20
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelseiten
- Artikel
- Ancient Book Culture and the Literacy of James: On the Production and Consumption of a Pseudepigraphal Letter
- Cyprian, Paul, and Care for the Poor and Captive: Offering Sacrifices and Ransoming Temples
- Adam and the Logos: Aphrahat’s Christology in Demonstration 17 and the “Imponderables of Hellenization”
- Greek Lists of the Apostles: New Findings and Open Questions
- The Healing Shrines of St. Phoibammon: Evidence of Cult Activity in Coptic Legal Documents
- Rezensionen
- Alistair C. Stewart: The Original Bishops. Office and Order in the First Christian Communities
- Gabriele Spira: Paradies und Sündenfall. Stoffe und Motive der Genesis 3- Rezeption von Tertullian bis Ambrosius
- Ville Vuolanto: Children and Asceticism in Late Antiquity. Continuity, Family Dynamics and the Rise of Christianity Christian Laes, Katariina Mustakallio und Ville Vuolanto, Hgg.: Children and Family in Late Antiquity. Life, Death and Interaction
- Katharina Greschat: Gelehrte Frauen des frühen Christentums. Zwölf Porträts
- Anders-Christian Jacobsen: Christ—the Teacher of Salvation. A Study on Origen’s Christology and Soteriology
- Siegfried G. Richter, Charles Horton and Klaus Ohlhafer, eds.: Mani in Dublin. Selected Papers from the Seventh International Conference of the International Association of Manichaean Studies in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 8–12 September 2009
- Stefan Klug: Alexandria und Rom. Die Geschichte einer Beziehung zweier Kirchen in der Antike
- Ann Conway-Jones: Gregory of Nyssa’s Tabernacle Imagery in its Jewish and Christian Contexts
- Chris L. de Wet: Preaching Bondage: John Chrysostom and the Discourse of Slavery in Early Christianity
- Philippe Blaudeau und Peter Van Nuffelen, Hgg.: L’historiographie tardo-antique et la transmission des savoirs
- Erratum
- Konrad F. Zawadzki: Der Kommentar Cyrills von Alexandrien zum 1. Korintherbrief. Einleitung, kritischer Text, Übersetzung, Einzelanalyse
- Stellenregister für Band 20/Index for Volume 20
