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Flora Tells a Story

The Apocalypse of Paul and Its Contexts

By Michael Kaler
Subjects Religion, History, Jewish Studies
Series Studies in Christianity and Judaism Hide Details
Hardcover : 9781554580446, 276 pages, November 2008

Table of contents

Table of Contents for
Flora Tells a Story: The Apocalypse of Paul and its Contexts edited by Michael Kaler

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The Text

English Translation of the Apocalypse of Paul (NHC V,2)

Flora Tells a Story: A Fictional Account of the Creation of the Apocalypse of Paul

Introduction

The Story

Section One: “The Apocalypse of Paul is a text...”

Presentation of the Manuscript, Editio Princeps, and Translations/Editions

History of Research

Section Two: “written in the late 2nd or early 3rd century by a gnostic (possibly Valentinian) author...”

Introduction

Patristic References to the Apocalypse of Paul

Similarities between Adv. Haer. II, 30.7 and the Apocalypse of Paul

Ramifications of This Conclusion

Is It Gnostic? Is It Valentinian?

Conclusion

Section Three: “showing the apostle Paul...”

Introduction

Towards an Expanded Definition of Paulinism

Koschorke, and the Importance of Supplementing Koschorke

The Figure of Paul in the Apocalypse of Paul

The Apocalyptic Paul

Conclusion to This Section

Section Four: “as an apocalyptic hero...”

Introduction

Apocalypse/ Apocalyptic/ Apocalypticism

The Apocalypses

Characteristics of the Apocalyptic Genre

The Apocalypse of Adam

The Apocalypse of Paul

Other Examples

Francis Cairns

Alistair Fowler

Conclusions

Rhetorical Strategy/Authority

A Transposition of Heavens?

The Place of the Apocalypse of Paul in the Apocalyptic Literary Tradition

Conclusion

Section Five: “...in order to authoritatively present a gnostic understanding of the cosmos and the Pauline writings.”

Introduction

The Story

The Author’s Use of Her Sources

Christian Initiation

Ecclesiology

Conclusion

General Conclusion

Works Consulted

Indexes

People (Ancient or Mythical) and Ancient Groups

People: Modern

Ancient Books: Hebrew Bible/New Testament

Other Ancient Writings

Ancient Places

Description

In early Christianity, many people were inspired to write gospels, treatises, letters, and stories celebrating the new faith, but not all of these writings are found in the New Testament. One such story from an unknown author is the Coptic, gnostic Apocalypse of Paul, a tale of the apostle Paul’s ascent to the heavens that was lost for millennia and rediscovered at Nag Hammadi in 1945. In Flora Tells a Story, Michael Kaler discusses the Apocalypse of Paul and how it was shaped by its literary environment.

The book takes a behind the scenes look at early Christian literary production, analyzing the ways in which various literary traditions—such as apocalyptic writings, gnostic thought, and understandings of Paul—influenced the author of the Apocalypse of Paul and helped to shape the text. It also includes a new annotated English translation of the Apocalypse of Paul and a fictional account of how it might have come to be written.

This work is the most in-depth study of the Apocalypse of Paul to date and the only full-length discussion of it in English. It provides a detailed but accessible account of the literary environment in which its author worked and integrates this little-known work into the broader stream of early Christian writings. This book will be of interest to specialists in Nag Hammadi and gnostic studies and early Christian literature, but will also appeal to the general reader interested in Christianity, mysticism, and gnosticism.

Reviews

``This fine monograph offers a clear and helpful introduction to the Apocalypse of Paul, a short tale of heavenly ascent which has been preserved as part of Nat Hammadi Codec V,2.... This is an exemplary work. Kaler is master both of his primary text and of a great deal of secondary literature, and he writes with clarity and wit, taking care not to ask the fragmentary ancient evidence to bear more than it reasonably can, and drawing clear but cautious and nuanced conclusions. I found the story that he included both engrossing and intriguing (as he hoped that his readers would), and I would recommend enthusiastically both it and the rest of this book to anyone wanting a sympathetic and accessible account that helps modern readers to understand the appreal of ancient Christian Gnosticism. This book offers a great deal both to students and to specialists in early Christian studies.''

- Andrew Gregory, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 32: 5, 2010