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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2009
Early Christian prophecy, a subject long neglected by New Testament scholarship, has recently become the focus of numerous articles and monographs. Though the literary sources for our knowledge of early Christian prophecy are, for the most part, fragmentary, scattered, difficult to correlate and enigmatic, progress in research can be made through the patient examination, comparison and interpretation of the relevant data. The major literary witnesses for the phenomenon of early Christian prophecy are Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, the Apocalypse of John, the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas. These documents all diverge from one another in temporal, geographical as well as ideological ways; the portrait of Christian prophecy which they exhibit also diverges to such an extent that the phenomenon of Christian prophecy, or the Christian prophet, or the history of Christian prophecy cannot yet be synthesized.
[1] Among the recent monographs on the subject, see Dautzenberg, G., Urchristliche Prophetie: Ihre Erforschung, ihre Voraussetzungen im Judentum und ihre Struktur im ersten Korintherbrief (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1975)Google Scholar; Müller, U. B., Prophetie und Predigt im Neuen Testament; Form-geschichtliche Untersuchungen zur urchristlichen Prophetie (Gütersloh: Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, 1975)Google Scholar; Reiling, J., Hermas and Christian Prophecy: A Study of the Eleventh Mandate (Leiden: Brill, 1973)Google Scholar; David, Hill, New Testament Prophecy (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1979)Google Scholar. A number of important essays are found in the symposium edited by Panagopoulos, J., Prophetic Vocation in the New Testament and Today (Leiden: Brill, 1977)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and in the collected essays of Ellis, E. Earle, Prophecy and Hermeneutic in Early Christianity: New Testament Essays (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978).Google Scholar An up-to-date bibliography is appended to Hill's book.
[2] The author of the Apocalypse has been regarded by some scholars as a unique Christian prophet with greater similarities in role and function to his Old Testament predecessors than his New Testament counterparts: Friedrich, G., TDNT, 6, 849 f.Google Scholar; David, Hill, ‘Prophecy and Prophets in the Revelation of St. John’, NTS, 18 (1971–1972), 411–14.Google Scholar This view has been successfully refuted by Fiorenza, E. S., ‘ Apokalypsis and Propheteia: The Book of Revelation in the Context of Early Christian Prophecy’, L'Apocalypse johannique et l'Apocalyptique dans le Nouveau Testament, ed. Lambrecht, J. (Leuven: The University Press, 1980), pp. 105–28.Google Scholar
[3] This method is described and applied in Aune, D. E., The Cultic Setting of Realized Eschatology in Early Christianity (Leiden: Brill, 1972).Google Scholar
[4] In the first edition of C. K. Barrett's commentary on the Fourth Gospel, only six references to the Odes occurred; in the second edition some sixty-four references to the Odes are found (Barrett, C. K., The Gospel according to St. John: An Introduction with Commentary and Notes on the Greek Text, 1st ed. (London: SPCK, 1955), 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1978)Google Scholar. In most of the references to the Odes, Professor Barrett calls attention to various themes, such as the image of fruit and fruitbearing (eleven references, p. 473), persecution (four references, p. 480), the critical stance toward the sacrificial worship of the Temple (three references, p. 236), Christ's role in creation (four references, p. 156), etc. The failure to utilize the Odes in discussion of the history and character of the ‘Johannine community’ is a serious issue; that failure characterizes the following contributions to the discussion: Brown, R. E., ‘Johannine Ecclesiology – The Community's Origins’, Interpretation, 31 (1977), 379–93Google Scholar; idem, ‘“Other Sheep Not of This Fold”: The Johannine Perspective on Christian Diversity in the Late First Century’, JBL, 97 (1978), 5–22Google Scholar; idem, The Community of the Beloved Disciple (New York: Paulist Press, 1979)Google Scholar; Smith, D. M. Jr., ‘Johannine Christianity: Some Reflections on Its Character and Delineation’, NTS, 21 (1974–1975), 222–48CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Louis Martyn, J., History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel, rev. ed. (Nashville: Abingdon, 1979)Google Scholar; idem, The Gospel of John in Christian History: Essays for Interpreters (New York: Paulist Press, 1978).Google Scholar Professor J. L. Martyn in particular confuses literary history with social history in his attempt to reconstruct the three major periods in the history and emergence of Johannine Christianity; this reconstruction is found in chapter three, ‘Glimpses into the History of the Johannine Community’, in The Gospel of John in Christian History, pp. 90–121. His reconstruction is based almost exclusively on the source critical, form critical and redaction critical analysis of the Fourth Gospel, unchecked by external literary or historical controls. Martyn's only ‘firm’ link to the world outside of the Fourth Gospel is the Johannine references to excommunication, dπOσυνaγωγs in John 9. 22; 12. 42; 16. 2, which he (with many others) relates to the Birkat ham-minim issued from Yavneh (b. Berakot 28b). Professor Martyn does, in addition, adduce ‘The Ascent of James’, purportedly a Jewish-Christian fragment buried in the Clementine Recognitions as shedding some light on the persecution motif in the Fourth Gospel, though the results are quite insubstantial; see his ‘Persecution and Martyrdom’, in The Gospel of John in Christian History, pp. 55–89.
[5] Emerton, J. A., ‘Some Problems of Text and Language in the Odes of Solomon’, JTS, 18 (1967), 372–406CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See the bibliographical discussion of this issue in Charlesworth, J. H., The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1976), pp. 189 f.Google Scholar, and D. E. Aune, Cultic Setting, pp. 167–9 (there I sided with the view that Greek was the original language; I have since opted for Syriac).
[6] A date within the first century was favoured by Harris, J. R. and Mingana, A., The Odes and Psalms of Solomon (Manchester: The University PressGoogle Scholar; London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1916–20), II, 61–9, 93, and more recently by Charlesworth, J. H., The Odes of Solomon: The Syriac Texts, corrected ed. (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1977), pp. 44, 49, 69, 113, 128.Google Scholar
[7] This view is argued by Bernard, J. H., The Odes of Solomon (Cambridge: The University Press, 1912), p. 41Google Scholar, and Harris, J. R. and Mingana, A., The Odes and Psalms of Solomon, 2, 133–7.Google Scholar
[8] Greek dominated Antioch, while Syriac dominated the country districts of Syria during the Seleucid era; cf. Tarn, W. W., Hellenistic Civilization, 3rd ed. (Cleveland and New York: World Publishing Co., 1961), p. 160Google Scholar. Greek was also spoken in Edessa, though Syriac appears to have been the language of the Christian church there; cf. Klijn, A. F. J., Edessa: Die Stadt des Apostels Thomas; Dasälteste Christentum in Syrien (Giessen: Neukirchener Verlag, 1965), p. 45Google Scholar. Burkitt, F. C. claimed that Syriac dominated in Edessa in Early Eastern Christianity (London: John Murray, 1904), p. 10Google Scholar. On the Edessene provenance of the Odes, see de Zwaan, J., ‘The Edessene Origin of the Odes of Solomon’, Quantulacumque: Studies Presented to Kirsopp Lake, ed. Casey, R. P. (London: Christophers, 1937), pp. 285–302Google Scholar, and Grant, R. M., ‘The Odes of Solomon and the Church of Antioch’, JBL, 63 (1944), 377.Google Scholar
[9] Aune, D. E., Cultic Setting, pp. 174–84Google Scholar. While the first person singular dominates the Odes, many plural imperatives are also found: ‘Open, open [pthw pthw] your hearts to the exultation of the Lord’ (all translations of the Odes are taken from J. H. Charlesworth, The Odes of Solomon, unless otherwise noted); ‘Confess ['wdw] His power, and declare [whww] His grace’ (7. 26); ‘Walk [hlkw] in the knowledge of the Lord’ (23. 4); ‘Fill for yourselves [mlw lkwn] water from the living fountain of the Lord’ (30. 1).
[10] See Charlesworth, J. H., ‘The Odes of Solomon – Not Gnostic’, CBQ, 31 (1969), 357–69Google Scholar, and Chadwick, H., ‘Some Reflections on the Character and Theology of the Odes of Solomon’, Kyriakon: Festschrift Johannes Quasten, ed. Granfield, P. and Jungmann, J. A. (Münster: Verlag Aschendorff, 1970), I, pp. 266–70Google Scholar. See also the brief remarks, with bibliography, in J. H. Charlesworth, Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research, p. 189. The assumption of the Gnostic character of the Odes has led David Hill to question their value for the study of early Christian prophecy: ‘Despite attempts to provide the Odes with a Jewish-Christian origin and a date in the first-century AD, the view is still widely accepted that we have to do with a Gnostic hymn-book from the second century. If so, should we seek or expect to find in it evidence on which to base a theory about the consciousness and activity of primitive Christian prophets?’ in New Testament Prophecy, p. 164.
[11] ‘The Edessene Origin’, p. 289.
[12] Walter Bauer's treatment of early Syrian Christianity may prove to be the most durable part of his book Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum, 2. Aufl. (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1964).Google Scholar
[13] Rudolph, K., ‘War der Verfasser der Oden Salomos ein “Qumran-Christ”? Ein Beitrag zur Diskussion um die Anfänge der Gnosis’, RQ, 16 (1964), 523–55Google Scholar; Carmignac, J., ‘Un Qumranien converti au Christianisme: l'auteur des Odes de Salomon’, Qumran-Probleme: Vorträge des Leipziger Symposions über Qumran-Probleme vom 9. bis 14Google Scholar. Oktober 1961, ed. Bardtke, H. (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1963), pp. 75–108Google Scholar; Charlesworth, J. H., ‘Les Odes de Salomon et les manuscrits de la Mer Morte’, RB, 77 (1970), 522–49; Charlesworth suggests (p. 549), that the Odist was an Essene converted to Christianity.Google Scholar
[14] Oscar, Cullmann, The Johannine Circle (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), p. 36.Google Scholar
[15] Judaism and Christian Beginnings (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978).Google Scholar
[16] ‘Official and Popular Religion in Judaism’, Official and Popular Religion: Analysis of a Theme for Religious Studies, ed. Vrijhof, P. H. and Waardenburg, J. (The Hague: Mouton Publishers, 1979), pp. 325–39.Google Scholar
[17] This conceptual affinity is discussed in D. E. Aune, Cultic Setting, pp. 23–8.
[18] For a discussion of dualism in the Odes, see Charlesworth, J. H., ‘Qumran, John and the Odes of Solomon’, John and Qumran, ed. Charlesworth, J. H. (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1972), pp. 117–35Google Scholar; cf. J. H. Charlesworth, ‘Les Odes de Salomon’, pp. 524–9. For a discussion of dualism as an ideological response to the experience of social alienation, see Wayne, Meeks, ‘The Man from Heaven in Johannine Sectarianism’, JBL, 91 (1972), 44–72Google Scholar; J. Louis Martyn, The Gospel of John in Christian History, pp. 105–7. The social correlation of dualism with the experience of alienation is emphasized by Paul, Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975).Google Scholar
[19] Realized eschatology is not found reflected in the letters of Ignatius (see D. E. Aune, Cultic Setting, pp. 152–65). The reason appears to be the peculiar nature of the circumstances under which the letters were written. If realized eschatology is particularly at home in the context of worship, then the community is the locus of that experience. Ignatius, on the other hand, is obsessed with his personal destiny, a fact which may account for the dominance of futuristic language in his letters.
[20] Modern studies on the phenomenon of trance or possession have been handily summarized by Wilson, R. R., Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), pp. 21–88.Google Scholar
[21] For references to such studies, see J. H. Charlesworth, The Odes of Solomon, p. 31, n. 4.
[22] Unfortunately the text of H is damaged at this point. Charlesworth's suggestion that rwh should be read appears convincing (The Odes of Solomon, pp. 30 f., n. 1), and is followed by Lattke, M., Die Oden Salomos in ihrer Bedeutung für Neues Testament und Gnosis, I (Fribourg: Editions UniversitairesGoogle Scholar; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1979), 90.
[23] Philo Quis rer. div. 266; De spec. leg. iv. 48–51; the notion was adapted by many Christian writers, cf. Theophilus Ad Autolyc. ii. 9; Ps.-Justin Coh. ad Graec. 8; Athenagoras Leg. 9.
[24] van Unnik, W. C., Het Godspredikaat “Het Begin en het Einde” bij Flavius Josephus en in de Openbaring van Johannes (Amsterdam: B. V. Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1976).Google Scholar
[25] Plutarch De def. orac. 39 (431D-432F); Philo De migr. Abr. 190 f.
[26] Early Christian prophetic formulas which mention the Spirit of God are discussed in detail by Berger, K., Die Amen-Worte Jesu (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1970), pp. 117–24.Google Scholar
[27] Baumgärtel, F., ‘Die Formel ne'um jahwe’, ZAW, 73 (1961), 277–90Google Scholar; Wolff, H. W.Joel and Amos (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977), pp. 143 f.Google Scholar
[28] That 1 Cor. 14. 37 f. is a claim that the foregoing is a prophetic speech is held by, among others, Lindblom, J., Gesichte und Offenbarungen: Vorstellungen von göttlichen Weisungen und übernatürlichen Erscheinungen im ältesten Christentum (Lund, Gleerup, 1968), pp. 132 f.Google Scholar, 143. 1 Cor. 14. 38, identified as a ‘sentence of sacral law’ by E. Käsemann, is now frequently considered a prophetic saying: cf. Kraft, H., ‘Die altkirchliche Prophetie und die Entstehung des Montanismus’, ThZ, 11 (1955), 254 f.Google Scholar; U. B. Müller, Prophetie und Predigt, p. 180;Hans, Conzelmann, I Corinthians (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975), p. 246.Google Scholar
[29] Bultmann, R., Die Geschichte der synoptischen Tradition, 8. Aufl. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1970), p. 135Google Scholar, n. 1. The use of this passage by Bultmann and others is argued against by David Hill, New Testament Prophecy, pp. 160–4. While Bultmann over-generalizes on the significance of this passage, Hill errs by throwing it out of court.
[30] See section V, ‘The Speeches of Christ’.
[31] This suggestion was made to me by Professor Ithamar Gruenwald.
[32] Charlesworth, J. H., ‘Paronomasia and Assonance in the Syriac Text of the Odes of Solomon’, Semitics, 1 (1970), 12–26.Google Scholar
[33] Cf. Ode 12. 1 f.: ‘He has filled me with words of truth,/ That I may proclaim Him./ And like the flowing of waters, truth flows from my mouth,/ And my lips declare His fruits.’ See also 12. 13; 14. 7 (‘Teach me the Odes of Thy truth’); 17. 5 (‘Then they spoke the truth,/ From the breath which the Most High breathed into them’); 31. 2; 33. 8. Truth is also identified in the Odes with Christ, in the phrase ‘Son of Truth’ (br' dšrr'), in 23. 18, and Truth is personified in Ode 38 in such a way that He plays the role customarily played by the angelus interpres in more conventional apocalyptic texts.
[34] The so-called ‘proclamation formula’ in the Old Testament introduced oracles with the phrase ‘Hear the word of Yahweh’ (Amos 7. 16; Jer. 2. 4; 7. 2; 19. 3; 22. 11; etc.), cf. H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos, pp. 92 f. A similar proclamation formula is used in introducing speeches of the gods in Greek literature (Iliad xix. 101–5), as well as to introduce oracles uttered by human instruments of the gods (Odyssey xv. 173–78).
[35] Cf. 1 Kings 22. 19–23; Isa. 6. 1–13; 40: 1–8; Jer. 23. 18; Amos 3. 7; Zech. 3. 1–7; on this subject see Cross, F. M., ‘The Council of Yahweh in Second Isaiah’, JNES, 12 (1953), 274–7Google Scholar; Kingsbury, E. C., ‘The Prophets and the Council of Yahweh’, JBL, 83 (1964), 279–87Google Scholar. For the Graeco-Roman world, see Attridge, H. W., ‘Greek and Latin Apocalypses’, Semeia, 14 (1979), 159–86Google Scholar, and Hanson, J. S., ‘Dreams and Visions in the Graeco-Roman World and Early Christianity’, Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, ed. Temporini, H. and Haase, W. (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1980), Part II, 23. 2, pp. 1395–1427.Google Scholar One of the more interesting examples of such a Himmelsreise is found in the so-called ‘Dream of Scipio’ found at the conclusion of book six of Cicero's De re publica. Among the early Christian martyrologies, see Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas 4.
[36] Long, B. O., ‘Reports of Visions Among the Prophets’, JBL, 95 (1976), 353–65.Google Scholar
[37] That events above are the basis for earthly events is a commonplace notion in antiquity and not simply a Platonic idea: see Bietenhard, H., Die himmlische Welt im Urchristentum und Spätjudentum (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1951), p. 13.Google Scholar
[38] Dörrie, H. and Dörries, H., ‘Erotapokriseis’, RAC, 6 (1966), 342–70.Google Scholar
[39] ‘Living water’ is referred to in Odes 6. 18; 11. 7, and the expression ‘speaking water’ (my' mll') is found in Ode 11. 6, with a very close parallel in Ignatius Rom. 7. 2. ‘Water of life’ is referred to several times in the Apocalypse of John (7. 17; 21. 6; 22. 1, 17), where it never appears to allude to baptism. On the side of early Judaism, see Jub. 24. 19, 25; 1 Enoch 17. 4; 1QH8. 7, 16; CD 19. 34. See the discussion in J. H. Charlesworth, ‘Les Odes’, pp. 534–8.
[40] Examples of this form are found in Q (Mt. 11. 25–30; LK. 10. 21–22); the final chapter of Corpus Hermeticum i (Poimandres); the hymn in Corpus Hermeticum xiii.
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[44] This passage was used by R. Bultmann to show that many of the ‘I’ sayings of the Synoptic Gospels, as well as many of the prophetic and apocalyptic sayings attributed to Jesus in the Gospels were in actuality the product of Christian prophets speaking in the name of the Risen Jesus. This view contains many problematic features, many of which are discussed by David Hill, New Testament Prophecy, pp. 160 ff.
[45] The list of speeches attributed to Christ by J. H. Bernard, The Odes of Solomon, pp. 39 f., includes 8. 10–22; 10; 17. 11–14 (15); 22. 1–5; 28. 8–18; 31. 7–11; 33. 6–11; 42. 4–26.
[46] Quoted from the translation of J. R. Harris and A. Mingana, ad loc.
[47] This has recently been emphasized by Jannes Reiling, Hermas and Christian Prophecy, and idem, ‘Prophecy, the Spirit and the Church’, Prophetic Vocation in the New Testament and Today, ed. Panagopoulos, J. (Leiden: Brill, 1977), pp. 58–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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[49] The expression ‘the holy ones’ is also used frequently in the Apocalypse for Christians generally (5. 8; 8. 3, 4; 13. 7, 10; 14. 12; 22. 21), yet in certain contexts it is not clear whether Christians in general or a particular group of Christians are being referred to (11. 18; 16. 6; 18. 20, 24). In the latter passages ‘holy ones’ is used in conjunction with the designation ‘prophets’.
[50] Did. 10. 7 suggests that prophets be permitted to hold their own distinctive form of eucharist. In discussing the relationship of the liturgical scenes in Heaven to those on earth, H. Kraft observes in the case of John the seer, ‘Denn Johannes beansprucht für sich selber prophetisches Charisma und macht darum von der prophetischen Freiheit Gebrauch. Diese prophetische Freiheit besteht aber unter anderem in der Freiheit von agendarischen Bindungen’ (Die Offenbarung des Johannes [Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1974], p. 102).Google Scholar
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[53] D. E. Aune, Cultic Setting, pp. 105–21.
[54] See also 7. 19–21; 13. 1–4; 15. 6; 18. 1–3; 31. 1–3; 38. 6.
[55] D. E. Aune, Cultic Setting, pp. 37–42, 185–8.
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[59] David Hill, New Testament Prophecy, p. 210.
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[64] Mowinckel, S., The Psalms in Israel's Worship (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962), 2, 58–68Google Scholar; cf. Kapelrud, A. S., ‘Sigmund Mowinckel and Old Testament Study’, God and His Friends in the Old Testament (Oslo: Universitetsvorlaget, 1979), pp. 53–78.Google Scholar
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[71] K.-P. Jörns, Das hymnische Evangelium, p. 159.
[72] Ibid., p. 138.
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