Het evangelie van Judas: Inleidende notities over zijn inhoud en betekenis

The Gospel of Judas: Introductory notes on its contents and meaningThis article introduces the reader to the newly discovered Gospel of Judas (Codex Tchacos, pp 33-58): It discusses its sensational (and evidently sensationalized) discovery, its place in the context of a number of other writings in Codex Tchacos and the main lines of its contents. With reference to the Gospel of Thomas, among others, the author briefly discusses the question “What is a Gospel?”. It seems to be quite possible to discern some so-called agrapha or “new words of Jesus” in the Gospel of Judas. Though the Gospel of Judas is undoubtedly a Gnostic Gospel, presenting some sort of “pre-cabbalistic” message, its mentioning of Jesus as “the Name” and “the Prophet” seems to fit well with very ancient Jewish- Christian traditon

Black and slave? ‘Mestizo’ Augustine on Ham

After discussing the so-called Ham myth in South Africa, my focus is on the African church father Augustine (354–430). All texts from his immense oeuvre in which he mentions biblical Ham are reviewed in chronological order. In Against Faustus, the story of Noah and his sons is mainly explained as being Christological: Ham figures as a type of the unbelieving Jews who consented to the murder of Christ, but he is also a type of the Jews because he is ‘the slave of his brothers’ carrying the books by which the Christians may be instructed. Later Augustine corrects his confusion of Ham with the slave Canaan. The story of Ham (and Canaan) is most extensively discussed in the City of God. Neither here nor in the Expositions on the Psalms, Ham is described as being black or a slave. The same goes for a number of his other writings. In Augustine’s late works Against Julian and Unfinished Work against Julian, he thoroughly goes into the question of why (although Ham sinned) ‘vengeance was brought upon Canaan’. Augustine perceives God’s prophecy: from Canaan stems the cursed seed [semen maledictum] of the Canaanites. Nowhere, however, he claims that Ham or his descendants would have been cursed to be black or that all of his offspring were condemned to slavery. Contribution: This article demonstrates that the Ham myth does not occur in Augustine. It argues that the ‘mestizo’ African Augustine might have been extra sensitive to questions of race and colour

"... quam intime medullae animi mei suspirabant tibi": De spriritualiteit van Augustinus' "verborgen jaren" tot aan de bekering in 386

Peer reviewedText in Dutch, abstract in EnglishIn popular works, and even in handbooks of (church) history, it is often assumed that Augustine was converted from paganism to Christianity. This perception is incorrect. Augustine (354-430) was a North African by birth. In all likelihood his mother Monnica was of Berber extraction, i.e. she originated from the indigenous black Berbers. She became a Catholic Christian (though with some touch of the Donatist Christianity prevalent in Augustine’s inland home town Thagaste). Augustine’s father Patricius was a conservative heathen and only baptised a Catholic when Augustine was sixteen. Young Augustine thus grew up in a religiously very diverse environment. His school education in Thagaste and nearby Madauros strengthened the pagan element. During his student years in Carthage Augustine became a member of the Gnostic- Christian Church of Mani (216-276), the prophet from Babylon who established a new Church which expanded from present day Iraq until the Atlantic and the Pacific. More than ten years Augustine was a member of the New Age-movement of his time. After a long and intense spiritual journey came, in 386, his final conversion to Catholic (= orthodox) Christianity. The article aims to indicate that – both thetically and antithetically – all previous spiritual factors had a lasting influence on the spirituality of the future doctor gratiae. During all these periods he sighed for true knowledge of God: “how in my inmost being the very marrow of my soul did pant after You!” (Conf. III,6,10).Research Institute for Theology and Religio

The Gospel of Judas : introductory notes on its contents and meaning

This article introduces the reader to the newly discovered Gospel of Judas (Codex Tchacos, pp 33-58): It discusses its sensational (and evidently sensationalized) discovery, its place in the context of a number of other writings in Codex Tchacos and the main lines of its contents. With reference to the Gospel of Thomas, among others, the author briefly discusses the question “What is a Gospel?”. It seems to be quite possible to discern some so-called agrapha or “new words of Jesus” in the Gospel of Judas. Though the Gospel of Judas is undoubtedly a Gnostic Gospel, presenting some sort of “pre-cabbalistic” message, its mentioning of Jesus as “the Name” and “the Prophet” seems to fit well with very ancient Jewish- Christian traditon

God, memory and beauty : a Manichaean analysis of Augustine’s confessions, Book X

Contribution to ‘Augustine and Manichaean Christianity’, the First South African Symposium on Augustine of Hippo, University of Pretoria, 24−26 April 2012. Prof. Dr Hans van Oort is Professor Extraordinarius in the Department of Church History and Polity of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.The article first sketches some main trends in the recent study of Augustine’s Confessions as a work aimed at Manichaean readers. It then detects and analyses the Manichaean-inspired parts in Book X of the Confessions. Augustine’s famous theory of memory seems to be directly inspired by Manichaean concepts such as found in the Coptic Manichaean Kephalaia. The article end with a number of conclusions.http://www.hts.org.zaam2013mn201

The Holy Spirit as feminine : early Christian testimonies and their interpretation

The earliest Christians – all of whom were Jews – spoke of the Holy Spirit as a feminine figure. The present article discusses the main proof texts, ranging from the ‘Gospel according to the Hebrews’ to a number of testimonies from the second century. The ancient tradition was, in particular, kept alive in East and West Syria, up to and including the fourth century Makarios and/or Symeon, who even influenced ‘modern’ Protestants such as John Wesley and the Moravian leader Count von Zinzendorf. It is concluded that, in the image of the Holy Spirit as woman and mother, one may attain a better appreciation of the fullness of the Divine.This research is part of the project, ‘Augustine and Manichaean Christianity’, directed by Prof. Dr Johannes van Oort, Professor Extraordinarius, Department of Church History and Church Polity, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria.http://www.hts.org.zaam2016Church History and Church Polic

Another case of human semen eucharist among the Manichaeans? Notes on the 'ceremony of the fig' in Cyril of Jerusalem's Catechesis VI

The article focuses on a neglected passage in Cyril of Jerusalem's Catechesis VI in which he speaks of the curious Manichaean 'ceremony of the fig'. After providing the Greek text and a fresh translation of Cat. VI,33, an analysis is given of its contents. Noting that Cyril seems to have been well acquainted with those books of the Manichaeans (in all likelihood Mani's Treasure) in which the myth of the Seduction of the Archons was told, I provide an overview and analysis of his description of the Manichaean 'ceremony of the fig'. Cyril's account seems to be corroborated by one or, perhaps, even two of the miniatures from Central Asia in which figs appear to be central in Manichaean sacred meals.http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/157007202018-09-30Church History and Church Polic

Augustine and Hermes Trismegistus : an inquiry into the spirituality of Augustine’s ‘hidden years’

This paper draws attention to the possible role of Hermetic writings in the spiritual development of Augustine (354–430). It first places his knowledge of Hermetica within the context of both ‘orthodox’ African Christianity (Tertullian, Cyprian, Arnobius, Lactantius) and contemporary Manichaeism. It then focuses on his dealing with Hermetic writings, ideas and expressions in writings such as the Confessions, the (now lost) The Beautiful and the Harmonious, and Against Faustus. In Augustine’s later writing the City of God, one finds a twofold appreciation of Hermes, which had a particular influence in subsequent centuries.http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rech202017-12-30Church History and Church Polic

Tyconius' Apocalypse commentary, its reconstruction, and its significance for Augustine's doctrine of the two cities

The present article deals with Roger Gryson’s reconstruction of Tyconius’ lost Commentary on the Apocalypse (CCL 107A), his subsequent French translation of this reconstructed Commentary (CCT 10), and the English translation Tyconius, Exposition of the Apocalypse by Francis Gumerlock, with long introduction and ample notes by David Robinson (FoC 134). After having reviewed the strenghths and weaknesses of each of these publications, the article concludes with a discussion of the significance of Tyconius’ Commentary for the question of the origin of Augustine’s two civitates doctrine.https://brill.com/view/journals/vc/vc-overview.xml2020-10-29hj2019Church History and Church Polic

Human semen eucharist' among the Manichaeans? The testimony of Augustine reconsidered in context

Starting from his De haeresibus 46,9-10, the present article examines Augustine’s contention that, among the Manichaeans, there was a certain ceremony in which human semen (i.e., sperma and menstrual fluid) was collected and consumed during a eucharistic rite. My contextual analysis of the pivotal passage, haer. 46,9-10, is followed by an overview of scholarly opinions on this text. From here I proceed to interpret the incriminated rite in light of the Seduction of the Archons myth and conclude that, according to Augustine, the Manichaeans consider the ‘vital substance’ (or ‘light’ or ‘living soul’) in the life of plants, animals and human beings, to be the very nature of God, which should be released whenever possible. I finish my research by interpreting the Manichaean practice within a wider ‘gnostic’ context, in particular Epiphanius’ report on the ‘Borborites’. My final conclusion is that we should try to understand both Manichaeans (like the ‘Catharists’) and Gnostics (like the ‘Borborites’) according to their own logic: both appear to have considered the life-substance of man, i.e., the semen, as divine, and indeed a part of God.http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/157007202018-02-28hb2016Church History and Church Polic