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1. The term “Protevangelium” (first gospel) was coined in the 17th century but is not much used today. It describes an understanding of Gen. 3:15 in ¶ terms of salvation history, according to which it is the kernel of gospel declaration. The enmity between the seed of the serpent and that of the woman will be decided in favor of the latter, which will suffer only a wound to the heel. Three great lines of messianic exposition have arisen from this verse. The most common, which goes back to Justin Martyr (d. ca. 165 b.c.), interprets the seed of the woman collectively. In the end, the hu…

1. Term “Origenism” denotes a nexus of dogma, exegesis, and spiritual teaching that goes back to Origen (ca. 185-ca. 254) and that developed in both East and West after his death. 2. Origen 2.1. Life and Work Born in Alexandria, Origen received baptismal instruction there and then became a teacher of grammar and Christian philosophy. In approximately 232 he left Alexandria for Caesarea in Palestine, where he continued his teaching ministry as an ordained priest. He died there as a result of torture suffered during the Decian persecution of Christians. Only about a fourth of Origen’…

[English Version] (EvPetr). Vom EvPetr ist ein bedeutendes Frgm. in griech. Sprache erhalten, das das Leiden und die Auferstehung Jesu, das Kommen der Frauen zum Grab und den Beginn einer Erscheinungsszene schildert. Wenn auch die Rahmenhandlung der Erzählung, in der Petrus als Ich-Erzähler auftritt, jener der kanonischen Evv. ähnelt, weist der Text doch wichtige Besonderheiten auf: eine stärkere Betonung des Motivs der Schrifterfüllung, die Beschuldigung der jüd. Machthaber, dem Volk die Auferste…

[German Version] A significant fragment of the Gospel of Peter in Greek has survived; it recounts the passion and resurrection of Jesus, the arrival of the women at the tomb, and the beginning of an appearance of the risen Christ. Although the framework of the narrative, in which Peter speaks in the first person, resembles that of the canonical Gospels, the text exhibits major distinctive features: more emphasis on the motif of scriptural fulfillment, an accusation that the Jewish authorities concealed t…

[German version] The oldest Christian, Greek and Lat. texts that are grouped together under this name originate from legal speeches ( apologia or defensio), without representing a specific literary genre. They are aimed at educated pagans with the purpose of introducing the Christian religion. In particular, they refute the charges, often made against the Christians, of immorality, atheism, irrationalism and separatism. Some apologias are written in an aggressive style, in that they strongly criticize paganism and emphasize the superiority of Christianity. The 2nd cent. was …

[English version] Die ältesten christl., griech. und lat. Texte, die man unter diesem Namen zusammenfaßt, stammen von der Gerichtsrede ( apologia oder defensio), ohne ein festes lit. Genus darzustellen. Sie sind für gebildete Heiden bestimmt und dienen dem Ziel, die christl. Religion vorzustellen. Sie widerlegen insbes. die gegen die Christen oft erhobenen Beschuldigungen von Unmoral, Atheismus, Irrationalismus und Separatismus. Einige A. sind offensiv geschrieben, indem das Heidentum stark kritisiert und die Überlegenheit des Christentums betont wird. Das 2. Jh. war da…

[German version] A. Jewish The apocryphal literature of early Judaism may be subdivided into two groups: apocryphal literature in the narrow sense and pseudepigraphic literature. According to the terminology of the Reformation churches, those are texts or parts of the Septuagint and  Vulgate that are not part of the Hebrew canon: 3 Ezra, Judith, Tob 1, 2 and 3, Macc, Wisdom, Sir, Bar (including ‘the Epistle of Jeremiah’) and the Prayer of Manasse; also the additions to Est and Dan. Apart from 2 and …

[English version] A. Jüdisch Die a. L. des Frühjudentums läßt sich in zwei Gruppen einteilen: die A. L. im engeren Sinne und die Pseudepigraphen. Zur at. a. L. zählt man nach der Terminologie der Reformationskirchen diejenigen Schriften bzw. Stücke von Septuaginta und Vulgata, die im hebr. Kanon nicht enthalten sind: 3 Esra, Judit, Tob 1, 2 und 3, Makk, Weish, Sir, Bar (einschließlich “Brief des Jeremia”) und das Gebet des Manasse; dazu kommen Zusätze zu Est und zu Dan. Abgesehen von 2 und 3 Makk., …