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[German Version] (NHC I/3; XII/2 Gos. Truth). The Gospel of Truth, a homily on the Christian message by a Valentinian of the 2nd or 3rd century, survives in two copies discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi: a complete text in Lycopolitan Coptic (NHC I/3) and fragments in Sahidic (NHC XII/2), independently translated from the Greek. Irenaeus ( Haer. III 11.9) records a Gospel of Truth “recently composed” by Valentinians (Valentinianism) that differed significantly from the canonical Gospels. He does not quote the text, however, and its relationship to the Gos. Truth, whose title derives from the incipit, is uncertain. Stylistic similarities between the Gos. Truth and the fragments of Valentinus have suggested common authorship. Yet substantive discrepancies between the Gos. Truth and the fragments render that unlikely. After an elaborate introduction (16:31–17:4), the Gos. …

[German Version] ( Acts Thom.). The Acts Thom. report the missionary journeys of Thomas Didymus toward and in India. The complete text is preserved in two manuscripts, one Syriac from the 10th century and one Greek from the 12th century. Abbreviated forms exist in the Greek, Syriac, Latin, Armenian, Coptic and Arabic languages. The Syriacisms in the Gre…

[German Version] I. Introductory Issues – II. Literary Features – III. Religio-historical Parallels – IV. Theology The Fourth Gospel provides a totally independent witness for the theological interpretation of the figure of ¶ Jesus of Nazareth (Jesus Christ: I, 1). Although stylistically homogeneous, it combines distinct perspectives. The most Jewish of the Gospels, it nevertheless contains polemic against “the Jews” as striking as any in the New Testament. Although it cultivates a high Christology (I, 8), it insists on the…

[German Version] I. Authorship – II. Date – III. Adressees – IV. Genre and Structure – V. Religio-historical Background – VI. Message Among the letters ascribed to Paul, Hebrews stands out for its artful valuation of the person and work of Jesus Christ and its urgent exhortations to remain faithful. The text is a masterpiece of early Christian homiletics, interweaving imaginative interpretation of Scripture with powerful parenesis. ¶ I. Authorship The text does not name its author. A reference to “our brother Timothy” (Heb 13:23) may have led to the assumpti…

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament– IV. New Testament Apocrypha from Nag Hammadi…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament – III. Judaism – IV. Qur’ān I. Old Testament 1. Name. The name אַבְרָהָם/ 'abrāhām is a by-form of אַבְרָם/ 'abrām or …