The child and the beast: Fighting violence in ancient Christianity

Harvard Theological Review

Volumn 92, Issue 4, 1999, Pages 369-392

  Bovon, François ^a  

^a HARVARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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EID: 1642292170     PISSN: 00178160     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0017816000017739     Document Type: Review

References (208)

1. Walter Burkert, Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983) 2:"Blood and violence lurk fascinatingly at the very heart of religion."
2. One can speak of the "double bind" present in our society: just vindication trying to fight violence and pure love trying to overcome inequity, what Gil Bailie (Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads [New York: Crossroad, 1997] 19) calls our double allegiance to John Wayne and Mother Theresa
3. On the violence, see Georges Sorel, Réflexions sur la violence (Paris: Librairie de "Pages libres," 1908; reprinted Paris: Slatkine France, 1981)
4. Hans Windisch, Der messianische Krieg und das Urchristentum (Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1909)
5. Konrad Lorenz, Das sogenannte Böse. Zur Naturgeschichte der Aggression (3d. ed.; Vienna: Borotha Schoeler, 1964)
6. Walter Benjamin, Zur Kritik der Gewalt und andere Aufsätze (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1965)
7. Marvin E. Wolfgang, ed., Patterns of Violence: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 364 (Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1966)
8. Paul Blanquart et al., A la recherche d'urte théologie de la violence (Paris: Cerf, 1968)
9. Anthony Storr, Human Aggression (New York: Atheneum, 1968)
10. Erik Erikson, Gandhi's Truth on the Origins of Militant Violence (New York: Norton, 1969; reprinted New York: Norton, 1993)
11. Hannah Arendt, On Violence (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1970)
12. Martin Hengel, Gewalt und Gewaltlosigkeit. Zur "politischen Theologie" in neutestamentlicher Zeit (Calwer Hefte 118; Stuttgart: Calwer, 1971)
13. Burkert, Homo Necans
14. René Girard, La violence et le sacré (Paris: Grasset, 1972)
15. Erich Fromm, The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (New York: Reinhardt and Winston, 1973)
16. Michel Serres, Rome, le livre des fondations (Paris: Grasset, 1983)
17. Heinz-Horst Schrey and Manfred Moser, "Gewalt/Gewaltlosigkeit," ThRE 13 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1984) 168-84
18. Robert G. Hamerton-Kelly, ed., Violent Origins: Walter Burkert, René Girard and Jonathan Z Smith on Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987)
19. Robert G. Hamerton-Kelly, Sacred Violence: Paul's Hermeneutic of the Cross (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992)
20. Renzo Petraglio, Obiezione di coscienza. Il Nuovo Testamento provoca chi lo legge (2d ed.; Etica Teologica Oggi 1; Bologna: Edizioni Dehoniane Bologna, 1992)
21. Jonathan Z. Smith, ed., "Violence and Religion," The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion (New York: HarperCollins, 1995) 1120-23
22. Calvert Watkins, How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995)
23. Bailie, Violence Unveiled
24. Is not bloody vindication the regular final solution, from the time of Homer (Iliad 6.57-60) and the Hebrew Bible (Ps 5:5-6)? See William Klassen, Love of Enemies: The Way to Peace (Overtures to Biblical Theology 15; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984) 13
25. François Bovon, Das Evangelium nach Lukas, (2 vols.; EKKNT 3. 1-2; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag; Zurich: Benzinger, 1989-96), 1. 312-14
26. The nurse fears what her mistress Medea will do: "For late I saw her glare, as glares a bull, / On these, as 'twere for mischief; nor her wrath, / I know, shall cease, until its lightning strike. / To foes may she work ill, and not to friends!" (Medea 92-95; [trans. Arthur S. Way; LCL, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980] 291)
27. See Girard, La violence et le sacré, 23-30
28. See the discussion later in this article, "Love of Enemies in the Gospel of Luke," and Isidore Lévy, La légende de Pythagore. De Grèce en Palestine (Bibliothèque de l'École des Hautes Études. Sciences historiques et philologiques 250; Paris: Champion, 1927) 221-223
29. Josephus, Ap. 2.29 § 213: "So thorough a lesson has he [the legislator] given us in gentleness and humanity that he does not overlook even the brute beasts, authorizing their use only in accordance with the Law, and forbidding all other employment of them. Creatures which take refuge in our houses like suppliants we are forbidden to kill. He would not suffer us to take the parent birds with their young, and bade us even in an enemy's country to spare and not to kill the beasts employed in labour. Thus, in every particular, he had an eye to mercy, using the laws I have mentioned to enforce the lesson, and drawing up for transgressors other penal laws admitting of no excuse." (trans. H. St. J. Thackeray; LCL; New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1926) 379
30. Hammerton-Kelly, ed., Violent Origins
31. Smith, "Violence and Religion," 1120-23
32. See also Burkert, "Homo religiosus acts and attains self awareness as homo necans" (Homo Necans, 3)
33. See François Bovon, Bertrand Bouvier and Fréderic Amsler, Acta Philippi. Textus (Corpus Christianorum; Series Apocryphorum 11; Turnhout: Brepols, 1999)
34. and Frederic Amsler, Acta Philippi. Commentarius (Corpus Christianorum; Series Apocryphorum 12; Turnhout: Brepols, 1999)
35. French translation in Actes de l'apôtre Philippe (intro. and notes Frederic Amsler; trans. François Bovon, Bertrand Bouvier and Frédéric Amsler; Apocryphes 8; Turnhout: Brepols, 1996)
36. and iidem, "Actes de Philippe," in François Bovon and Pierre Geoltrain, eds., Écrits apocryphes Chretiens (La Pléiade 442; Paris: Gallimard, 1997) 1. 1178-1320
37. See Christopher R. Matthews, "Articulate Animals: A Multivalent Motif in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles," in François Bovon, Ann Graham Brock, and Christopher R. Matthews, eds., The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles (HDS Studies; Harvard University: Center for the Study of World Religions, Religions of the World; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999) 205-232
38. Remember the classical story of Androcles (or Androclus) and the lion and its adaptation in the Acts of Paul: the lion with the needle in its paw is healed by the wise man. Later the lion remembers its benefactor and does not kill him in the arena. On the story of Androcles, see Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 5.14
39. Dennis R. MacDonald, The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983) 21-23. (I thank Christopher R. Matthews for the previous reference.)
40. On the conversion and baptism of the lion in the Act. Paul 9. 7-26 (for § 7-14 and part of § 22 and 23 following the Coptic Papyrus Bodmer 41, pp. 1-8, and for § 15-26 following the Greek Papyrus of Hamburg, pp. 1-5)
41. see Willy Rordorf, with the collaboration of Pierre Cherix and Rodolphe Kasser, "Actes de Paul," in Ecrits apocryphes Chrétiens, 1.1151-60
42. Christopher R. Matthews, "Articulate Animals," 206-11
43. As known from the paintings in the Roman catacombs, the memory of Daniel among the lions was well preserved among the early Christians. Remember also the speaking animals of the biblical Balaam story (Num 22:21-35) and of the apocryphal Act. Thorn. 70. 1-5
44. On the animal in antiquity see Das Tier in derAntike. 400 Werke ägyptischer, griechischer, etruskischer und römischer Kunst aus privatem und öffentlichem Bestiz (Zürich: Archäologisches Institut der Universität Zürich, 1974)
45. Philippe Borgeaud, Yves Christe, and Ivanka Urio, eds., L'animal, l'homme, le dieu dans le Proche-Orient ancien. Actes du colloque de Cartigny 1991 (Centre d'étude du Proche-Orient ancien, Université de Genève; Les Cahiers du CEPOA 2; Leuven: Peeters, 1985)
46. On the human level, see the reaction of Isaac the Syrian: "An elder once asked, 'What is a compassionate heart?' He replied: 'It is a heart on fire for the whole of creation, for humanity, for the birds, for the animals, for demons and for all that exists... This is why he constantly offers up prayer full of tears, even for the irrational animals and for the enemies of truth, even for those who harm him, so that they may be protected and find mercy.'" (A. M. Allchin, ed., The Heart of Compassion: Daily Readings with St. Isaac of Syria, [trans. Sebastian Brock; London: Darton, Longman, and Todd, 1989] 29). I thank my colleague Kimberley Patton for this reference
47. This phrase is the translation of the manuscript from Mount Athos, Xenophontos 32, as published in Bovon, Bouvier, and Amsler, Acta Philippi. Textus, 305
48. This excerpt is the translation of the manuscript of Mount Athos, Xenophontos 32, as published in Bovon, Bouvier, and Amsler, Acta Philippi. Textus 305
49. See n. 7, Josephus, Ap. 2.29 § 213
50. and notice also the interest of Philo Hypothetica (Apologia pro ludaeis) 7.6-9 for the Golden Rule and respect for animals. Both Josephus and Philo seem to be influenced by the Pythagorian tradition; see Isidore Lévy, La légende de Pythagore, 223
51. Isidore Lévy, Recherches esséniennes et pythagoriciennes (Centre de recherches d'histoire et de philologie de la IVe Section de l'École Pratiques des Hautes Études, III, Hautes Études du monde grécoromain, 1
52. Genève: Droz, Paris: Minard, 1965) 54-56
53. Amsler proposes to understand the leopard and the kid in the Acts of Philip as animals devoted to the goddess Cybele. But he does not deny the interpretation along the lines of Isaiah's prophecy, arguing that the text can be read at several levels; see H. Frédéric Amsler, "Les Actes de Philippe: Aperçu d'une compétition religieuse en Phrygie," in Jean-Daniel Kaestli and Daniel Marguerat, eds., Le mystère apocryphe. Introduction à une littérature méconnue (Essais Bibliques 26; Genève: Labor et Fides, 1995) 125-40
54. H. Frédéric Amsler, "The Apostle Philip, the Viper, the Leopard and the Kid. The Masked Actors of a Religious Conflict in Hierapolis of Phrygia (Acts of Philip VIII-XV and Martyrdom)" SBL 1996 Seminar Papers (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1996) 432-37
55. On the animal in the Jewish life, culture, and religion, see Elijah Judah, Animal Life in Jewish Tradition: Attitudes and Relationships (New York: Ktav, 1984)
56. Andrew Linzey, Animal Theology (London: SCM, 1994)
57. One is reminded of the famous Physiologus; see Der Physiologus (trans. Otto Seel; Lebendige Antike; Zürich: Artemis, 1960)
58. If we can count Irenaeus among the western Church Fathers, the following three Christian authors of the western part of the Roman Empire are favorable to the literal understanding of Isa 11:6-8: Irenaeus of Lyon, Adversus haereses 5.33.4 (see Eusebius of Caesarea, Historia ecclesiastica, 3.39.1 and 11-13)
59. Demonstratio praedicationis apostolicae 61
60. Tertullian, Adversus Hermogenem 11.3
61. Lactantius, Divinae institutiones 7.24
62. In the finale of the book, the animals have to stay in the building of the church until their death (Acts of Philip Martyrdom 40 [146]). Because of an ancient miracle, a cock and a hen are preserved alive in the church of Santo Domingo de la Cazada in Spain; see C.-M. Molas, "Dominique de la Calzada," Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 14 (Paris: Letouzé et Ané, 1960) 609-10
63. Shepherd of Hernias 22-24 (Vis. 4)
64. see Erik Peterson, "Die Begegnung mit dem Ungeheuer," Vigiliae Christianae 8 (1954) 52-71
65. reprinted in idem, Frühkirche, Judentum und Gnosis. Studien und Untersuchungen (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1982) 285-309
66. The same tension is visible in the story of Jesus' temptation, particularly in a Markan pecularity, the presence of the wild beasts, Mark 1:13
67. This quotation is the translation of the manuscript from Mount Athos, Xenophontos 32, as published in Bovon, Bouvier, and Amsler, Acta Philippi. Textus, 285
68. One should not forget Jesus' saying in Luke: "See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; nothing will hurt you" (Luke 10:19)
69. see Bovon, Das Evangelium nach Lukas, 2. 49, 56-58
70. and in the not original ending of the second Gospel, Mark 16:17-18
71. See Herbert Haag, Teufelsglaube (Tübingen: Katzmann, 1974)
72. Thomas M. Provatakis, (Thessaloniki-Oraiokastron: Ergostasion graphikon technon A. Rekou, 1980)
73. Bernard Teyssèdre, Naissance du Dlable. De Babylone aux grotles de la mer Morte (Paris: Albin Michel, 1985)
74. idem, Le Diable et l'Enfer au temps de Jésus (Paris: Albin Michel, 1985)
75. Richard P. Greenfield, Traditions of Belief in Late Byzantine Demonology (Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1988)
76. Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan (New York: Random House, 1995)
77. Luther Link, The Devil: Archfiend in Art from the Sixth to the Sixteenth Century (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996)
78. Bernard McGinn, Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996). (I thank my colleague Nick Constas for the information concerning Richard P. Greenfield and Thomas M. Provatakis.)
79. See also Act. Phil. 9.1-5 (102-6) for another victory over a dragon; see also the expression "the power of the wild beast" that Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis 4.9.74.4, uses by quoting freely from the already mentioned passage of the Shepherd of Hennas 23.5 (Vis. 4.2.5)
80. Within the ascetic tradition, Athanasius of Alexandria (The Life of Antony 15, PG 26.865) and John Moschos (The Spiritual Meadow [Pratum Spirituale][intro., translation, and notes John Wortley; Cistercian Studies Series 139; Kalamazoo, Ml: Cistercian Publications, 1992] 5, 13, 39-40, 45-46, 102, 130-31) show how interested the first monks - in this case in Egypt and Palestine - were in the animal world. We read several stories telling how dangerous crocodiles could become innocuous by Antony's prayer and sign of the cross, how the aggression of a lion could be defeated by the prayer of a holy man, and how the threat of a snake could be dispelled by the piety of another father
81. For these monks, the wild beasts live under the rule of the jungle, like the human sinners, until they are reached by God's grace, transmitted by the mediation of the apostle or of the holy man. In the Life of Antony 9-10 the demons take the shape of wild beasts and they are tamed by the virtue of the saint in the presence of Christ; see PG 26.855-62
82. Vita de Antonio (Latin critical text and comments G. J. M. Bartelink; trans. Pietro Citati and Salvatore Lilla; Vite dei Santi 1; s.l.: Fondazione Lorenzo Valla / Mondadori, 1974) 26-31 and 38-41
83. see Act. Phil. Mart. 25-33 (131-139)
84. see Bouvier, Bovon, and Amsler, "Actes de Philippe," in Écrits apocryphes chrétiens, 1.1308-13
85. See Rudolf Bultmann, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (trans. G. R. Beasley-Murray; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1971) 38
86. The enemy may represent not only external hostile forces, but also interior destructive reaction; see Hanna Hyams, "Shame: The Enemy Within," Transactional Analysis Journal 24 (1994) 255-64. I would like to thank Edna Pressler for her advice on modern psychological literature
87. See also Matt 5:43-48
88. Rom 12:4
89. 1 Pet 2:11-17
90. Did. 1.3-5
91. Luise Schottroff, "Gewaltverzicht und Feindesliebe in der urchristlichen Jesustradition, Mt 5:38-48;
92. Lk 6:27-36," in Jesus Christus in Hislorie und Theologie. Festschrift Hans Conzeimann (Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck 1975) 197-221
93. Gerd Theissen, Studien zur Soziologie des Urchristentums (Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck 1979) 160-97
94. Klassen, Love of Enemies
95. Schrey, "Gewalt/ Gewaltlosigkeit," 168-70
96. Bovon, Das Evangelium nach Lukas, 1. 306-28
97. See Acts 5:31 and 11:18
98. On David, see Samuel Amsler, David, roi et Messie; la tradition davidique dans l'Ancien Testament (Cahiers théologiques 45; Neuchâtel: Delachaux et Niestlé, 1963)
99. Kenneth E. Pomykala, The Davidic Dynasty Tradition in Early Judaism: Its History and Significance for Messianism (SBLEJ 7; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995)
100. On Achilles, see Monique Roussel, Biographic légendaire d'Achille (Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1991)
101. See Henry Mottu, Les "confessions" de Jérémie, une protestation contre la souffrance (Le monde de la Bible; Genève: Labor et Fides, 1985)
102. Hans Dieter Betz, Der Apostel Paulus und die sokratische Tradition (BHTh 45; Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1972)
103. Bailie, Violence Unveiled, 17-20, discovers a similar tension in the contemporaneous world; see n. 2 of this article
104. See David L. Dungan, "Jesus and Violence," in E. P. Sanders, ed., Jesus, the Gospels and the Church: Essays in Honor of William R. Farmer (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1987) 135-62, particularly 141-44
105. See Krister Stendahl, "Hate, Non-retaliation, and Love: 1 QS X, 17-20 and Rom. 12:19-21," HTR 55 (1962)343-55
106. Seneca, De otio 1.4
107. De beneficiis 4.26.1
108. De ira 2.31-34
109. see Schottroff, "Gewaltverzicht und Feindesliebe in der urchristlichen Jesustradition," 197-221
110. There was a third case. To the slave there is also a philosophical piece of advice: you may suffer from unjust masters, but - and what is so difficult for us to read today - you should not try to defend your cause: it is better for you to develop a spirit of resignation and an attitude of stoic self-control
111. See Gregory J. Riley, "Words and Deeds: Jesus as Teacher and Jesus as Pattern of Life," HTR 90 (1997) 427-36
112. According to Dungan, Luke is influenced by the Pythagorean tradition ("Jesus and Violence," 153-60)
113. See Lévy, La légende de Phytagore
114. idem, Recherches esséniennes et pythagoriciennes
115. see also James Redfield, "The Politics of Immortality," in Philippe Borgeaud, ed., Orphisme et Orphée. En l'honneur de Jean Rudhardt (Recherches et rencontres; Publications de la Faculté des lettres de Genève 3; Geneva: Droz, 1991) 103-7, particularly 108-11
116. Juri G. Vinogradov, "Zur sachlichen und geschichtlichen Deutung der Orphiker-Plàttchen von Olbia," in Orphisme et Orphée, 77-86
117. and the classic, Ferdinand-Christian Baur, Apollonius von Thyana und Christus oder das Verhältnis des Pythagorismus zum Christentum (Tübingen: L. F. Fues, 1832; reprinted with a slightly different title Hildesheim: Olms, 1966)
118. Zarathustra is one of the first to have criticized bloody sacrifices: he casts a malediction on those who, by killing the victim, destroy the life of the animal (see Yasna 32.8,12,14; it is not clear if Zarathustra was condemning all bloody sacrifice)
119. see Arthur Henry Bleek, Avesta: The Religious Books of the Parsees; From Professor Spiegel's German Translation of the Original Manuscripts (3 vols. in 1; Hertford: Stephen Austin for Muncherjee Hormusjee Cama, 1864) 90-91
120. Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin, Zoroastre. Étude critique avec une traduction commentée desGâthâ (Les dieux et les hommes 2; Paris: Maisonneuve, 1948) 251-57
121. and Helmut Humbach and Pallan Ichaporia, The Heritage of Zarathushtra: A New Translation of His Gathas (Heidelberg: Winter, 1994) 40-43
122. Walter Burkert, Homo Necans, 7
123. According to Diogenes Laertius, a book was attributed to Pythagoras, called The Scopiades, which advised not harming anybody. See Diogenes Laertius, De clarorum philosophorum vitis, 8.8
124. On the difficulty of Diogenes' text concerning the beginning of Pythagoras' book, see the critical apparatus of A. Delatte, La vie de Pythagore de Diogène Laërce. Édition critique avec introduction el commentaire (Académie royale de Belgique, Classe des Lettres et des Sciences morales et politiques, deuxième série, 17; Bruxelles: Lamertin, 1922) 109
125. Unfortunately Delatte does not deal with this textual problem in his commentary, 165-66. The title, The Scopiades, is not well attested in the textual tradition; see the apparatus of the critical edition by H. S. Long, Diogenis Laertii Vitae Philosophorum (2 vols.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1964) 2. 396
126. See Musonius translated by Cora E. Lutz, Musonius Rufus "The Roman Socrates," Yale Classical Studies 10 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1947) 33-145
127. W. Klassen, Love of Enemies, 22-23
128. See n. 50
129. Act. John 81
130. ET in Wilhelm Schneemelcher, ed., New Testament Apocrypha (trans. Knut Schäferdiek; rev ed. ; 2 vols.; Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1991-92) 2. 199
131. For me, modern equivalents are the "I-Thou" relationship, "healing through meeting" (both are Martin Buber's expressions), or non-possessive love (Carl Rodgers); see Maurice Friedman, "Reflections on the Buber-Rogers Dialogue, "Journal of Humanistic Psychology 34 Special Issue on Dialogue (1994) 46-65
132. See the Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 7a, "Said R. Zutra bar Tobiah said Rab, 'May it be my will that my mercy overcome my anger, and that my mercy prevail over my attributes, so that I may treat my children in accord with the trait of mercy and in their regard go beyond the strict mesure of the law.'" (The Talmud of Babylonia: An Academic Commentary, I, Bavli Tractate Berakhot [trans. by Jacob Neusner, South Florida Academic Commentary Series 24; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996] 33-34). I thank Kimberley Patton for this reference
133. In the first centuries CE the command to love one's enemies was a decisive part of the Christian identity; Justin Martyr, for example, considers this command as a new teaching (7 Apol. 15.9-10)
134. In the next chapter, Justin likes to say that the Christians are violent people transformed into mild ones (I Apol. 16.1-11)
135. Later he declares that the Gospel breaks the chains of violent relationships (I Apol. 37.8)
136. See also Barn. 3.3: "But to us he says: 'Behold, this is the fast which I have chosen, says the Lord. Loose every bond of injustice, untie the knots of forcibly extracted agreements.'" The Apostolic Fathers: A New Translation and Commentary, vol. 3: Barnabas and the Didache (trans. Robert A. Kraft; New York: Nelson, 1965) 86
137. On the child in antiquity, see Simon Légasse, Jésus et l'enfant. "Enfants", "petits" et "simples" dans la tradition synoptique (Études Bibliques; Paris: Gabalda, 1969) 276-87
138. Hans Ruedi Weber, Jesus and the Children: Biblical Resources for Study and Preaching (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1979) 65-76
139. John Boswell, The Kindness of Strangers: The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998) 1-266
140. Keith R. Bradley, Discovering the Roman Family: Studies in Roman Social History (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991)
141. Lloyd deMause, "The Evolution of Childhood," in Lloyd deMause, ed., The History of Childhood (New York: Psychohistory Press, 1974; reprinted Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1995) 1-73
142. Richard B. Lyman, Jr., "Barbarism and Religion: Late Roman and Early Medieval Childhood," in The History of Childhood, Lloyd deMause, ed., 75-100
143. Michel Manson, "The Emergence of the Small Child at Rome (Third Century B.C. - First Century)," History of Education 12 (1983) 149-59
144. Jean-Pierre Néraudau, Être enfant à Rome (Paris: Belles Lettres, 1984)
145. Beryl Rawson, ed., The Family in Ancient Rome: New Perspectives (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1986)
146. Thomas Wiedemann, Adults and Children in the Roman Empire (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989)
147. Beryl Rawson, ed., Marriage, Divorce, and Children in Ancient Rome (Canberra: Humanities Research Center; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996)
148. The following New Testament passages use the term Matt 11:25, the exact parallel to Luke 10:21; Matt 21:16; Rom 2:20; 1 Cor 3:1; 13:11; Gal 4:1,3: Eph 4:14; 1 Th 2:7 (variant reading); Heb 5:13; the verb "to be a babe," "to be like a child" occurs once in 1 Cor 14:20
149. The concepts of baptism as a new birth and the newly baptized as newborn children appear in many texts: 1 Clement 9.4
150. Shepherd of Hennas 93.1-4 (Sim. 9.16.1-4)
151. Justin, 1 Apol. 61.3-5, 10
152. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses 1.21.1; 3.17.1; 5.15.3
153. Tertullian, Bapt. 1
154. Theodor of Mopsuestia, Catechetical Homily 14
155. Ambrose of Milan, De sacramentis 3.1-3
156. Adolf von Harnack, Die Terminologie der Wiedergeburt... (TU 42.3; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1918) 97-143
157. P. Th. Camelot, Spiritualité du baptême (Lex Orandi 30; Paris: Cerf, 1960)
158. The "place of life" is another expression for the eternal life
159. I interpret this "he" to refer to the "man old in days."
160. This text is the translation of Thomas O. Lambdin in The Nag Hammadi Library (3d ed.; James M. Robinson, ed.; New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990) 126
161. see also Howard C. Kee, "'Becoming a Child' in the Gospel of Thomas," JBL 82 (1963) 307-14
162. Michael Fieger, Das Thomasevangelium. Einleilung, Kommentar und Systematik (Neutestamentliche Abhandlungen, N.F. 22; Münster: Aschendorff, 1991) 30-32.96-98
163. April D. De Conick, Seek to See Him: Ascent and Vision Mysticism in the Gospel of Thomas (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 33; Leiden: Brill, 1996) 145-46
164. Translation of Lambdin in The Nag Hammadi Library, 121
165. This situation resembles the situation in Eden before the fall
166. See the witness of Christian epitaphs gathered by Légasse, Jésus et l'enfant, 272-73
167. Augustine is an exception by not accepting this view. See Augustine, Confessiones 1.7.11 (CCSL 27. 6)
168. Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos 44.1 and 46.2 (CCSL 38. 494 and 530)
169. Two interesting analyses of family life appear in deMause, "The Evolution of Childhood," 6-39
170. and Bradley, Discovering the Roman Family, 177-204
171. See the preface of Book 6 of Quintilian's Institutio oratorio, in which he mentions the death of his two sons and his wife; see also the condolences of Marcus Aurelius at the occasion of Fronton's grandson's death, and Fronton's answer to the Emperor, his pupil, On the Loss of His Grandson (De nepote amisso I and II), in The Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto (ed. and trans. C.R. Haines; LCL; 2 vols.; New York: Putnam, 1919-20) 2. 220-33
172. One finds a different attitude by Cicero, Tusculanae disputationes 1.39 § 93
173. I owe these references to Keith R. Bradley, Discovering the Roman Family, 28-29
174. See Ex 13:8; m. Pesah. 10.4-5
175. See also the comments of von Eduard Baneth in Mischnajot: Die sechs Ordnungen der Mischna. Hebräischer Text mit Punktuation, deutscher Übersetzung und Erklärung (3d ed.; 6 vols.; Basel: Victor Goldschmidt, 1968) 2. 241-53
176. see also Theodor Herz Gaster, Passover: Its History and Traditions (New York: Henry Schuman, 1949) 58-62
177. David J. Wolpe, Teaching Your Children about God: A Modern Jewish Approach (New York: Holt, 1993)
178. Chaim Pearl, "Children," The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997) 156
179. Légasse, Jésus el l'enfant, 278: "Dès l'époque d'Euripide on avait accordé à la candeur de l'enfant un pouvoir spécial sur les dieux." "From the time of Euripides, a special power over the Gods had been given to the ingenuousness of children." As witness for this thesis the French scholar quotes Euripides, Iphi. Taur., 1270-83
180. See the Shepherd of Hennas 106.1 (Sim. 9.29.1); 101.1-4 (Sim. 9.24.1-4)
181. Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.5-6
182. See François Bovon, "De Jésus de Nazareth au Christ Pantocrator," Cahier Biblique 25 of Foi et Vie 75 (1986) 87-96
183. See François Bovon, Luke the Theologian: Thirty-Three Years of Research (1950-1983) (Princeton Theological Monograph Series 12; Allison Park, PA: Pickwick Publications, 1987) 181-83
184. It is possible also to look at the title "firstborn," used in Luke 2:7, Rom 8:29, Col 1:15, 18; Heb 1:6; and Rev 1:5, from the same perspective. Similar to other scholars, a recent exegete does not mention the possibility of the child character of Christ as the firstborn (Hugolinus Langkammer, 2prototokos erstgeboren, Erstgeborener," Exegetisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament, Horst Balz and Gerhard Schneider eds., [3 vols.; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1980-83] 3. 458-62)
185. See Erik Peterson, "Einige Bemerkungen zum Hamburger Papyrus-Fragment der Acta Pauli, "VC 3 (1949) 142-62
186. reprinted in idem, Frühkirche. Judentum und Gnosis, 183-208, particularly pp. 191-97 and n. 88 pp. 206-7 of the collection of essays
187. Eric Junod and Jean-Daniel Kaestli, Acta Iohannis (2 vols.; Corpus Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum 1-2; Turnhout: Brepols, 1983) 2. 479-80
188. Antonio Orbe, Cristología gnóstica: Introduction a la soteriología de los siglos II y III (2 vols.; Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos 384-385; Madrid: La Editorial Catolica, 1976) does not pay much attention to the appearances of the resurrected Jesus Christ in the form of a child
189. Evodius of Uzala, De fide contra Manichaeos 38 (CSCE 25.2; Vienna: Tempsky, 1892) 968-69
190. Translation by Jean-Marc Prieur in New Testament Apocrypha 2. 103
191. Translation by Gregor Hahn in New Testament Apocrypha 2. 144
192. Translation by Knut Schäferdiek in New Testament Apocrypha 2. 179
193. I am following Gérard Poupon's conjecture (read cinctum instead of vinctum); see Gérard Poupon, "Actes de l'apôtre Pierre et de Simon," in Écrits apocryphes Chrétiens 1. 1080, n. F
194. Translation by Wilhelm Schneemelcher in New Testament Apocrypha 2. 300; translation slightly revised by the present author
195. Translation by Han J.W. Drijvers in New Testament Apocrypha 2. 350
196. This is the translation of the manuscript from Mount Athos, Xenophontos 32, as published in Bovon, Bouvier, and Amsler, Acta Philippi. Textus, 195 and 197
197. Thomas F. Matthews, The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993)
198. See, for example, Passio Montani et Lueii, 7. 3 (Ausgeẅahlte Märtyrerakten [4th ed.; SAQ, N.F. 3; Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1965] 75)
199. Acta Dorotheae et Theophili, 11 (Acta Santorum; Antwerp: Meursius; 1658) 1.774
200. Jacqueline Amat, Songes et visions. L'au-dela" dans la littérature latine tardive (Paris: Études augutiniennes, 1985) 141, 257-60
201. Clement, Paed. 1.5.24
202. Translation by William Wilson in The Writings of Clement of Alexandriaw (Ante-Nicene Christian Library 4; Edinburgh: Clark, 1867) 129-30
203. See the titles conferred to the Christians by Clement of Alexandria, The Rich Man's Salvation 31, in a passage analyzed with sagacity by Ann Graham Brock, "The Significance of and in the Tradition of Jesus Sayings and in the Early Christian Communities," HTR 90 (1997) 395
204. Here is the translation of the passage by Clement: "Those He calls children and young children and babes and friends; also little ones here, in comparison with their future greatness above." (The Exhortation to the Greeks, The Rich Man's Salvation, and the Fragment of an Address Entitled to the Newly Baptized [trans. G.W. Butterworth; in LCL; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1953] 334; translation slightly revised
205. Following this conception of Christ's example we can say: "Be a child as Jesus is!" Beautiful in your behavior, refusing any wish of retaliation, and gentle as he was, loving your enemies even in a time of persecution. In its criticism of the natural family bonds Gosp. Thorn. 105 suggests a new type of relationship, a new way of being children of God: "Jesus said: 'He who knows the father and the mother will be called the son of a harlot'" (trans. Lambdin, The Nag Hammadi Library, 137)
206. It is probably not by chance that Jesus' birth in the Gospel of
207. Leo the Great, Sermo 18 (XXXVII), 3 (PL 54. 258-59)
208. also Léon le Grand, Sermons, I (intro. Jean Leclercq; trans, and notes René Dolle; SC 22 bis; Paris: Cerf, 1964) 280-81. "Christ loves childhood, which he first assumed in both his soul and body. Christ loves childhood, teacher of humility, rule of innocence, model of gentleness. Christ loves childhood, toward which he directs the conduct of the adults, toward which he brings back those who are older; and turns to his own example those he raises to the eternal kingdom."