Second letter to Clement
The second letter of Clement is a written testimony of early Christianity . The designation as a letter is misleading, the text is "more of a template for a sermon read aloud " because it is not addressed and ends with an " Amen ".
Dating and author
The second letter of Clement is of interest, among other things, because it contains a number of quotes from early Christian texts that are otherwise unknown. He quotes various scriptures from the New Testament (Gospels, Pauline letters), but apparently also the 1st letter to Clement . For example (according to Clement of Alexandria ) some of the quotations in the 12th chapter come from the apocryphal and lost Greek Gospel of Egypt . The letter must have been written before the four canonical gospels were generally accepted as the only gospels.
The dating is done by means of indirect references, as the text contains no references to historically datable events. The issues dealt with in the letter are considered theology of the middle of the second century, before Gnostic currents appeared in the Church. Accordingly, the letter is assumed to have originated in the years AD 120–170. "Since neither Paul nor written Gospels are known ...", Berger / Nord consider "a date to 75 AD. for possible. "
The author of the letter is unknown. The name “Second Letter to Clement” may come from the fact that the church tradition attributed two letters to Clement of Rome . Apart from the fact that the text does not contain any references to an author, an authorship of Clement is excluded today due to the fact that the writing style deviates from the 1st Clement letter , which is regarded as genuine . The place of origin is also unknown.
content
The focus is on the warning to repent. It is repeated many times.
criticism
The text is transmitted in two important Greek manuscripts ( Codex Hierosolymitanus , Codex Alexandrinus ), in which it directly follows the first letter of Clement. There is also a Syrian source. Eusebius of Caesarea is the first to mention writing in his "Church History". He considers it "less important than the first letter of Clement", since it is not used (that is, quoted) by the Church Fathers.
literature
- Klaus Wengst : Writings of Early Christianity II , Darmstadt 1984 (Greek text)
- Andreas Lindemann: The Epistles of Clement (New Testament Handbook 17 / The Apostolic Fathers I), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1992.
- Wilhelm Pratscher: The Second Clement's Letter , Göttingen 2007.
- Klaus Berger , Christiane Nord: The New Testament and early Christian writings , Insel: Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-458-16970-9 , pp. 724-737. (Introduction and German translation)
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Klaus Berger , Christiane Nord: The New Testament and early Christian writings . Insel, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-458-16970-9 , p. 724.
- ↑ K. Berger, Ch. Nord: The new Testament and early Christian writings , p. 724