Correspondence between Seneca and Paul

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Left : Apostle Paul (9th century) writing letters, right : Seneca between the famous Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle (14th century)

The correspondence between Seneca and Paul includes 14 made-up, pseudepigraphic letters by the Roman philosopher and poet Seneca and the apostle Paul . The eight letters under Seneca's name and six under the name of the apostle are intended to prove the friendship between the two authors. The correspondence dates from the 4th century, but was considered genuine for centuries, until doubts were expressed by humanistic philologists at the beginning of the 15th century ( Lorenzo Valla , Celio Secondo Curione , Justus Lipsius ). Erasmus of Rotterdam dealt the fatal blow with his criticism and thanks to his authority. The correspondence is written in stylistically modest, post-classical Latin and its content can be described as poor.

Draftsman, dating, style

The correspondence was made by an unknown author in the 4th century, before 392/93, i.e. before it was mentioned by Hieronymus . It was probably written after 325, which can be inferred from the silence of the church father and Seneca lover Laktanz about this correspondence.

After giving a few reasons, Erasmus judged this badly made “forgery”: “It is shameless foolishness to let Seneca talk like this, it is blasphemy to let Paul talk like this.” The philologist and theologian Alfons Fürst came to a comparable conclusion in 2006: "The language and style of all letters are on a pathetic level." The clumsiness of the author is shown in incorrect references and inconsistencies in content.

content

The correspondence contains only traces of Senecan philosophy and Pauline theology . Alfons Fürst describes the correspondence as a "very meaningless text". Erasmus already complained about "the drought and silliness of thoughts."

  • Letter I (Seneca): Report of a chance meeting of Seneca and Lucilius with some Christians in the gardens of Sallust , where the reading of a letter from Paul took place. Praise to this letter because of its “wonderful instructions for a morally impeccable lifestyle” and the divine origin of the thoughts
  • Letter II (Paulus): Appreciation and witness to solidarity
  • Letter III (Seneca): notification of the plan to present some of the writings recently written by Seneca to the emperor (Nero) , possibly in the presence of Paul, but otherwise only after Paul had looked through and discussed them with his friend
  • Letter IV (Paul): Evidence of intimate friendship
  • Letter V (Seneca): Concerns about Paulus' longer absence, presumed reason: his fear of the outrage of the Empress ( Poppaea Sabina ) because of his conversion to the Christian faith
  • Letter VI (Paul): Description and justification of the careful missionary approach, exchange of ideas about the faith and the attitude of the imperial couple should not be in writing
  • Letter VII (Seneca): praise of the letters of Paul to the Galatians and Corinthians , whose reading “did me good”; Since the Holy Spirit spoke from Paul, he should also cultivate the linguistic form accordingly. Nero was impressed and amazed by Paul's thoughts “how someone who does not have a regular school education can have such thoughts. I replied that the gods used to speak through the mouth of simple people ... "
  • Letter VIII (Paulus): criticism of the passing on of his thoughts or letters at court; Please refrain from doing this in the future: "You have to be careful ... not to arouse the resentment of the Empress ..."
  • Letter IX (Seneca): Answer the criticism (Seneca gives in). Sending a book "About the rich vocabulary" (cf. Letter VII, admonition to maintain a better style)
  • Letter X (Paulus): Admission of the "serious mistake" (gravis res) , to name one's own name [as is common practice] in the second position of the letter instead of at the very end (but without correcting this in the letter!)
  • Letter XI (Seneca): Expression of grief over the contempt, slander and persecution of Christians, call to bear indifferent bad rulers who will have to bear the divine punishment. The fires in Rome were caused by the rulers, not Christians or Jews, who are being punished for it. The fire (64 AD) destroyed 132 palaces and 4,000 houses within six days.
  • Letter XII (Seneca): honors, evidence of intimate friendship. Paul should - especially as a Roman citizen - put his name at the beginning of the letters (cf. Letter X).
  • Letter XIII (Seneca): Exhortation to improve the linguistic expression, Paul should pay attention to "correct Latin" (cf. Letter VII)
  • Letter XIV (Paul): In Seneca's thoughts “things were revealed which the Godhead has granted (only) to a few.” An expression of the hope that Seneca would be fertile soil and one day “become a new herald of Christ Jesus” at the imperial court . The word of God as a life-giving good that "begets a new person" who strives to God.

The sequence of the last four letters is uncertain. If you follow their own dating, the logic of the content (utterance and response) is disturbed.

Primary function of fiction

Two theses were and will be represented:

1. Prove Seneca a Christian

After Erasmus, the unknown author wanted to portray Seneca as a Christian (letter 2092; 1515). This thesis appeared several times as early as the 14th century; but it cannot be supported by the texts. Rather, the author differentiates between “your way of life” (Letter I) and “my religion” (Letter X); he lets Seneca speak of Christians without locking himself in, speaking of “your innocence”, “you” and “you” (Letter XI).

2. Document the friendship between Seneca and Paul

In the letters, the two of them often address each other as “dearest Seneca” or “dearest Paul” ( Ave, mi Paule carissime , letter XII) or with the friendly “brother”. The correspondents politely compliment each other, express their appreciation, apologize for delayed answering of letters, sometimes with reference to the lack of a suitable mail carrier (letters II, VI), and they express their longing to be together ( Letters I, III, IV, V). In doing so, they follow the rules of the game of such late antique correspondence.

Intention of fiction

Three intentions for the preparation of the fictitious friendship correspondence are up for discussion:

1. The thesis, which goes back to Theodor Zahn and Adolf von Harnack , is widespread that Paul and his writings or the Bible in general should be recommended to educated new converts for reading. - On the other hand, however, speaks that Seneca's reputation had sunk to a low point in the 4th century and his philosophy no longer played a role.

2. The contrary thesis is: Paul should be discredited by bringing him into connection with Seneca and the persecutor of Christians Nero and his notorious wife Poppaea Sabina (E. Westerburg, 1881). - The fact that the correspondence has to be divided into two groups speaks against this. This thesis found no successor.

3. Seneca's works should be recommended to Christian readers. This assumption takes into account the whole correspondence. This also fits the statement in the last letter (XIV), where Seneca testifies that he had received rare revelations from God and that he had “almost” (propemodum) reached divine wisdom. The correspondence was placed in front of many Seneca editions of the Middle Ages, according to which it represented a reading recommendation, at least in later times. Only the poor quality of the correspondence raises the question of whether it should do so according to the author's intention.

Impact history

The church fathers Tertullian , Laktanz and Hieronymus showed great esteem for Seneca. Since Jerome knew the correspondence and was apparently impressed by the friendship with Paul, he even included the pagan philosopher in his register of saints ( De viris illustribus 12). Augustine also knew the letters and was able to quote Seneca approvingly, referring to this very contact with the apostle ( Epistula 153:14; AD 413/14). This proved Seneca's close relationship with Paul and his closeness to Christianity for the centuries that followed.

The correspondence was an integral part of the tradition of Seneca's works from the 9th century. But it was also published separately or together with other writings, for example around 795 by Alcuin , Charlemagne's advisor. Seneca's philosophy was brought closer to Christianity (submission to the divine will, exploration of conscience and humanity). Seneca was also still considered an authority by the Swiss reformers Zwingli and Calvin .

More recently, the eccentric Tübingen ancient historian and theologian Helmut Waldmann (* 1935) assumed the authenticity of the correspondence and used it as a support for his thesis that Empress Poppaea Sabina had Jewish origins, which he had for a member of the royal dynasty of David who converted to Christianity at an early age holds.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alfons Fürst , in: R. Feldmeier et al. (Ed.): The apocryphal correspondence between Seneca and Paul. Tübingen 2006, p. 6.
  2. ^ Robert McLachlan Wilson: Apokryphen II. In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie. Volume 3, p. 349.
  3. ↑ Erasmus of Rotterdam: Lucii Annaei Senecae Opera. Basel 1515 (2nd edition 1529).
  4. ↑ Alfons Prince. In: The apocryphal correspondence between Seneca and Paul. P. 9.
  5. ^ Alfons Fürst, in: The apocryphal correspondence between Seneca and Paulus. P. VII.
  6. ↑ Erasmus of Rotterdam: Lucii Annaei Senecae Opera. Basel 1515 (2nd edition 1529).
  7. ^ Alfons Fürst, in: The apocryphal correspondence between Seneca and Paulus. P. 22.
  8. ^ For more details, see Alfons Fürst, 1998, pp. 94–111.
  9. ^ Alfons Fürst, in: The apocryphal correspondence between Seneca and Paulus. P. 17.
  10. ^ Alfons Fürst, in: The apocryphal correspondence between Seneca and Paulus. Pp. 17-18.
  11. ↑ So z. BFX Kraus, p. 608.
  12. ^ Robert McLachlan Wilson: Apokryphen II. In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie. Volume 3, p. 349.
  13. ↑ Melanie Malzahn: Review of: Pesditschek, Martina: Barbar, Kreter, Arier. Life and work of the ancient historian Fritz Schachermeyr, Volume 1. Saarbücken 2009 / Pesditschek, Martina: Barbar, Kreter, Arier. Life and work of the ancient historian Fritz Schachermeyr, Volume 2. Saarbücken 2009. In: H-Soz-Kult, January 5, 2011.
  14. ^ Gregor Ahn : Helmut Waldmann: The commagenic Mazdaism. Tübingen: Wasmuth 1991. In: Gnomon 66 (1994), Heft 2, pp. 134-140 (here; p. 134).
  15. ↑ Dr phil., Dr theol. Helmut Waldmann, Tübingen. Short curriculum vitae and list of publications ( Academia.edu , status 2014).
  16. ↑ Helmut Waldmann: Petrus and the Church (= Scientific Series of the Tübingen Society, Volume 7). Verlag der Tübinger Gesellschaft, Tübingen 1999, ISBN 3-928096-09-5 , p. 147 f.

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Secondary literature