Exegesis on the soul

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The scripture known as Exegesis on the Soul or Exegesis of the Soul is a Gnostic text that has survived in the collection known as the Nag Hammadi scriptures . There it appears as the sixth font of the 2nd Codex (NHC II, 6).

Content and classification

The text describes the fall and the salvation of the soul:

The wise men who lived before us gave the soul a feminine name. In fact, she is also a woman by nature. Like other women, she has a womb. (127.18; transl. M. Janßen)

The soul is described as originally male-female and virgin-pure. But only the female part plunges into the physical world of sin and fornication, which is vigorously painted using many Old Testament quotes and phrases. Every earthly sexuality is thus interpreted as disloyalty to the male part who lingers in heaven, the predetermined brother and bridegroom.

Ultimately, earthly suffering and misery lead the soul to repentance and repentance. This repentance makes the compassionate Father save the soul. He sends the male brother part to her and in a pneumatic wedding the soul experiences the reunification of the original perfection, which is understood here as the resurrection.

In this context, the (secret of the) bridal chamber also appears:

She gave up her previous fornication, she cleansed herself of the defilements of adulterers. But then she renewed herself to be a bride. She cleaned herself in the bridal chamber. She filled it with fragrance. She sat inside waiting for her real bridegroom. She no longer ran into the marketplace having intercourse with anyone she wanted, but went on looking for him (because she did not know) what day he would come, and she feared him; because she no longer knew what he looked like. (132; transl. M. Janßen)

The text form is similar to a sermon: a narrative part, followed by an interpretation of the scriptures, leads to practical application and a warning. The closing formula is also reminiscent of a liturgical text.

As an author one can imagine a Jewish Christian (because of the large number of quotations from the OT and the identification of the father of the soul with the God of OT). In addition, there is a Hellenistic educational background (because of the noticeable Homer quotes on sheet 136f). This would give a certain resemblance to Paul from the background.

Among other things, a passage from a letter from Klemens is quoted ( 1 Klem 8,2). Accordingly, the text could date from the end of the 1st century at the earliest. However, the passage quoted is a quotation from Klemens himself.

expenditure

Original texts and translations were edited in the Nag Hammadi Studies (NHS) series:

Layton, B. (Ed.), Nag Hammadi Codex II, 2-7: Together with XIII, 2 *, BRIT. LIB. OR.4926 (1), and P. OXY. 1, 654, 655. Vol. II. On the Origin of the World, Expository Treatise on the Soul, Book of Thomas the Contender. NHS XXI. Leiden: Brill, 1989.

A German translation appeared in "Nag Hammadi Deutsch", ed. from the Berlin Working Group for Coptic-Gnostic Writings , a long-term research project, originally under the direction of Hans-Martin Schenke:

Hans-Martin Schenke u. a. (Ed.): Nag Hammadi German . Single and over. by members of the Berlin Working Group for Coptic-Gnostic Scriptures. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001/2003, vol. 1: NHC I, 1 - V, 1 . The Greek Christian Writers of the First Centuries NF 8. Coptic Gnostic Writings 2. ISBN 3-11-017234-8

Other German translations:

  • The exegesis of the soul . In: Gerd Lüdemann , Martina Janßen (transl.): The Bible of the heretics. The Gnostic Scriptures from Nag Hammadi. Stuttgart 1997. ISBN 3-87173-128-5 . Pp. 211-220
  • The exegesis on the soul. In: Martin Krause, Kurt Rudolph: The Gnosis. Vol. 2 .: Coptic and Mandaean sources. Artemis Verlag, Zurich u. Stuttgart 1971. New edition: Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf a. Zurich 1997. pp. 125-135.
  • The story about the soul . (Nag Hammadi Codex II, 6) Text in Greek. New ed., Trans. and explained by Cornelia Kulawik ( Texts and Studies on the History of Early Christian Literature , Volume 155). Berlin / New York de Gruyter 2006

An English translation appeared in

James M. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library in English , 1978, ISBN 0-06-066934-9

Remarks

  1. ↑ Possible explanatory translations: story about the soul (so Schenke et al., 264; Kasser 1997, 71) or interpretation of the holy scriptures with regard to the soul (according to Lüdemann / Janßen in their text introduction).

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