Prayer of the Apostle Paul (NHC)
The prayer of the Apostle Paul (Latin: Precatio Pauli , short: PrecPl ) is the first text on the "Codex Jung" (Codex I) of the Nag Hammadi writings (NHC). It appears to have preceded the Codex after the longer treatises were copied. While the text - like the rest of the Codex - is written in Coptic , it has a Greek title. The handwriting is missing about two lines at the beginning of the text.
The original Greek text is clearly pseudepigraph , ie it was not written by the Apostle Paul . Because he shows Gnostic influence that one does not find in the Pauline letters . Many professionals refer to it as a Valentine's work due to characteristic phrases such as: B. the "psychic God". This speaks for an origin between 150 and 300 AD. There are parallels to many other texts that could have partially served as sources, including the Corpus Hermeticum , the Three Steles of Seth , the Gospel of Philip and the real Pauline letters.
literature
- Hans-Martin Schenke, Hans-Gebhard Bethge, Ursula Ulrike Kaiser: Nag Hammadi German , Volume 1: NHC I, 1-V, 1 , Walter de Gruyter: Berlin 2010.
- Dieter Mueller: " The Prayer of the Apostle Paul ", Introduction, in: James M. Robinson (Ed.): The Nag Hammadi Library , p. 27. (with English translation)