Rheginus letter

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The Epistle to Rheginus is also known as a treatise on the resurrection . It is transmitted in the Nag Hammadi writings , a collection of Gnostic texts. There it is the fourth writing of the first codex, also known as the Jung Codex (NHC I, 4). The manuscript dates from the first half of the 4th century, the work itself probably dates from the early 2nd century.

Content and classification

The relatively short letter from an unnamed teacher to his student deals with the resurrection of the believer. It is negotiated what kind this is or can be, whether as immortality of the soul, as resurrection of the flesh or as rebirth. It is also discussed when the resurrection takes place, whether at the moment of death, at Christ's return, or even still in life, and whether it is certain or whether it is "provable" in the philosophical sense:

So what is the resurrection? It is the continual manifestation of those who are risen. For if you remember reading in the Gospel, "Elijah appeared, and Moses with him," do not believe that the resurrection is an illusion. It is not an illusion, it is truth. Rather, it is fitting to say that the world is an illusion - rather than the resurrection that came about through our Lord the Savior, Jesus the Christ. (Bl. 48, transl. M. Janßen)

On the one hand, the author follows ideas of New Testament letters ( Eph , Kol ) and develops them further, on the other hand he makes use of the terms and concepts of Gnosis, especially Valentinianism .

expenditure

Original texts and translation were in turn

Nag Hammadi Studies (NHS) in Vol. XII and Vol. XIII

published.

An English translation appeared in

Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library in English , San Francisco 1990, pp. 52-54

A German translation appeared in

Gerd Lüdemann, Martina Janßen, The Bible of the Heretics , Stuttgart 1997, pp. 42–46

Web links