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date: 23 January 2021

Abstract and Keywords

This essay explores different ways in which Jewish scriptures were used and interpreted in Early Christian Apocrypha, as well as discussing other ways in which Jewish scriptures exerted influence. A number of examples are given of a hermeneutics of scripture from a Christological perspective (e.g. in the ‘unknown Gospel’ on P. Egerton 2 and Gos. Pet.), followed by discussion of texts (and passages in some ‘Christian’ apocryphal writings) where it is difficult to say whether they should be labelled ‘Jewish’ or ‘Christian’ (e.g. Apoc. Pet. 4 or the Test. XII Patr.). The essay provides examples of the (re-)use of different important figures from Jewish scriptures (like Isaiah or Solomon) in later Christian writings and, finally, discusses examples of (mainly) so-called ‘gnostic’ readings of Jewish scriptures against their original meaning.

Keywords: Christian Apocrypha, interpretation of scripture, hermeneutics, Jewish–Christian relations in antiquity, Jewish scriptures

Tobias Nicklas

Tobias Nicklas is Professor for exegesis and hermeneutics of the New Testament at the University of Regensburg

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