Gospel of Basilides
{{Short description|Lost text circulated among the followers of Basilides}}
{{New Testament Apocrypha}}
The Gospel of Basilides is the title given to a reputed text within the New Testament apocrypha, which is reported in the middle of the 3rd century as then circulating amongst the followers of Basilides ({{lang|grc|Βασιλείδης}}), a leading theologian of Gnostic tendencies, who had taught in Alexandria in the second quarter of the 2nd century. Basilides's teachings were condemned as heretical by Irenaeus of Lyons ({{c.|130|200}}),Haer. 1.24.4 and by Hippolytus of Rome ({{c.|170|236}}),Ref. VII 20.1 although they had been evaluated more positively by Clement of Alexandria ({{c.|150|215}}).Strom. Iv 12.81; Strom. III 1.1 There is, however, no agreement amongst Irenaeus, Hippolytus or Clement as to Basilides's specific theological opinions;{{cite book|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|author=Frank Leslie Cross, Elizabeth A. Livingstone|year=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=019211655X|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00late/page/168 168]|article=Basilides|url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00late/page/168}} while none of the three report a gospel in the name of Basilides.{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=87|isbn = 9783161526367}}
History
The first direct reference to a Gospel of Basilides is that found in Origen ({{c.|185|254}}), who reports:
{{quote|The Church has four Gospels. Heretics have many. One of them is entitled According to the Egyptians. Another is According to the Twelve Apostles. Basilides too dared to write a Gospel According to Basilides.in Luc. Hom. I.2{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=85|isbn = 9783161526367}}}}
Origen's notice is the source for references to the Gospel of Basilides in Jerome,Com. in Mat. prol Ambrose,Exp. Ev. Luc. i.2 Philip of Side,Hist. fr 4.4 and the Venerable Bede.In Luc. Ev. Exp. I prol But none of these authors report any quotations from the supposed gospel, nor are they able to give an indication as to its content or character.{{Cite book|last= Schneemelcher|first=Wilhelm |title=New Testament Apocrypha; English translation by R. McL. Wilson |year=1991 |publisher=James Clarke |pages=397|isbn = 0227679156}}{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=85|isbn = 9783161526367}}{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=94|isbn = 9783161526367}}
Much more is known about Basilides major work in twenty-four books;{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=82|isbn = 9783161526367}} for which Clement of Alexandria records the title {{lang|la|Exegetica}} (or 'Treatises')Strom. IV 12.81{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=90|isbn = 9783161526367}} and provides quotations from book twenty-three, while other quotations are preserved in the works of Hegemonius.Acta Archelai 67 5, 7-11{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=84|isbn = 9783161526367}} Eusebius of Caesarea reports Agrippa Castor (mid-2nd century) as describing the {{lang|la|Exegetica}} as "twenty-four books on the Gospel",H.E. IV 7.7{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=89|isbn = 9783161526367}} and this notice has been interpreted as characterising the full {{lang|la|Exegetica}} as an extended commentary, whose base text might be inferred as being the lost Gospel of Basilides. From this assumption and the surviving quotations from the {{lang|la|Exegetica}}, a range of theories have been developed as to the nature of the Gospel of Basilides:{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=78|isbn = 9783161526367}} that it was a redaction of the Gospel of Luke; that it combined the Gospels of Luke and Matthew; that it was a {{transl|grc|diatessaron}}, or harmony of all four gospels; that it was an independent account of the life of Jesus; and even that it was an abstract treatise or homily on the religious significance of Jesus, with no specific relation to his teachings or the events of his earthly ministry, similar in this respect to the Gospel of Truth,{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=94|isbn = 9783161526367}} another Gnostic work.{{Cite book|last= Schneemelcher|first=William |title=New Testament Apocrypha; English translation by R. McL. Wilson |year=1991 |publisher=James Clarke |pages=398|isbn = 0227679156}} Some scholars maintain that Origen's notice of a Gospel of Basilides was referring to the {{lang|la|Exegetica}} itself; and that the two titles are therefore to be identified.{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=78|isbn = 9783161526367}} Otherwise, the Gospel of Basilides could denote a 2nd or 3rd century Gnostic text (whether lost or surviving under another title) with no connection to Basilides himself, other than being preserved within the sect that bore his name.{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=94|isbn= 9783161526367}} Wilhelm Schneemelcher states that "In short it must be said that all conjectures concerning the Gospel of Basilides remain uncertain."{{Cite book|last= Schneemelcher|first=Wilhelm |title=New Testament Apocrypha; English translation by R. McL. Wilson |year=1991 |publisher=James Clarke |pages=399|isbn = 0227679156}}
Account of the Crucifixion
Basilides is reported as having taught a docetic doctrine of Christ's passion. Although Irenaeus’s makes no mention of Basilides having written a gospel, he does record him as teaching that Christ in Jesus, as a wholly divine being, could not suffer bodily pain and did not die on the cross; but that the person crucified was, in fact, Simon of Cyrene.{{cite book|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|author=Frank Leslie Cross, Elizabeth A. Livingstone|year=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=019211655X|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00late/page/168 168]|article=Basilides|url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00late/page/168}}{{Cite book|last= Ehrman|first=Bart |title=Lost Christianities|year=2005 |publisher=OUP |pages=188|isbn = 0195182499}}
{{quote|He appeared on earth as a man and performed miracles. Thus he himself did not suffer. Rather, a certain Simon of Cyrene was compelled to carry his cross for him. It was he who was ignorantly and erroneously crucified, being transfigured by him, so that he might be thought to be Jesus. Moreover, Jesus assumed the form of Simon, and stood by laughing at them.Haer. 1.24.4{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=80|isbn = 9783161526367}} Irenaeus, Against Heresies[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101074938950;view=1up;seq=406 Book 1, Chapter 19]}}
Epiphanius of Salamis reports the same episode as being taught by Basilides,Pan. 24.3.2,4 although he may in this be relying solely on Irenaeus.{{Cite book|last= Kelhoffer|first=James A. |title=Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity|year=2014 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=87|isbn = 9783161526367}} Accounts of the living Christ being seen laughing alongside, or above, the crucifixion are also found in two second/third century Gnostic texts in the Nag Hammadi Library; the Apocalypse of Peter{{Cite book|last= Brashler|first=James A. |title=Introduction to the Apocalypse of Peter in The Nag Hammadi Library in English; James M. Robinson ed. |year=1984 |publisher=Brill |pages=339|isbn = 9004071857}}{{Cite book|last= Ehrman|first=Bart |title=Lost Christianities|year=2005 |publisher=OUP |pages=185–187|isbn = 0195182499}} and the Second Treatise of the Great Seth;{{Cite book|last= Gibbons|first=Joseph A. |title=Introduction to the Second Treatise of the Great Seth; in The Nag Hammadi Library in English; James M. Robinson ed. |year=1984 |publisher=Brill |pages=329|isbn = 9004071857}}{{Cite book|last= Ehrman|first=Bart |title=Lost Christianities|year=2005 |publisher=OUP |pages=187–188|isbn = 0195182499}} and in the latter text, Simon of Cyrene is also identified as being one of a succession of bodily substitutes for the spiritual Christ. Winrich Löhr infers that a common mid-2nd century gospel tradition (which he nevertheless doubts as originating with Basilides himself) must underlie both the Irenaeus notice and the two Nag Hammadi texts.{{Cite book|last= Löhr|first=Winrich A. |title=Basilides und seine Schule|year=1995 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=255–273|isbn = 9783161463006}}
Bibliography
- Cross, F. L. & Livingstone, E. A., eds. (1997). article "Basilides". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|019211655X}}.
- Kelhoffer, James A. (2014). Conceptions of "Gospel" and Legitimacy in Early Christianity. Mohr Siebeck. {{ISBN|9783161526367}}
- Löhr, Winrich A. (1995). Basilides und seine Schule. Mohr Siebeck. {{ISBN|9783161463006}}
- Schneemelcher, Wilhelm (1991). New Testament Apocrypha; English translation by R. McL. Wilson. James Clarke. {{ISBN|0227679156}}.
References
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