Early Christian Temples and Baptism for the Dead: Defining Sacred Space in the Late Antique Near East

Abstract: This paper examines similarities between the account of the sacrifice and epiphany of the first parents in Moses 5:1–15 and analogous accounts found in apocryphal literature of the late antique and medieval periods. Apocryphal texts considered include primarily the Greek Life of Adam and Eve (also known as the Apocalypse of Moses) and secondarily the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, the Cave of Treasures, the medieval Jewish Sefer Raziel, and Islamic collections of Qisas al-An...