Knowledge and Religious Authority in the Pseudo-Clementines: Situating the 'Recognitions' in Fourth Century Syria

by Nicole Kelley

Overview

The Pseudo-Clementines are best known for preserving early Jewish Christian traditions, but have not been appreciated as a resource for understanding the struggles over identity and orthodoxy among fourth-century Christians, Jews, and pagans. Using the work of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, Nicole Kelley analyzes the rhetorical strategies employed by the Recognitions . These strategies discredit the knowledge of philosophers and astrologers, and establish Peter and Clement as the exclusive stewards of prophetic knowledge, which has been handed down to them by Jesus. This analysis reveals that the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions is not a jumbled collection of earlier source materials, as previous interpreters have thought, but a coherent narrative concerned primarily with epistemological issues. The author understands the Recognitions as a reflection of complex rivalries between several types of Christian and non-Christian groups such as that found in fourth-century Antioch or Edessa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783161490361
Publisher:	Mohr Siebeck
Publication date:	06/01/2006
Series:	Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2.Reihe , #213
Pages:	250
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Nicole Kelley, Born 1975; 2003 Ph.D. in The Study of Religion, Harvard University; currently Assistant Professor of Religion at Florida State University.