Chapter The Fruit of the Tree of Life Ritual Interpretation of the Crucifixion in the Gospel of Philip

The Gospel of Philip, preserved only in Nag Hammadi Codex II,1 has proven to be a difficult text for its modern interpreters. In addition to its numerous lacunae, scholars have consistently been frustrated by its seemingly haphazard structure and highly allusive rhetoric, leading some to regard it a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lundhaug, Hugo (auth)
Other Authors: Howe, Bonnie (Editor), Green, Joel B. (Editor)
Format: Electronic Book Chapter
Language:English
Published: Berlin/Boston De Gruyter 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:OAPEN Library: download the publication
OAPEN Library: description of the publication
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

MARC

LEADER 00000naaaa2200000uu 4500
001 oapen_2024_20_500_12657_23699
005 20191119
003 oapen
006 m o d
007 cr|mn|---annan
008 20191119s2014 xx |||||o ||| 0|eng d
020 |a 9783110350135.73 
020 |a 9783110349788; 9783110384154 
040 |a oapen  |c oapen 
024 7 |a 10.1515/9783110350135.73  |c doi 
041 0 |a eng 
042 |a dc 
072 7 |a HR  |2 bicssc 
072 7 |a HRCF1  |2 bicssc 
072 7 |a HRCF2  |2 bicssc 
100 1 |a Lundhaug, Hugo  |4 auth 
700 1 |a Howe, Bonnie  |4 edt 
700 1 |a Green, Joel B.  |4 edt 
700 1 |a Howe, Bonnie  |4 oth 
700 1 |a Green, Joel B.  |4 oth 
245 1 0 |a Chapter The Fruit of the Tree of Life  |b Ritual Interpretation of the Crucifixion in the Gospel of Philip 
260 |a Berlin/Boston  |b De Gruyter  |c 2014 
336 |a text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a computer  |b c  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a online resource  |b cr  |2 rdacarrier 
506 0 |a Open Access  |2 star  |f Unrestricted online access 
520 |a The Gospel of Philip, preserved only in Nag Hammadi Codex II,1 has proven to be a difficult text for its modern interpreters. In addition to its numerous lacunae, scholars have consistently been frustrated by its seemingly haphazard structure and highly allusive rhetoric, leading some to regard it as simply a collection of excerpts, rather than as a coherent composition in its own right.2 Still, the Gospel of Philip is nevertheless one of the most discussed texts of the Nag Hammadi Codices and one of the texts that crop up most often in discussions on ancient "Gnosticism" or "Valentinianism,"3 while in relation to NT studies the text is of interest with regard to its rhetorical dependence on NT allusions. Yet there is presently no consensus as to the date and provenance of the text nor its nature and purpose. In the present article I aim to show how a methodology inspired by cognitive linguistics, more specifically Blending Theory, may help us under-stand how the Gospel of Philip makes sense. As an example, I use Blending The-ory to analyze the way in which the tractate interprets the crucifixion in light of Scripture on the one hand and ritual practice on the other, and thereby try to show how the Gospel of Philip may in fact be read as a coherent theological statement, at least in this regard. This is an especially useful example as it has been claimed that, in the Gospel of Philip, "the Cross is viewed as an historic event, but hardly as the source of redemption, the sacraments, or spiritual knowledge."4 In light of the common practice of analyzing the Nag Hammadi writings on the basis of scholarly constructions of "Gnosticism," such a conclusion is hardly surprising.5 On closer inspection, however, the crucifixion seems to play a rather more central role in the soteriology and rhetorics of the Gospel of Philip than such a conclusion would suggest, as will be shown in what follows. 
536 |a FP7 Ideas: European Research Council 
540 |a All rights reserved  |4 http://oapen.org/content/about-rights 
546 |a English 
650 7 |a Religion & beliefs  |2 bicssc 
650 7 |a Old Testaments  |2 bicssc 
650 7 |a New Testaments  |2 bicssc 
653 |a Cognitive linguistics 
653 |a biblical studies 
653 |a biblical interpretation 
773 1 0 |t Cognitive Linguistic Explorations in Biblical Studies  |7 nnaa  |o OAPEN Library UUID: 9278c33c-868d-404c-a1dc-351d55f12645 
856 4 0 |a www.oapen.org  |u https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/36c9a277-e422-4d2a-949e-96651bd40d81/51_[9783110350135 - Cognitive] The Fruit.pdf  |7 0  |z OAPEN Library: download the publication 
856 4 0 |a www.oapen.org  |u http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/23699  |7 0  |z OAPEN Library: description of the publication