The Apocryphal Acts of Peter: Magic, Miracles and Gnosticism (Studies on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 3)

• Publisher:   Peeters Publishers
• Number Of Pages:  xiv + 213
• Publication Date:   1998-01-01
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   9042900199
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9789042900196

This is the first modern collection of studies on the most important aspects of the Acts of Peter, the source of the famous novel Quo Vadis ? by Henry Sienkiewicz. The collection of essays discusses many aspects of the Acts of Peter: its relationship with the Acts of John and the Acts of Paul, but also important themes such as the fascinating figure of Simon the Magician, Agrippa and his concubines. It looks at the nature of the theos aner, the role of women, the place of magic, the performance of miracles, the famous death of Peter upside-down, the regulae fidei and other early credal formulations. Finally it discusses the transmission and Latinity of the Acts, and the date and place of its publication (Peeters 1998)

After the fall of the Berlin Wall the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen decided to intensify contacts with universities in Eastern Europe. In 1991 the then Head of the Department of Church History, Professor Hans Roldanus, took this opportunity to forge links with the Károli Gáspár University of Budapest. In the search for a common research project, which would also prove to be attractive to classicists of the Loránd-Eötvös University of Budapest, it was decided to focus on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. This particular choice hardly needs to be defended. The world of early Christianity is currently receiving an ever increasing attention from New Testament and patristic scholars as well as from ancient historians. Various Apocryphal Acts have recently been re-edited or are in process of being re-edited, but the contents of these Acts are still very much under-researched.
It is the object of the Dutch-Hungarian cooperation to study the major Apocryphal Acts in a series of yearly conferences, of which the proceedings are published in the series, Studies in the Apoctyphal Acts of the Apostles. The editors in principle envisage the publication of five volumes, but they are open to further suggestions.
Following the first two volumes of the new series on the Acts of John (1995) and the Acts of Paul and Thecla (1996), this new volume is devoted to the Acts of Peter. The major part of the book studies various persons, aspects and passages of the Acts: women, magic, Agrippa, Simon Magus, resurrection accounts, invectives, miracles,
the cross, and credal formulations. After a study of their Latinity, there follow two chapters studying the relation of the Acts of Peter to those of John and Paul. The penultimate chapter succeeds in locating the Actus Vercellenses, the surviving part of the Acts of Peter- in Latin, in Africa. As has become customary, the volume is rounded off by a bibliography and an index.

The conference which formed the basis of this book took place at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the autumn of 1996.

Contents:

Preface
Notes on contributors 
List of abbreviations

I. J.N. Bremmer, Aspects of the Acts of Peter: Women, Magic, Place and Date
II. I. Karasszon, Agrippa, King and Prefect
III. P. Herczeg, Theios Aner Traits in the Apocryphal Acts of Peter
IV. G. P. Luttikhuizen, Simon Magus as a Narrative Figure in the Acts of Peter
V. T. Adamik, The Image of Simon Magus in the Christian Tradition
VI. CM. Thomas, ... Revivifying Resurrection Accounts: techniques of composition and rewriting in the Acts of Peter cc25-28
VII. I. Czachesz, Who is Deviant? Entering the Story-world of the Acts of Peter
VIII. M. Misset-van de Weg, 'For the Lord always takes Care of his own The Purpose of the Wondrous Works and Deeds in the Acts of Peter
IX. J. Bolyku 'Head Downwards'; The Cross of Peter in the Lights of the Apocryphal Actsr of the New Testament and of the Society-transforming Claim of Early Christianity
X. M. Pesthy, Cross and Death in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
XI. H. Westra, Regulae fidei and Other Credal Formulations in the Acts of Peter
XII. A. Hilhorst, The Text of the Actus Vercellenses
XIII. P.J. Lalleman, The Relation between the Acts of John and the Acts of Peter
XIV. W. Rordorf, The Relation between the Acts of Peter and the Acts of Paul; State of the Question
XV. G. Poupon, L'Origine africaine des Actus Vercellenses
XVI. P.J. Lalleman and J.N. Bremmer, Bibliography of the Acts of Peter

Index of names, subjects and passages

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