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The Apocalypse of Peter is the first modern collection of studies on this intriguing Early Christian book, that has mainly survived in Ethiopic. The volume starts with a short survey of the Forschungsgeschichte and a discussion of the old question regarding its eventual inspiration: Greek or Jewish. It is followed by a new look at the circumstances of its finding, the composition of the codex and its character, and also by a new edition of the Bodleian and Rainer fragments. The major part of the book studies various aspects and passages of the Apocalypse: the nature of the Ethiopic pseudo-Clementine work that contained the Apocalypse, false prophets, the Bar Kokhba hypothesis, Paradise, the post-mortem 'baptism' of sinners, the grotesque body, the pattern of justice underlying our work, the Old Testament quotations and the reception of the Apocalypse in ancient Christianity. The book concludes with a study of the Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter. As has become customary, the volume is rounded off by a bibliography and a detailed index (Peeters 2003)
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Apocalypse JAN N. BREMMER PEETERS 0 2003, Uitgeverij Peeters, Bondgenotenlaan 153, 3000 Leuven ISBN 90-429-1 375-4 D. 2003/0602/127 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Contents Preface vii List of abbreviations ix Notes on contributors ... xlll J.N. Bremmer, The Apocalypse of Peter: Greek or Jewish? 1 I1 P. van Minnen, The Greek Apocalypse of Peter 15 I11 M. Pesthy, "Thy mercy, 0 Lord, is in the heavens; and thy righteousness reacheth unto the clouds" 40 J. Bolyki, False Prophets in the Apocalypse o f Peter- 52 I IV V E. Tigchelaar, Is the Liar Bar Kokhha? Considering the Date and Provenance of the Greek (Etlziopic) Apocalypse of Peter 63 VI T. Adamik, The Description of Paradise in the Apocalypse of Peter VII 78 K.B. Copeland, Sinners and Post-Mor-tem 'Baptism ' 91 in the Aclzerusian Lake VIII I. Czachesz, The Grotesque Body in the Apocalypse of Peter 108 CONTENTS L. Roig Lanzillotta, Does Punishment Reward the Righteous? The Justice Pattern Underlying the Apocalypse of Peter 127 J. van Ruiten, The Old Testament Quotations in the Apocalypse of Peter 158 A. Jakab, The Reception of the Apocalypse of Peter in Ancient Christianity 174 G. Luttikhuizen, The Suflering Jesus and tlze Invulnerable Christ in the Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter 187 XIII J.N. Bremmer, Bibliography of tlze Apocalypse of Peter 200 Index of names, subjects and passages 204 IX X XI XII Preface 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 of the Faculty of Theology and Science of Religion, Professor Hans Roldanus, took this opportunity to forge links not only with the theologians of the Kholi Gispfir University of Budapest but also with the classicists of the Lorint-Eotvos University of Budapest. The initiative seemed highly promising, as the world of early Christianity was receiving ever increasing attention from New Testament and patristic scholars as well as from ancient historians. Initially, it was decided to focus on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, a genre of which various representatives had recently been r