Jesus, Gnosis and Dogma

Riemer Roukema is Professor of New Testament at the Protestant Theological University, Kampen, The Netherlands.

• 1. Introduction Jesus as a source of inspiration Jesus considered historically and theologically Who is Jesus? Reactions by Peter, Matthew, and Thomas Plan of this book 2. Jesus' origin and identity Paul's epistles The Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Luke The Gospel of John Evaluation of the New Testament data The Gospel of Thomas Cerinthus and the Ophites The Gospel of Judas Theodotus The Tripartite Tractate Comparison between the New Testament and other writings 3. Jesus' teachings The Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Luke The Gospel of John Evaluation of the New Testament data The Gospel of Thomas The Gospel of Judas The Gospel of Mary The Tripartite Tractate Other teachings of Jesus after his death and resurrection Comparison between the New Testament and other writings 4. Jesus' death, resurrection, and exaltation Paul's epistles The Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Luke The Gospel of John Evaluation of the New Testament data The Gospel of Thomas Cerinthus and the Ophites The Gospel of Judas Theodotus The Tripartite Tractate A tradition about Simon of Cyrene Comparison between the New Testament and other writings 5. Preliminary conclusions and new questions Preliminary conclusions New questions 6. Jewish Christianity Patristic testimonies about Jewish Christians The Pseudo-Clementine writings An ancient Christian tradition? Conclusion 7. Did Jesus have secret teachings? Jesus' unwritten teachings in the ‘catholic' Church Private teachings in the synoptic Gospels Private teachings in the Gospel of John Still secret teachings? Conclusion 8. Does Jesus as LORD and Son of God fit in with early Judaism? The Old Testament Philo of Alexandria Other early Jewish writingsConclusion 9. Jesus and the Trinitarian dogma God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the New Testament The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in Gnostic writings Some Church Fathers of the second century Adoptianism Modalism Tertullian of Carthage Origen of Alexandria AriusThe council of Nicea Conclusion 10. Conclusions and evaluation Bibliography Indices: Bible, some other early Christian writings, names and themes

‘The author is very well acqainted with gnostic literature, and manages to present a complex matter in a comprehensible way and at the same time to make his point: orthodox Christianity has a solid historical basis, and the gnostic variant is secondary.' -  Gie Vleugels, Evangelical Theological Faculty, Louvain, Belgium