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Harvard Divinity School

Christians and Jews in First-Century AlexandriaAuthor(s): Birger A. PearsonSource: The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 79, No. 1/3, Christians among Jews andGentiles: Essays in Honor of Krister Stendahl on His Sixty-Fifth Birthday (Jan. - Jul., 1986),pp. 206-216Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity School

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HTR 79:1-3 (1986)206-16

CHRISTIANSND JEWSINFIRST-CENTURYLEXANDRIA

BirgerA. PearsonUniversity f CaliforniaSantaBarbara

IntroductionKrister Stendahl represents, to my mind, the very best ofScandinavian-stylerealistic nterpretation"f the Bible, resolutelyfaithful n his exegesis to the historical ituationof the text and itsauthorbut thenmarvelouslynsightfuln elicitingrom the texta freshand sometimes urprisingddresso contemporaryssuesin churchand

society.1As is wellknown, t is precisely tendahl'snterestn relationsbetweenJewsand ChristiansJewishandGentile) thathas made somuchof hisNew Testamentworkso stimulatingnd innovative.As ithappens, hough,his research as tended o concentrateeographicallyon thatlargesweepof territory from Jerusalem nd as far roundasIllyricum."2WhatI wantto do in this articlen his honor s to explorean arearelativelyuntouchedby my teacher-Alexandria-inan effortto see if anything anbe saidof Jewish-Christianelationshere n thefirstcentury. In doingthis I must perforce xtend our investigationmainly o noncanonicalources.Even so the task s formidable,orthefirst-centurylexandrianhurchs, as Stendahlays,something"about

1See esp. TheBibleandtheRoleof Womentrans.Emilie T. Sander;FacetBooks, Bibl-ical Series 15; Philadelphia: ortress, 1966). He comments on "realistic nterpretation"of the Bible in Sweden on p. 10. The best statementof his positionon the differencebetweenexegesis and hermeneutics s his now classicarticleon "BiblicalTheology," IDB1. 418-32, now reprinted n Meanings:The Bibleas Document nd Guide Philadelphia:Fortress,1984) 11-44.2 Rom 15:19. I am thinkingmainlyof Stendahl's ncisivecontributions o scholarshipon Matthewand Paul.


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Pearson:First-Centurylexandriawhichwe knownothing."3What ollows s, therefore,argelya matterof inference,at least insofaras it bearsupon first-century hristianityin Alexandria. nsofaras it bearsuponfirst-centuryudaism,hatgiantamongJewishexegetesand philosophers,Philo Judaeus,will playasubstantialole.Jews in Alexandria

It needhardlybe stated hatthe firstpreachingf the gospelof Mes-siah Jesusin Alexandriawas centeredn the Jewishcommunity here,the largestand most powerfulJewishsettlement n the entire Greek-speakingworld. Whatsort of receptiondid the earlyChristianmis-sionariesexperience here? And how did the existingJudaismcolorthe development f Christian reaching ndteaching?In raising hisissue it is necessaryo say somethingaboutJewishreligiosityn Alex-andria, specially s to howJewsthere nterpretednd lived the Torah,to what extent messianicexpectationsmighthave been partof theirbeliefs, and how open theywere to Gentiles,includinghe extent towhich they welcomed Gentile proselytes nto the Jewishpoliteuma.Such questions are, of course, ineluctablyboundup with political,social,and economic actors. While we cannotenter into these ques-tionshere,4 t is worthwhileo recall he following ventswhichpower-fully affectedJewish life in Alexandriaduringthe period of ourinterest: he introduction y CaesarAugustusof the laographiapoll-tax) in 24/23 BCE;the pogrom gainsthe JewsunderFlaccusn 38CE;the disturbancesnd massacre f JewsunderPhilo'sapostatenephew,TiberiusJulius Alexander, n 66; the destructionof the JerusalemTemple n 70 and its aftermath;nd the JewishrevoltunderTrajann115-17, in which he Jewish ommunitywasvirtuallywipedout.VictorA. Tcherikoveras stressed he divisions n the AlexandrianJewishcommunity etween he educated, ultured ewswho favoredasynthesisbetweenHellenismandJudaism, nd the lowerstrataof thepopulationwhose ideology,more open to influences rom Palestine,3 See PaulAmongJewsand GentilesPhiladelphia: ortress,1976)70.4 See, e.g., VictorA Tcherikover,"The Decline of the JewishDiaspora n Egypt n theRomanPeriod," JJS 14 (1963) 1-32; Tcherikover's"Prolegomena" o the CorpusPapy-rorum udaicarum3 vols.; ed. Tcherikover,AlexanderFuks, et al.; Cambridge:Harvard

UniversityPress, 1957-64) 1. 1-111; E. Mary Smallwood, TheJewsunderRomanRule:FromPompey o DiocletianLeiden:Brill, 1976) esp. 220-55; 364-68; 389-412; 516-19;articlesby M. Stern, S. Safrai,and S. Appelbaum n TheJewishPeople n the FirstCentury(CompendiaRerum Iudaicarumad Novum Testamentum1:1-2; Assen: Van Gorcum;Philadelphia: ortress,1974-76).

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Essaysin Honorof KristerStendahlwas stamped by messianismand a fightingspirit.5Philo belongedto thefirst group. From his writingsalone one can get a good pictureof thevarious attitudestoward the Law exhibited by Jews in Alexandria: twogroupsof "literalist"interpreters,consistingof faithful primitivistsonthe one hand, and unfaithfulscoffers on the other; and two groupsof"allegorizers,"consistingof those who, like Philo himself, interpretedthe scripturesallegoricallybut observed the practicesof the Law, and,on the other hand, those whose spiritual nterpretationof the Law ledthem to abandonthe practicesaltogether.6We also know from Philothat some Jews chose the path of complete apostasyfrom the Jewishcommunity. We know from him, too, that a considerablenumber ofGentiles affiliatedwith the Jewishreligiouscommunityas proselytes.7In Tcherikover'sdiscussionof the ideologyof the lower-classmessi-anist Jews he reminds us that there is little or no documentaryorliteraryevidence about them.8But, as a matterof fact, Philo was him-self not untouchedby messianism. Though he never actuallyrefers to"the Messiah" (he would have said "the Christ") in any of his writ-ings, he does, nevertheless, tell us a lot about AlexandrianJewishmes-sianic expectations. The key treatise is De praemiiset poenis ("OnRewards and Punishments"), recently analyzed by FerdinandDexingerin an importantarticle on post-HerodianJewish messianism.9Dexingerdelineatesthe following"messianicscenario":10

Startingpoint:a) Enmitybetween man and beast (Praem 85, 87)b) Assault of enemies (Praem 94; cf. Psalm2)

5Tcherikover,"Declineof the JewishDiaspora,"esp. 22-27.6For discussion and references see Peder Borgen, "Philo of Alexandria:A Criticaland SyntheticalSurveyof Researchsince WorldWarII," ANRWII:21.1(1983) 98-154,esp. 126-28. Migr.Abr. 89-93 is the most important passage dealing with the last-namedcategory. Specific ssues addressed ncludeSabbathand other festivalobservance,circumcision,and the sanctityof the Temple.7 Apostates: Virt 182; Vit. Mos. 1.30-31; De spec. leg. 3.29. Proselytes: Virt.182;Quaest. n. Ex 2.2. In Virt.175-86 Philo discussesthe processof conversionto Judaism.On this and other importanttexts and their relationto the early Christian mission toGentiles see PederBorgen, "The EarlyChurchand the HellenisticSynagogue,"StTh37(1983) 55-78.

8 "Decline of the JewishDiaspora,"24.9 "Ein 'MessianischesSzenarium'als Gemeingut des Judentums in nachherodian-ischerZeit," Kairos17 (1975) 249-78, esp. 250-55. See also RayBarraclough, Philo'sPolitics,"in ANRWII:21.1 1983) 417-553, esp. 480-81.10"Ein 'MessianischesSzenarium,'"254-55.

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Pearson: First-CenturyAlexandriaMessianicoccurrences:

a) Exemplary tatus of Israel (Praem 114)b) Leadershipof a "man" (Praem 95, 97; cf. Num 24:7)1c) Gatheringof Israel (Praem 165)d) Passageout of the wilderness(Praem 165)e) Divine manifestations(Praem 165)f) Arrivalat cities in ruins (Praem 168)

Results:g) Peace in nature (Praem 89; cf. Isa 11:6)h) Peace among nations (Praem 95, 97)i) Rebuildingof cities (Praem 168)

The importanceof this "messianic scenario" in Philo's treatise isthat it representscontemporaryAlexandrian radition. Philo's own reli-gious tendency, likely sharedby others in Alexandria,is to interiorizethis vision, interpretingt finallyin terms of the growthof virtue in thehuman soul (Praem 172). Even the "man" of Num 24:7 is sointeriorized, for the reference in Praem 95 is most probablyto theLogos. Philo's treatment of another messianicpassagein the Old Tes-tament, Zech 6:12, makesthis interpretation ery likely, for a&varoMrnZech 6:12 (LXX, for Hebrew semah, "sprout" or "branch" [RSV]) isclearlyinterpretedby him as a reference to the Logos, "the eldest sonwhom the Fatherof all raisedup."12In other words, Philo was essen-tiallya proponentof "realizedeschatology."13Christians in Alexandria

The New Testament providesonly tantalizinghints of the Christianmission to Egypt, mainly because the author of Acts was moreinterested in other areas of the Mediterraneanworld. He does tell usthat Jews from Egypt were present at Peter's Pentecost speech (Acts2:10). The disputants in the controversy with the "Hellenist" pro-tomartyr,Stephen, included Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria (6:9).Indeed it is possible that Stephen himself, or one or more of the otherseven Hellenist leaders, came from there (except Nicolaus, who wasfrom Antioch, Acts 6:5). It is also likely that some of the Hellenists

I The LXX of Num 24:7areads: "There shall come a man from his (Israel's)seed,and he shall rule over manynations" (my translation).12 Corf 62-63. On these texts see J. de Savignac, "Le messianisme de Philond'Alexandrie,"NT4 (1959) 319-24, esp. 320.13There are, to be sure, other traces of end-time expectation in Philo beside theaforementionedpassagesin Praem See, e.g., Virt75; Vit. Mos. 2.44, 288; Op. mund79-81.

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Essaysin Honorof KristerStendahlhounded out of Jerusalem(Acts 8:1) went to Alexandria; n any case,trafficbetween Jerusalem and Alexandria was extensive at that time."Luke" providesa hint of the existence of a Christiancommunity inEgypt in the forties of our era in Acts 18:24-25, where he refers toApollos as a Jew from Alexandria, eloquent, and powerfully earnedinthe scriptures. If the "Western" readingat Acts 18:25 is historicallycorrect,we have a clear reference to the existence of a Christiancom-munity in Alexandriaat that time, for according o thatvariant, Apollos"had been instructed n the wordin his home country." Unfortunatelywe are not told who the originalmissionariesto Alexandriawere.According to the Egyptian Christian tradition it was Mark theEvangelistwho was founder and first bishop of the church in Alexan-dria. Eusebius is our earliest extant source for this tradition,14but histelling of it can hardlybe said to inspiremuch confidence, particularlywhen he goes on to use Philo's descriptionof the Jewish "Therapeu-tae" as a testimonial to Mark'sChristianconverts!15Eusebius' instinctis correct, however, when he stresses that the "apostolicmen" in Alex-andria during Philo's time were "of Hebrew origin, and thus stillpreservedmost of the ancient customs in a strictlyJewish manner."16In any case, there can hardly be any question that the earliest mis-sionariesto Alexandriawere Jews coming from Jerusalem,and that theearliest Christianconverts in Alexandriawere Jews. Indeed it is doubt-ful that a clear separationbetween church and synagoguewas effectedthere until the end of the firstcenturyor the beginningof the second.What sort of Christianity was represented in the Alexandrianchurch? Our only recourse in attemptingto answerthis question is toengage in historicalinference, for we have no first-centurysources atall, at least not any complete texts.17One still popular nference is that

14The letter fragmentof Clement of Alexandria edited by Morton Smith refers toMark's arrival n Alexandriaafter Peter's death in Rome, but nothingis said of Mark'srole as founder or first bishop. See Morton Smith, Clementof Alexandria nd a SecretGospelof Mark(Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress, 1973) 448 (text), 446 (ET). Ihave analyzed the Mark legend in my article, "EarliestChristianity n Egypt:SomeObservations," n BirgerA. Pearsonand JamesE. Goehring,eds., TheRootsof EgyptianChristianityPhiladelphia: ortress,1986 [forthcoming]).15Hist. eccl.2.16-17; cf. Philo Vit.cont16Hist. eccL2.17.2.17Some noncanonicalgospels, of which only fragmentsremain, may belong to latefirst-centuryAlexandria: TheGospelof theHebrews,he Egerton papyrus,and the SecretGospelof Mark On the last two see now John Dominic Crossan, FourOtherGospels:Shadowson the Contours f Canon(Minneapolis:Winston, 1985) 65-121. What is stillneeded is study of all of the earlygospels and gospel traditions n Egypt. Such a studywouldundoubtedly hed importantighton the character f Christianityhere.

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Pearson:First-Centurylexandriaof WalterBauer,whopositsthatthe original ndmost dominantormof Christianityn Alexandriauntil the time of Bishop Demetrius(189-231) was "heretical" nd, specifically,Gnostic.18n making hisjudgmentBauer s essentially xtrapolatingackwardsrom the timeofHadrian,whensuchGnostic eachers s Basilides,Valentinus, ndCar-pocrateswereactive. Sucha procedures dubious,especiallywhenit isrecalledhat thesemenwerehighlyoriginalhinkers. WhileI think tis possiblethatChristian andJewish)19Gnosticscould be found infirst-century lexandria,t is morelikely,primaacie, to suppose hatother, more dominant,varietiesof Christianityxisted there, morereflectiveof the Jerusalem riginsof the Christianmissionand of thedominant arieties f Judaism n Alexandriat thattime.20f one mustextrapolatebackwardsrom second-centuryources to reconstructaspectsof first-centurylexandrian hristianity,ne shouldat leastusesuchsourcesas areclearlybearers f oldertradition ndreflectan on-goingschoolactivity.Twosuch documents rethe Epistle f Barnabasand the Teachings f Silvanus(Nag HammadiCodex VII,4). Barnabasis probablyhe oldestcompletewriting romAlexandrian existence,dating rom the beginning f the reignof Hadrianca. 117CE).21Sil-vanuss considerablyater,closer to the end of the secondcentury,22but it preserves ome ancientmaterial.RecallingBauer's heory, t isworthpointing ut thattheexegetical ndhalakhic nosis f Barnabassat least implicitlyanti-Gnostic.23 ilvanus,with its attack against

18WalterBauer, OrthodoxyndHeresy nEarliestChristianityETed. by RobertA. Kraftand GerhardKrodel;Phildelphia: ortress,1971)44-60.19See my article,"FriedlanderRevisited: AlexandrianJudaismand GnosticOrigins,"StudiaPhilonica (1973) 23-39.20Helmut Koester, in his discussion of the beginningsof Christianityn Egypt,speaksplausiblyof "the simultaneousdevelopmentof severalcompetingChristiangroups."Seehis Introductiono the New Testament,ol. 2: Historyand Literature f EarlyChristianity(Philadelphia: ortress,1982) 219.21See, e.g., L. W. Barnard,"St. Stephenand EarlyAlexandrianChristianity,"n Stud-ies in theApostolic athersand theirBackgroundNew York:Schocken, 1966) 57-72, esp.63. An interestingcase for placingthe Epistleof Jude in Alexandriabetween 120 and131 has recentlybeen made by J. J. Gunther, "The AlexandrianEpistleof Jude," NTS30 (1984) 549-62.22See now Yvonne Janssens,Les Lefonsde Silvanos NH VII,4)(Bibliotheque opte deNag Hammadi,Section"Textes," 13;Quebec:UniversiteLaval,1983)esp. 23.23Bauer perverselyattempts to put Barnabas n the Gnostic camp (Orthodoxy ndHeresy,47-48), but the gnosisof Barnabashas virtuallynothingto do with the gnosisofthe Gnostics. On gnosisin Barnabas ee, e.g., Robert A. Kraft, Barnabasand Didache(The ApostolicFathers:A New Translationand Commentary3; Toronto:Nelson, 1965)22-27.

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Essaysin Honor of KristerStendahl"strangekindsof knowledge,"is explicitlyso.24Stendahl,in his book, TheSchoolof St. Matthew, efers to the debate"whether or not the later schools of Alexandriaand other placescan beconsidereda continuationof the school activitiesin the earlychurch."25Barnabas s an importantdocument to considerin this connection, forit is clearlya "'school' product," as has been well arguedby RobertKraft.26Moreover Barnabastells us as much about Jewish exegeticaltraditions n Alexandriaas aboutChristianones. Indeed L. W. Barnarduses Barnabasas his most importantsource for discussing"Judaism inEgypt A.D. 70-135" and argues that the author was "a convertedRabbi who broughtinto Christianity he exegetical and homileticaltra-ditions of the Alexandrian ynagogue."27Among the traditionshe cites,togetherwith rabbinicparallels,are the ritualof the Day of Atonement(Barn. 7.1-11), the shrub "Rachel" (7.8), the sacrifice of the redheifer (8.1-2), the gematria n the 318 servantsof Abraham(9.8), theinterpretation f Psalm 1 (10.10), Moses and Amalek (12.1-11), Jacoband Esau (13.1-7), the celebrationof the Sabbath(15.1-9), and othersuch details.28Barnard lso stresses the exegeticalmethods used in Bar-nabas: the division of the epistle into aggadicand halakhicsections,rabbinic-stylemidrash, the use of allegory, and the use of the peshermethod of interpretation uch as is characteristic f the Qumranscrolls.Barnard oncludesfrom his analysisof Barnabas hat

in the crucialperiodA.D. 70-135 AlexandrianJudaism,while hav-ing affinitieson one side with Philonic allegorismand other hel-lenistic modes of thought, was not unaffectedby the patternandrequirementsof Rabbinism which, no doubt, had been exertingpressureon DiasporaJudaism.29To be sure, all of the Jewish traditionsreferredto are used in theinterestsof sectarianJewishChristianity,and eventuallyin the interestsof a predominantlyGentile constituency. More specificfor the type ofChristianityreflected in Barnabasand its origins are the connections

24See VII 94,31-33. Cf. 116,5-9, a polemicagainstthose who regard he Creatorofthe world as an ignorantdeity, a typicalGnosticdoctrine.25KristerStendahl, TheSchoolof St. Matthew nd its Useof the Old Testament2d ed.;Philadelphia: ortress,1968) 17 n. 5.26He refers in this connection to "evolved literature," and the reproducingandreworking f oldermaterials. See Barnabas ndDidache,1-22.27In Studies n theApostolic athers, 1- 55, esp. 47.28Ibid.29Ibid.,47-51.

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Pearson: First-CenturyAlexandriaobserved by Barnardbetween Barnabasand the speech of Stephenrecordedin Acts 7. These connections include the attitudeexpressedto the Jerusalemtemple and its cultus (Acts 7:42-43, 48-50; Barn.16.1-2; 2.4-8), the interpretationof the Golden Calf episode inIsrael's history (Acts 7:38-42a; Barn. 4.7-8), and christology, espe-cially the use of the title, "the Righteous One," as a messianic titleappliedto Jesus (Acts 7:52; Barn.6.7).30Barnard ituatesthese items inBarnabas n the second decade of the second century, that is, in theperiod of that document's final redaction,and suggests that Barnabashas used Acts.31I would suggest that an alternativeexplanationforthese parallelsis readilyavailable: this type of Christianitywas intro-duced to Alexandriasoon after the death of Stephen and the scatteringof the "Hellenists" from Jerusalem.32The soil was well preparedforsuch seeds among the Jews in Alexandria who tended to ignore theTemple and other ritualobservationsin favor of a spiritual nterpreta-tion of theirtradition. 3A distinctive characteristicof Barnabas s its eschatology34and itsconsciousness of living in the last, evil stages of "the present age"before the inbreakingof the "age to come" (Barn.2.1; 4.1,3,9; etc.).The highly charged eschatologicalatmosphereof Barnabasmay havebeen characteristicof one branchof AlexandrianChristianity rom thebeginning,but whether or not that is the case, it is clear that the messi-anism of Barnabasdiffered from that of the non-ChristianmessianistJews there in terms of focus, though probablynot in terms of religiousintensity: the Christians knew who the coming Messiah was andexpected him to "judge the living and the dead," not to restore theland of Israel and the Temple (Barn.4.12; 5.7; 7.2; 15.5; cf. 6.8-19;16.1-10). Such a difference in focus probablycontributed to a clashbetween the two groupsof messianists.

By the time of the final redaction of Barnabas,relations betweenChristians and Jews had come to the breakingpoint. This was largelythe result of the aftermathof the destructionof the Temple in 70, themost important feature of which was the consolidation of Pharisaic30Barnard,"St. Stephen and Early AlexandrianChristianity,"63-69. As Barnardpoints out, the term is taken from Isa 3:10 (LXX). Cf. also Wis 2:12, an Alexandriantext.31 Ibid., 71-72.32Barnard ntertainsthis as a possibility,suggestingalso the possibilityof an Alexan-drianoriginfor Stephen,but finallyprefersto "erron the side of caution"with the othersolution. However,I cannotfindany traceelsewhere in Barnabas f the use of Acts.33Cf. PhiloMigr.Abr.89-93, and n. 6, above.34 On the eschatologyof Barnabasee Kraft,DidacheandBarnabas, 7-29.

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Essaysin Honor of KristerStendahlJudaismtowardthe end of the century and the dissemination, amongJews of the Diaspora as well as in Palestine itself, of the so-calledBirkath-ha-Minim, hich effectively excommunicatedChristiansfromthe synagogues.35Barnabasnow refers to Christiansas "the new peopleof the Covenant," and the Jews as "the former people" (Barn. 5.7;7.5; 13.1-6; etc.). In that respect the setting of Barnabas s analogousto that of the Gospel of Matthew describedby Stendahland others.36The politicalsituation in Alexandria reacheda criticalpoint when themessianist Jews there sparkedthe revolt against Rome under Trajan(115-17) that led to the virtual annihilation of the Jewishcommunity.37Unfortunately we do not know what role Christiansplayed n that conflict.The Teachingsof Silvanus,like Barnabas,is a school product, butdespite certainpoints of contact between them,38there are some verybasicdifferences. The historicalsetting is different: there is no trace ofany conflict between Christians and Jews. The only opponentsidentifiable n Silvanusare Gnostics.39 The eschatological ervor of Bar-nabas s completelyabsentfrom Silvanus.Among other differencesthatcan be noted is the differencein christology: whereasthere is little orno trace of a "Logos" or "Sophia" christologyin BarnabaS?such achristology s a major eature of Silvanus.Despite the late date of SilvanusI think it shows some very earlytraits. Its genre is that of the Wisdom of Solomon, a logosprotreptikos.41ndeed, very close connections have been observed

35Barnard,"Judaism n Egypt,"52-55.36Schoolof St. Matthew, i-xiv; cf. also Barnard,"Judaism n Egypt,"52, 55.37On the messianist nature of that revolt see esp. Martin Hengel, "MessianischeHoffnung und politischer 'Radikalismus' n der judisch-hellenistischenDiaspora," inDavid Hellholm, ed., Apocalypticismn the MediterraneanWorldand the Near East(Proceedings of the InternationalColloquium on Apocalypticism,Uppsala, August12-17, 1979;Tubingen:Mohr-Siebeck,1983)655-86.38E.g., warningsagainst the devil, includingthe use of the term "the wicked one"(Silv.85,17; Barn.2.10; 21.3); the "Two Ways"tradition Silv.103,14-26; Barn.18-20);interiorization f the Temple (Silv. 106,9-14; 109,25-30; Barn.16.7-10); impossibilityof looking at the sun/God (Silv. 101,13-17; Barn 5.10); fearingGod (Silv. 88,9-11;Barn.10.10-11).39See above andn. 24.40Perhapsa "Logos christology" s implicit n the referencesto Christ'srole in crea-tion (Barn 5.5,10;6.12).41Cf. David Winston'sdiscussionof the genreof Wisdomin his commentary,The Wis-domof SolomonAB 43; GardenCity:Doubleday,1979) 18-20.

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Pearson: First-CenturyAlexandriabetween Silvanusand Wisdom,42nd between Silvanusand Philo.43Thechristologyof Silvanus s a case in point: "He (Christ) is Wisdom; heis also the Logos" (Silv. 106,22-24). As with the Logos of Philo, theLogos of Silvanus is "the Son as the image of the Father"(115,18-19).44 As the Sophiaof Wis 7:25-26, Christ is

... a lightfrom the powerof God,and he is an emanationof the puregloryof the Almighty.He is the spotless mirrorof the workingof God,and he is the imageof his goodness.For he is also the lightof the EternalLight.45I have commented elsewhere on the relationshipbetween Silvanusand 1 Corinthians1-4, and suggested that Silvanusretains, as partofits AlexandrianChristian radition,a good deal of the "speculativewis-dom" encounteredby Paul in first-centuryCorinth.46The Alexandrianteacher Apollos is the key figure in Paul's debate with his Corinthianpeople in 1 Corinthians1-4 (3:5-4:6), and I would suggest that wecan gain a good idea of at least one of the varieties of Christianity nfirst-centuryAlexandria from a judicious readingof 1 CorinthiansandSilvanus. It is a Christianitywhich breathes the spirit of the contem-

plative Philo, and, more importantly,moves in a trajectory eading tothe typicallyAlexandriantheology of such great figures as Clement,48Origen,and Athanasius.

42WilliamR. Schoedel, "Jewish Wisdomand the Formationof the ChristianAscetic,"in Robert L. Wilken, ed., Aspectsof Wisdom n Judaismand EarlyChristianityNotreDame:Universityof Notre Dame Press, 1975) 169-99.43J. Zandee, "'Les Enseignementsde Silvanos' et Philond'Alexandrie,"in Melangesd'histoire esreligions fferts tHenri-Charlesuech Paris:PressesUniversitairesde France,1974) 337-45.44Cf., e.g., Philo Conf 146-47. Philo can also referto Sophiaas the "Mother" of theLogos (e.g., Fug. 108-9). This doctrine is muted in Silvanus,but cf. 91,14-16 and115,5-8.45Silv. 112,37-113,7, Peel-Zandee translation n NHLE. Cf. Schoedel, "JewishWis-dom," 191-92.46BirgerA. Pearson,"Philo, Gnosis and the New Testament,"in A. H. B. LoganandA. J. M. Wedderburn,eds., TheNew Testamentnd Gnosis:Essaysin honourof RobertMcL. WilsonEdinburgh:T. & T. Clark,1983) 73-89, esp. 81-83.47Ibid., esp. 75-77, 83. Cf. my reference to Apollosabove.48Cf. J. Zandee, "TheTeachings f Silvanus"and Clement f Alexandria:A New Docu-mentof Alexandrian heologyLeiden:Ex OrienteLux, 1977).

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Essaysin Honor of KristerStendahlConclusion

In this necessarilybrief and incomplete look at Judaism and Chris-tainityin ancientAlexandria,we have seen that varietyis a characteris-tic of both Judaism and Christianitythere. In the beginning, thevarieties of Christianity n Alexandriawere, in fact, varieties of thatgreatcity's Judaism. The figureof Philo is a toweringpresencein thatamalgam. While we do not know what Philo thoughtof such ChristianJews as he might have encountered,49I would like to think, withStendahl,50 hat he engaged them in open dialogue. Ironically,Philoplayed virtually no role at all in the subsequent development ofJudaism.51On the other hand, his role, and that of like-mindedJews ofhis day, was incalculably mportant n the developmentof Christianity.It is the Philo-like Christianityof Silvanus,rather than the primitiveapocalypticismof Barnabas,or the acosmic radicalismof the Gnostics,that ultimatelycarried he dayin the developmentof Christian heologyin the patristicage.

49Eusebius claims (Hist. ecct 2.17.2) that "he not only knew but welcomed, rever-enced, and recognizedthe divine mission of the apostolicmen of his day" (KirsoppLake'stranslation n the LCLed.).50Stendahlremarksthat "the United States of today is the first place in the modernworld since Philo's Alexandriawhere Jews and Christiansas people, as religiouscom-munities, and as learned communities, live together in a manner and in sufficientnumbersto allowfor open dialogue"(PaulAmongJewsandGentiles, 7).51Cf. Tcherikover,"Decline of the JewishDiaspora,"31-32.

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1세기 알렉산드리아의 기독교인과유대인들- christians and jews in first-century...

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