Wednesday, August 10, 2016

The Apocalypse of Adam

THE BIBLICAL REVIEW BLOG: Pseudepigrapha Saturday: Apocalypse of Adam.
The Apocalypse of Adam is preserved in a manuscript discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1946. It is one of many manuscripts of gnostic secret revelations. In this particular text, Adam communicates knowledge to his son Seth, the progenitor of the race of gnostics. In the story, he receives messages from three figures. Three stories are revealed, all of which find biblical precedents: the great Flood, re-population of the world, and “a cosmic conflagration that is perhaps based on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah” (Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2:707). Each event is explained as the creator God’s attempt to destroy the race of Seth. At the end of the text, the author equate baptisms with knowledge.

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William Brown is putting his Pseudepigrapha Saturday series on hiatus, since he is beginning a degree at the University of Chicago soon. I have noted the series here and here and will note other past posts in it whenever it seems interesting to do so. Meanwhile, I wish William the best in his studies and I hope to hear more from him as time permits.

Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.