In a suggestive passage from the "Refutation of All Heresies", members of the early Christian group known as 'Gnostics' are accused of being "inventors of a new grammatical art" (ἐφευρεταὶ καινῆς τέχνης γραμματικῆς) and discredited as erroneous interpreters of Scriptures. The idea of discovering 'new arts', that is, new methods to trick the enemies or take advantage of the situation, occurs also in Athenaeus of Naucratis' "Deipnosophists" and in the poem commonly referred to as "Batrachomyomachia". These comparisons allow us to delve deeper into the meaning of the text of the "Refutation", in relation to the contemporary cultural context in which Christianity flourished. Was grammar a common hermeneutical tool for Christian interpreters?
Minonne, F., The "Refutation of All Heresies", Gnostics and the Debate on a New τέχνη γραμματική in Early Christianity, in Studia Patristica. Papers presented at the Eighteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2019. Volume 23: Apocrypha et Gnostica, (Oxford, 19-23 August 2019), Peeters, Leuven - Paris - Bristol, CT 2021:<<STUDIA PATRISTICA>>,CXXVI 29-38 [https://hdl.handle.net/10807/275020]
The "Refutation of All Heresies", Gnostics and the Debate on a New τέχνη γραμματική in Early Christianity
Minonne, Francesca
Primo
2021
Abstract
In a suggestive passage from the "Refutation of All Heresies", members of the early Christian group known as 'Gnostics' are accused of being "inventors of a new grammatical art" (ἐφευρεταὶ καινῆς τέχνης γραμματικῆς) and discredited as erroneous interpreters of Scriptures. The idea of discovering 'new arts', that is, new methods to trick the enemies or take advantage of the situation, occurs also in Athenaeus of Naucratis' "Deipnosophists" and in the poem commonly referred to as "Batrachomyomachia". These comparisons allow us to delve deeper into the meaning of the text of the "Refutation", in relation to the contemporary cultural context in which Christianity flourished. Was grammar a common hermeneutical tool for Christian interpreters?
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