Ancient World Seminar: Kimberley Fowler (University of Groingen) 'Divine Authorship and Variations of Pseudepigraphy in Gnostic Christian literature

Abstract

Pseudepigraphy and creative methods of authorial attribution were embedded within the Greco-Roman literary world. Scholarship treating this phenomenon in the fields of Classics and biblical and early Jewish and Christian studies has over the years moved away from describing such practices with the loaded language of forgery, and towards a recognition of the fact that both authors and scribes played with traditions of authorship towards a variety of ends. This paper will explore the diversity that existed among practices of pseudepigraphy and attribution within a sub-section of the early Christian literary world, specifically in relation to how attribution and concepts of authorship were used to craft group identity, emphasising audiences’ exclusive proximity to and understanding of the divine.

About the speaker

Kimberley Fowler is Assistant Professor in New Testament at the University of Groningen. She is particularly interested in Coptic early Christian material, especially the Nag Hammadi Codices and other extra-biblical texts and is currently researching paratexts in non-canonical gospel and gospel-related literature.