Τι κοινό έχουν μια νεαρή μητέρα στη φυλακή του 3ου αι. και ένας "αιρετικός" θεολόγος που κατηγορήθηκε ότι πλαστογράφησε το Τέταρτο Ευαγγέλιο; Και στις δύο περιπτώσεις, οι ιστορίες που νομίζαμε ότι ξέραμε ίσως πρέπει να ξαναγραφτούν. Δύο άρθρα από το τεύχος 39 του Patristica Nordica Annuaria (2024) δείχνουν πώς η επανεξέταση γνωστών πηγών ανοίγει νέους δρόμους στην πατερική και βιβλική έρευνα. Και τα δύο άρθρα θέτουν ένα βασικό μεθοδολογικό ερώτημα: ποιες φωνές "ακούμε" μέσα στα κείμενα, ποιες γραμμές της παράδοσης (και της ερμηνείας) υιοθετούμε. Τελικά, πώς οι ερμηνευτικές μας επιλογές διαμορφώνουν τις ιστορίες που θυμόμαστε και αφηγούμαστε;
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🔓Michael Kok, "Was Cerinthus a Johannine Theologian?" 79-103
Michael Kok challenges the established view supported by scholars such as Simone Pétrement, April DeConick, and M. David Litwa, namely that Cerinthus was an early interpreter and forger of the Fourth Gospel, and that the Johannine Epistles and the Epistula Apostolorum were written to counter his interpretation.
Kok examines grammatically the passages presented as evidence of Cerinthus's editorial intervention in the Gospel according to John and argues that the John mentioned by Irenaeus is John the Elder. Moreover, the claim that Cerinthus editorially intervened in the Gospel according to John first appears in the 4th century and is likely the result of a misinterpretation.
The article demonstrates how "historical certainties" often rest on fragile interpretive traditions. Irenaeus's simple identification "John = Apostle" shaped centuries of theology. The reconstruction of early Christological disputes requires attention to detail—who spoke to whom, when, with what authority. If Cerinthus was not influenced by Johannine theology, then the interpretive history of the Fourth Gospel needs to be rewritten.
🔓Alexandra Lembke-Ross, "Maternity and Mortality: A Matricentric Reading of the Prison Diary of Perpetua," 105-116
The author proposes a new reading of the Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis: Perpetua becomes a martyr through her maternal body. Applying matricentric literary theory—an emerging methodology from Motherhood Studies—the author demonstrates how the maternal body functions as a liminal space between life and death. Furthermore, Lembke-Ross connects the non-linear temporality of the Passion narrative to Hélène Cixous's écriture féminine—women's writing as resistance to patriarchal narrative schemas.
In the Passion narrative, maternal anguish is placed at the center of martyrdom. Finally, Perpetua is connected to the Maccabean Mother who in patristic interpretation emerges as an exemplar for ordinary women, specifically married mothers.
The article's methodology is exciting, but it also raises certain questions. To what extent, for example, can we distinguish Perpetua's voice in the text from the interventions of the editor/redactor? Is there a risk of projecting contemporary theories onto an ancient text?
In any case, the article offers something rare: a reading of an early Christian literary text that centers embodied female experience. Perpetua is perhaps the only surviving female voice from antiquity speaking of motherhood and religious commitment, and becomes a window into the world of these marginalized people of antiquity. Matricentric theory, therefore, is not simply a new "tool"—it is an invitation to see texts with a different lens, to hear voices that had been silenced.
