What can we learn from Scholarship on The Concept of Our Great Power (CG VI, 4)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11403297 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michel Desjardins (0000-0002-5684-5980, Wilfrid Laurier University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Publication date | 2005-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Arc The Journal of the School of Religious Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0229-2807 • E-ISSN: 2817-1799 |
| Publisher | McGill University Library and Archives (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.26443/arc.v33i.686 |
| OpenAlex | W4386766104 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
e often turn to secondary sources in order to learn something V V about a particular text and how it has been approached by other scholars.What I am proposing here is something a little different.Rather than look to articles and books to help develop a detailed analysis of The Concept of Our Great Power [CGP] or an extensive summary of the academic work done on it, I would like to explore how attempts to understand this text using standard interpretive categories and techniques raise warning flags about how we study early Christianity in general.In other words, my focus will be on the nature of scholarship on this particular text, and its implications for scholars of early Christianity.Let me start, though, by introducing this lesser known text and the scholarly points of debate that have arisen around it over the last thirty years.CGP is a relatively short document comprising 13.5 manuscript pages of Coptic text, or about 2200 words in English translation.It is the fourth essay in what is now called Book 6 of the Nag Hammadi library.What is the story line?The "Great Power" speaks throughout, allusively, poetically, explaining how the world came to be, what the high points of human history have been, and what will happen to people when the current state of affairs comes to an end.The insiders are admonished to remain morally righteous in order to reap the rewards that await them.They are also made to appreciate the broad scale of cosmic history in which they find themselves.Their side, so to speak, includes notables like Noah and Jesus, who, with others, have participated in a world marked by three periods, especially their dramatic ends: the first period left only Noah and a few others floating; the second concluded with a changed world after Jesus's confrontation with the lesser powers; and the third will terminate with the destruction of the world as we know it.The final years of this third age will be
Mathematics education · Physics · Political science · Scholarship · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Christian Theology and Mission · Computer Science · Law · Psychology
| Highly cited | No |
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