This book challenges the popular use of Valentinian to describe a Christian school of thought in the second century CE by analysing documents ascribed to Valentinians by early Christian Apologists, and more recently by modern scholars after the discovery of codices near Nag Hammadi in Egypt.
To this end, Ashwin-Siejkowski highlights the great diversity of views among Christian theologians associated with the label Valentinian, demonstrating their attachment to the Scriptures and Apostolic traditions as well as their dialogue with Graeco-Roman philosophies of their time. Among the various themes explored are myth and its role in early Christian theology, the familiarity of the Gospel of Truth with Alexandrian exegetical tradition, Ptolemys didactic in his letter to Flora, the image of the Saviour in the Interpretation of Knowledge, reception of the Johannine motifs in Heracleons commentary and the Tripartite Tractate, salvation in the Excerpts from Theodotus, Christian identity in the Gospel of Philip, and reception of selected Johannine motifs in Valentinian documents.
Valentinus Legacy and Polyphony of Voices
will be an invaluable and accessible resource to students, researchers, and scholars of Early Christian theologies, as well as trajectories of exegesis in New Testament sources and the emerging of different Christian identities based on various Christologies.
