ISAIAH, ASCENSION OF

ISAIAH, ASCENSION OF
ISAIAH, ASCENSION OF, early Christian apocalypse, containing the Jewish apocryphon the martyrdom of isaiah . The aggadah about Isaiah's violent death was already known at the beginnings of Christianity (see Acts 8: 34). Thus the Jewish apocryphon was expounded by Christians as early as in the first century of Christianity. Of the Greek original only a papyrus fragment is extant and parts of Latin, Slavonic, and Coptic translations have been preserved. The whole work exists only in an Ethiopic translation. The apocryphal description of Jesus' birth, life, and resurrection (11:1–21) is a later interpolation lacking in the Latin version and in the three Slavonic versions. In the Christian part of the book Isaiah is described as a seer according to the spirit of apocalyptic literature. His violent death is regarded as revealing the coming of Jesus and the early history of the Church (3:13–31). This passage and the following chapter (4) containing a description of the antichrist are very important witnesses for the oldest Christian history and beliefs. The author sees inter alia the degeneration of contemporary   Christianity in the small number of Christian prophets, an institution which disappeared in the second century. He is the oldest witness to Peter's martyrdom by Nero (4: 3). At the end of days Beliar (Belial), "the great prince, the king of this world," will descend from heaven in the shape of Nero; he will do many wonders and lead humanity astray, but he will finally be destroyed. This description reflects an Antichrist tradition more or less independent of the New Testament, whose main motifs are taken from Jewish sources. It is very probable that the description of Isaiah's ascent to the seven heavens was also written by the same Christian author (chapters 6–11). The similarities between this vision and similar visions in Jewish apocalyptic literature and old Jewish mysticism are noteworthy. According to the book, Isaiah also saw the miraculous descent of Jesus from the seventh heaven and his future ascent after his resurrection. This description resembles the similar motifs of the Epistola Apostolorum ("Letter of the Apostles"), a Christian work of the beginning of the second century. The mystical theology of the Christian parts of the Ascension of Isaiah is imbued by Jewish mystical and apocalyptical material, and its opinion about the heavenly nature of Jesus is close to gnostic speculations, although the book is, compared with contemporary Christian products, not heterodox. Later, when orthodox Christian tenets were firmly established, the book was used by Christian sects with gnostic elements and even by Arians. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: R.H. Charles, Ascension of Isaiah (1900; repr. with intr. by G.H. Box, 1917); B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt, Amherst Papyri (1902); E. Tisserant, Ascension d'Isaïe (1909); J. Flemming and H. Duensing, in: E. Hennecke and W. Schneemelcher (eds.), Neutestamentliche Apocryphen, 2 (19643), 454–68; M. Meslin, Les Ariens d'Occident (1967), 242–3. (David Flusser)

Encyclopedia Judaica. 1971.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Isaiah, Ascension of — ▪ pseudepigraphal work       pseudepigraphal work surviving intact only in a 5th–7th century AD Ethiopic edition. Fragments exist in Greek, Coptic, Latin, and Old Slavonic. Three separate works comprise the total book, the final version by a… …   Universalium

  • ISAIAH, MARTYRDOM OF — ISAIAH, MARTYRDOM OF, one of the source documents discerned by scholars in the Ascension of Isaiah (see ), relating Isaiah s persecution and eventual martyr s death at the hands of manasseh , king of Judah. From the first publication in 1819 of… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • ISAIAH — (Heb. יְשַׁעְיָה ,יְשַׁעְיָהוּ Salvation of YHWH ), one of the eight books (as the Rabbis and the Masorah count them) of the Nevi im, or Prophets, the second division of the Hebrew canon (see bible , Canon). INTRODUCTION Outside the Book of… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Ascension of Isaiah — The book Ascension of Isaiah is one of the Pseudepigrapha.[1] Theories as to the date of its composition place it in a range from the late 1st century AD to the second half of the 2nd century AD. As for its authorship, it is believed almost… …   Wikipedia

  • ISAIAH, THE ASCENSION OF —    an apocryphal book giving an incoherent account of the martyrdom of Isaiah, and a vision he had under the reign of Hezekiah, apparently the origin of the tradition in Heb. xi. 37, about the prophet having been sawn asunder …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Ascension of Isaiah — An apocryphal work extant only in Ethiopic, probably Jewish in origin but containing extensive Christian additions. It describes the prophet s martyrdom and his subsequent elevation to heaven, and is useful for the information it gives on… …   Dictionary of the Bible

  • biblical literature — Introduction       four bodies of written works: the Old Testament writings according to the Hebrew canon; intertestamental works, including the Old Testament Apocrypha; the New Testament writings; and the New Testament Apocrypha.       The Old… …   Universalium

  • Judaism — /jooh dee iz euhm, day , deuh /, n. 1. the monotheistic religion of the Jews, having its ethical, ceremonial, and legal foundation in the precepts of the Old Testament and in the teachings and commentaries of the rabbis as found chiefly in the… …   Universalium

  • apocalyptic literature — ▪ literary genre       literary genre that foretells supernaturally inspired cataclysmic events that will transpire at the end of the world. A product of the Judeo Christian tradition, apocalyptic literature is characteristically pseudonymous; it …   Universalium

  • Messiah Part II — The last page of the Hallelujah chorus, ending Part II, in Handel s manuscript Messiah (HWV 56), the English language oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel in 1741, is structured in three parts. This listing covers Part II in a table and… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”