Sárospataki Füzetek 16. (2012)

2012 / 3-4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK

Jerusalem the Mother Church

Such is the story of James, whose is said to be the first of the Episdes called Catholic. It is to be observed that its authenticity is denied, since few of the ancients quote it, as is also the case with the Epistle called Jude’s, which is itself one of the seven called Catholic; nevertheless we know that these letters have been used publicly with the rest in most churches (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History II 23,24-25).

Elsewhere, Eusebius notes that Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150-215 AD) provided a brief commentary on all the canonical books, including the letter of Jude and the other Catholic Epistles {Ecclesiastical History VI 14,5).This document itself has been lost, but a Latin translation of Clement’s commentary on 1 Peter, 1 and 2 John, and Jude has been preserved. This ancient Bible commentary from Egypt most probably already gave attention to the Catholic Epistles.

From this, three tentative conclusions may be drawn. First, the expression ‘Catholic Epistles’ has been the term for a specific group of seven letters, which originated in the apostolic period. Secondly, there was some debate regarding the authenticity of at least two of them; apparently, there was some doubt concerning their authorship. In the case of James and Jude, as mentioned by Eusebius, this is likely because the author does not identify himself as an apostle. However, with regard to James, there was also a larger problem: a number of apocryphal writings were in circulation, purportedly under his name (the Infancy Gospel of James, the Apocryphon of James, and the First and Second Revelations of James). Thirdly, in spite of the margin of uncertainty concerning their authorship, both of these letters were freely used in the churches. This is to say that just as with all the other authoritative writings, they were read aloud throughout the world as accepted parts of the church liturgy.

There is, therefore, every reason for a re-evaluation of this collection of letters. Indeed, this is all the more so, as it enables us — in the words of the 20th century New Testament scholar J. de Zwaan of Leiden University — to better distinguish the range of voices that speak to us from the New Testament.33 Schlosser believes that we are dealing with a homogenous corpus, while Wall has demonstrated that the seven Catholic Epistles are not just a random collection, but as to their content form a coherent whole.34 Be that as it may, the collection of seven Catholic Epistles forms a precious possession of faith for the worldwide church.

What exactly does the name ‘Catholic Epistles’ signify? In what respect are they general? This is commonly understood to mean ‘generally recognised’ or ‘generally distributed’. Already ay an early date, there would have been the realisation that these letters were not specifically intended for one church, but were meant for the worldwide church as a whole. This explanation, however, is not altogether convincing. To

33 J. de Zwaan, Inleiding tot het Nieuwe Testament III (Haarlem: Bohn, 1948), 14-15. The 52nd Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense (2003) was dedicated to the Catholic Epistles. See The Catholic Epistles and the Tradition, ed. J. Schlosser (Leuven: Peeters, 2004).

34 Robert W. Wall, “A Unifying Theology of the Catholic Epistles. A Canonical Approach.” In The Catholic Epistles and the Tradition, ed. J. Schlosser (Leuven: Peeters, 2004), 43-71. His claim that the letters of Jude and James function as a literary framework of the collection (50) is dubious, because the sequence is that of length, letters of the same author being combined (Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament, 299-300).

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