On Docetic Christology in Early Christianity. Pt. 2.2

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According to the doctrine of so-called docetic Christology, earthly Jesus and heavenly Christ were two different persons. It was Jesus who suffered on the cross, Christ just entered Jesus’ body for a while and abandoned it before his death on the cross; consequently, suffering of Christ was mere appearance. On the base of some passages from Gnostic texts containing examples of docetic Chrstology, the author attempts here to trace the origin of that concept, starting with the New Testament (Pt. 1: Synoptic Gospels). In the previous part of the article (Pt. 2. 1) he analyzed such Paul’s passages as Rom. 1.3–4 and Gal. 4.4–7; in this part he deals with 1Cor 8.4–6 in order to find out whether the concept of pre-existent Jesus is present or not. The author argues in favour of the second answer. To be continued.

About the authors

Alexandr L. Khosroyev

Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: akhos@mail.ru

Dr. Sci. (History), Researcher-in-Chief of the Department of Middle
Eastern and Near Eastern Studies

Russian Federation, Dvortsovaia naberezhnaia 18, St. Petersburg, 191186

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