Breaking the Mind

7. Did the Author of the Book of Steps Understand Paul?

Matthias Westerhoff 7. DID THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK OF STEPS UNDERSTAND PAUL? Whereas the Syriac editor’s opinion that the anonymous author of the Book of Steps was one of the last pupils of the apostles must be dismissed as apocryphal,1 the editor’s appreciation still makes sense insofar as the author has been learning from “the Apostle.” The author places Paul second in authority after our Lord himself: “Our Lord and the Apostle” is a frequently used formula of reference to his main scriptural authorities.2 In one instance, when it seems that the apostle’s word outweighs that of Jesus, the author clarifies the relationship between the two: “It is not in dissolving he dissolves, rather in building up he builds on them (i.e., the words of Our Lord).”3 Thus the relation between the apostle and our Lord resembles that of the prophets and the Torah in Judaism: the apostle functions as the true interpreter of the teaching of our Lord. This chapter may be seen as a summary sketch of my more comprehensive study: Matthias Westerhoff , Das Paulusverständnis im Liber Graduum, Patristische Texte und Studien 64 (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008). 1. BoS Preface, LG 1:7f. 2. E.g., BoS 5.5, LG 108:15. 3. BoS 8.2, LG 192:24f. 119 120 M at t h i a s W e s t e r h o f f Listening The whole message of the Book of Steps is based on scriptural exegesis. Since the author keeps silent about the exact historical circumstances in which he drew up this “sum of Christian life under the sign not only of asceticism but of the consequent rejection of the world as such,”4 as Peter Nagel characterizes the Book of Steps, we should accept this reticence and listen to the word that the author felt compelled to compose as a legacy for generations to come. Since Michael Kmoskó’s remarks in chapter 6 of his introduction on some specific features of the Pauline epistles in the Book of Steps that do not conform to the Peshitta, but to Aphrahat,5 and particularly since Joseph Kerschensteiner ’s study on the Old Syriac text of the Pauline epistles,6 the Book of Steps has emerged as a witness to a postulated text of the apostle prior to that of the Peshitta. In the vast synopsis of the Pauline epistles in Syriac by Barbara Aland and Andreas Juckel, the Book of Steps, following Aphrahat and Ephrem, forms the third in order of age of the witnesses to the apostle in Syriac. However, when inquiring into our author’s understanding of the apostle, we first must have a look at his textual basis. It appears that the author did not have at hand a copy of the corpus paulinum when dictating his discourses. His quotations are drawn from memory and are often free. The creative manner in which the author quotes Paul—which distinguishes him from Aphrahat, who faithfully keeps to the wording of the biblical text7—testifies to the author’s self-understanding as an heir of the living Word that was communicated by the prophets and apostles. The fact that he quotes from memory is apparent from quotations in which two verses are merged. “For you have not received the spirit of fear”8 merges Romans 8:15—“For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear”—with 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God did not give us the spirit of fear.” The 4. Peter Nagel, “Das Gleichnis vom verlorenen Sohn (Lk 15:11–32) im syrischen Liber Graduum,” Hallesche Beiträge zur Orientwissenschaft 29 (2000): 17. 5. Michael Kmoskó, ed., Liber Graduum 164, Patrologia Syriaca 1.3 (Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1926). 6. Josef Kerschensteiner, Der Altsyrischer Paulustext, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 315, Subsidia 37 (Louvain: Secrétariat du Corpus Scritporum Christianorum Orientalium, 1970). 7. Cf. Paul Schwen, Afrahat: Seine Person und sein Verständnis des Christentums, Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Kirche im Osten, Neue Studien zur Geschichte der Theologie und der Kirche 2 (Aalen: Scientia-Verlag, 1973), 52. 8. BoS 5.19, LG 133:23–36:1. D i d t h e Au t h o r U n d e r s ta n d P au l ? 121 straightforward “spirit of fear” replaces the more complex phrasing in Romans . A...