Athenagorae qui fertur De Resurrectione Mortuorum (review)

M. Marcovich, editor. Athenagoras. Athenagorae qui fertur. De Resurrectione Mortuorum. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 53. Leiden/Boston/Koln: Brill, 2000. Pp. 76. 52; $61.00.

Were it not for Professor Marcovich, emeritus professor of classics at the University of Illinois, the Arethas Codex (Parisinus gr. 451), an early tenth-century codex, would be much less well known. As Marcovich himself describes it, this "monumental parchment codex" is "actually a first corpus of Greek apologetic literature," containing works by Clement of Alexandria, Pseudo-Justin, Eusebius of Caesarea, and Athenagoras (6). In 1995, Vigiliae Christianae published a critical edition of Clement's Protrepticus by Marcovich on the basis of the Arethas Codex. Now, on the basis of the same text, the editor has proffered a new critical edition of De resurrectione ascribed to Athenagoras, a late second century Christian apologist. The other text traditionally attributed to Athenagoras, the Legatio pro Christianis, was critically edited by Marcovich in 1990 (Patristischen Texte und Studien 31, Berlin). In the present volume, Marcovich also presents a critical edition of the significant Scholia of Arethas on the De resurrectione. Arethas (c. 850-c. 932), archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, owned the codex (which had been copied by his secretary, Baanes), and he added multiple comments in the margins. For the first time, these have here received a critical edition in their entirety (51-63). In addition, Marcovich has provided an improved critical text of the fragments of the lost treatise De resurrectione, ascribed to Justin Martyr and preserved in Sacra parallela of John of Damascus (64-76).

In a dense "Introduction" (1-19), the editor provides an essential summary of questions related to authorship, content, and the textual transmission of these works. A select bibliography provides access to the necessary scholarly literature, and, very helpfully, Marcovich offers samples of his own text-critical thinking and method. This last makes clear that Marcovich, while governed by the manuscript evidence, is nonetheless not fearful about "improving" the text. The Arethas Codex contains many lacunae, as well as erasures by Arethas to make way for his own corrections. The result is a text both corrupt and perhaps arbitrary. Marcovich's task, then, is to "heal the countless lacunae and scribal errors of A [Arethas Codex] and to offer a text which makes sense, while restoring the author's original thought" (8). One can only applaud Professor Marcovich for the end product of his work. Without doubt, this volume will serve as the recognized critical edition of De resurrectione (plus that of Arethas' Scholia and the fragments of Justin) for a very long time.

Marcovich sides with the more recent consensus concerning authorship. De resurrectione is "more likely than not" not by Athenagoras; yet it is to be dated to the end of the second century, and it is addressed to pagans. Similarly, the fragments of De resurrectione, attributed to Justin, "cannot be" by him. These also come from the second half of the second century but are directed most probably against Gnostics.

Yet, the real value of this volume lies in its presentation of a new critical edition of De resurrectione and the Scholia of Arethas. The text-critical work of Professor Marcovich on second-century and early third-century Christian authors has been truly monumental and has established him as one of the most respected scholars in this field (critical editions include the works of Hippolytus, Tatian, Theophilus of Antioch, and Justin Martyr). The grounding of scholarly work on accurate texts is utterly crucial for advancing our understanding, and those who study the thought of early Christianity can hardly thank Professor Marcovich enough. Certainly this volume deserves to be in any library dedicated to religious and theological study, and the price for such a volume is not prohibitive even for the personal libraries of those interested in the field of early Christian apologetics.