Gnostic Truth and Christian Heresy. A Study in the History of Gnosticism by Alastair H. B. Logan (review)

742book reviews book has three parts. Part I consists of four chapters which provide a historical sketch of first-century Christianity and aspects ofJewish-Christian relations, together with an extended discussion of the poUtical, phUosophical, educational, and religious context of Greco-Roman paganism during the first and second centuries after Christ. Part II consists of five chapters each of¦which focuses on one of the five chaUenges to Christianity and surveys the various answers proposed by Judaism and early Christianity. Part III consists of six chapters, five of which summarize the responses to each ofthe five chaUenges by the five Christian leaders mentioned above, and the sixth provides a concluding general overview of the views of each of the five leaders, including an assessment of where they agree and disagree. On the problem of the creator and the creation, aU five thinkers held that the Supreme Deity made the world and wiUed it to be good.The issue of human nature and destiny is more complex, but aU generaUy agreed that human beings are linked both to the physical world and the celestial realm, that humans have a degree of free wUl, and that the disorder and evU in the world originated with angelic corruption supported by human beings. On the identities ofJesus,Wagner argues that each leader based his christology on the logos theology of the Fourth Gospel, though some (Justin and Clement) held that he was the supreme angel, while TertuUian and Irenaeus taught that the Logos was the mamfestation of the Supreme God. On the roles for the Church, aU five agreed that the Church was essential in God's plan of salvation for humans and the cosmos, and that it was the continuation of the people of God in the OldTestament. On Christians and society, some emphasized the positive (the Logos could enUghten humans and lead them to salvation) while others the negative (the world was under the influence of Satan and the Logos affected salvation by taking on the roles ofvictim and liberator).The discussion, of course, is far richer than this short summary can hope to capture. This book is a carefuUy structured exercise in historical theology in which the five focal theological issues selected by the author are meticulously placed within appropriate historical and social contexts of the second-century world. This is an exceUent textbook which should provide a convenient framework for discussion in courses focusing on the earUer phases of Christian historical theology when used in conjunction with the actual texts of each of the five Christian thinkers. David E.Aune Loyola University ofChicago Gnostic Truth and Christian Heresy. A Study in the History of Gnosticism. By Alastair H. B. Logan. (Edinburgh: T & T Clark. Order from Books International , Inc., Herndon,Virginia. 1996. Pp. xxiv, 373; 2 plates. $49.95.) Historical criticism ofthe Gnostic Uterature was at first revived and then perhaps a bit confused by the find of the Nag Hammadi materials. Alastair Logan's book reviews743 study brings it to the fore again by using patristics as weU as a very thorough analysis of the Apocryphon ofJohn and defending Irenaeus by urging that "any blatant misrepresentation would surely have triggered Gnostic protests" (p. 1). His use of the Fathers gives depth to his work—and raises problems; e.g., Irenaeus I.3O.9 contradicts 1.30.6 (p. 210, n. 99) on the formation and nature of man,while there are "doublets" in Irenaeus' accounts of the earliest Gnostics. In addition, Gnostics did criticize his accounts at least of their Uturgical texts, according to Hippolytus (Refutation 6.4Z). Logan clearly states his three "hypotheses." (1) "The form or forms of Gnosticism found in the so-caUed 'Sethian' texts cannot be understood apart from Christianity." (2) "One is justified in seeking both a central core ofideas, a myth or myths based on and concretely expressed in a rite of initiation as a projection of Gnostic experiences, and in treating it as a vaUd form (or forms) of interpreting Christianity." (3) "Irenaeus' summary inAdv. haer. 1.29 is closest to the original form of the Christian Gnostic myth of Father, Mother, and Son, and it underwent progressive development mcludmg'Setiuanization'"(pp.xviii...