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The Catholic Historical Review 88.3 (2002) 561-562



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Book Review

Ecclesia alexandrina:
Evolution sociale et institutionnelle du christianisme alexandrin (IIe et IIIe siècles)


Ecclesia alexandrina: Evolution sociale et institutionnelle du christianisme alexandrin (IIe et IIIe siècles). By Attila Jakab. [Christianismes anciens, Vol. 1.] (Bern, New York: Peter Lang. 2001. Pp. xv, 373. $57.95.)

A revised Strasbourg dissertation (1998), this book provides new insights into the development of early Alexandrian Christianity. In the first chapter Jakab discusses the city of Alexandria and the nature of its population, giving special attention to the Jewish community of Alexandria, which came to a bloody end as a consequence of the revolt against Trajan (115-117). Chapter 2 is devoted to a discussion of scholarly hypotheses and traditional legends pertaining to the origins of Christianity in Egypt. Leaving open the possibility of a connection between Apollos (Acts 18:24-26) and first-century Christianity in Alexandria, Jakab rejects the historicity of the foundation legend featuring the apostle Mark as well as the (Ps.-Clementine) tradition of the activity of Barnabas in Alexandria, and finds no reference to Christians in the letter of Claudius to the Alexandrians. He underscores the importance of the Kerygma Petri, which he dates to before 115, for information on the nature of the earliest Christian community in Alexandria. Jakab concludes that the earliest Christians came from an educated class of people, and were spiritual heirs of Philo Judaeus.

Chapter 3 is devoted to the plurality of emergent Christianity. One of the problems attendant upon delineating the nature of second-century Christianity is the problem of the provenience of our sources. E.g., should we assign the Epistle of Barnabas to Alexandria (as I would), or to Antioch? Leaving that issue open, he underscores the close contacts that did pertain between Syria (and Palestine) and Egypt. He decides on an Alexandrian provenience for other sources, notably the Acts of John (which I would place in Asia Minor). Jakab finds two main currents in Alexandrian Christian plurality, a "gnostic" one (represented by the great heresiarchs and some of the Nag Hammadi texts), and a "non-gnostic" one characterized by a "spiritualized" religion open to influences from Hellenistic culture.

The problem of the Alexandrian "Catechetical School" is taken up in chapter 4. Jakab rightly concludes that one cannot speak of an ecclesiastically authorized [End Page 561] school until the appointment of Origen by Bishop Demetrius. Prior to that the Christian teachers were carrying out privately organized instruction. The first of these known, Pantaenus, is treated in chapter 5. (Jakab rejects, perhaps too hastily, Pouderon's recent defense of Philip of Side's testimony that Athenagoras was active as a teacher in Alexandria.) Chapter 6 is devoted to Clement, and chapter 7 to Origen, both excellent discussions. Especially important in the book are chapters 8 ("From the Christian community to an institutional church"), treating developments in the time of Clement and Origen, and 9 ("The 'Church' of Alexandria"): the consolidation of the monarchical episcopate under Demetrius and Heraclas, and the important role played by Dionysius, the first "patriarch" of Alexandria, whose numerous writings are partially preserved by Eusebius.

Interesting socio-economic observations are made in the last two chapters, 10 ("The 'life' of rich Christians in Alexandria"), based largely on Clement's Paedagogus, and 11 ("The church life of Christians in Alexandria"), but acute social observations occur in other chapters as well, e.g., deductions made on the basis of the modes of punishment meted out to martyrs during persecutions as to the socio-economic status of those put to death (mostly humiliores). For the earlier periods the elevated social status assigned by Jakab to Alexandrian Christians is probably overdrawn.

This book is a very valuable contribution to the study of early Alexandrian Christianity, and it is to be hoped that someone will soon translate it into English.

 



Birger A. Pearson
University of California, Santa Barbara (Emeritus)

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