The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis. Book I (Sects 1-46) (review)

Though not as popular a figure in modern scholarship as some of his more illustrious contemporaries, Epiphanius was nevertheless a centrally important church father in late antiquity. His work has preserved for us a great deal of information on many different "heresies" which troubled the hearts and minds of "orthodox" Christians. From Epiphanius we can also discern how the ancient heresiologists "made" what they believed to be heresy and how they represented and misrepresented the beliefs and practices of heretics to define and defend their own particular understanding of orthodoxy. As contemporary academic interest in the construction and rhetoric of "heresy" in ancient Christianity continues to grow and produce important scholarship, especially in the recovery or preservation of "lost" or "other" Christianities, the Panarion remains a vitally important source of information. Thus Frank Williams's two-volume translation of Epiphanius's Panarion has proved to be an indispensible resource for scholars and students in patristics, ancient history, theology, and religious studies.

The text itself is enormous, comprising some 1500 pages in the modern edition, so Williams's efforts have facilitated broader access to this important work, and to date his is the only complete translation of the Panarion in English. The current book under review is the revised and expanded second edition of the first volume, which was originally published by Brill in 1987 (with a second impression in 1997). Williams's translation is based on the original GCS critical edition published by Karl Holl (Leipzig, 1915, 1922, 1933), with subsequent emended editions by Jürgen Dummer, whose work has produced two volumes (Berlin, 1980, 1985) covering entries 46–80, with the third and final volume including the Ancoratus and the first half of entries in the Panarion still forthcoming. While Williams generally reproduces the original contents of the original in the revised second edition, he has added a longer introduction, a bibliography, and a useful index of references of ancient sources. The introduction provides a helpful survey of Epiphanius's life and writings, a discussion of the overall structure and organization of the Panarion, and a consideration of Epiphanius's significance in the broader history of early Christianity. Of particular importance is Williams's observation that the Panarion was a largely dictated work, and therefore traditional criticisms of Epiphanius's style and seeming lack of education are not necessarily warranted based on the Greek text itself. Since the publication of Williams's translation, Epiphanian scholarship has produced a number of important interpretive monographs and articles, some of which are referenced in the bibliography. Unfortunately there is also much that is left out, and in such an important translation one would have hoped for a more substantive bibliography. The index of ancient sources is excellent, as it particularly highlights the extent of Epiphanius's access and research into both orthodox and heretical sources. The subject index is markedly expanded and improved from the first edition. However, the volume does not include an index of biblical references, though they are referenced in the footnotes.

The contents of this volume, entries 1–46 (from "Barbarism" to the "Tatianists") should be of great interest to a variety of scholars and students, particularly to those who work on Jewish and Jewish Christian sects and the various derivations of the "gnostic" heresies and their literature. The translation itself, while not completely new, is an improvement from the original publication, as Williams has produced a tighter and more readable translation, smoothing out awkward phrases while still preserving the apparent meaning of the original Greek text. He faithfully follows Holl's edition, and he indicates and incorporates into the translation the different emendations to the text suggested by Holl and subsequent scholars. Perhaps the most notable improvement in this second edition is the substantial expansion of footnoted cross-references to other ancient sources, biblical references, explanations of historical context, and clarifications of...