The Interpretations of the Garments of Skin in the Early Christian and Ancient Gnostic Traditions Cover Image

„és köntösödre sorsot.”
The Interpretations of the Garments of Skin in the Early Christian and Ancient Gnostic Traditions

Author(s): Csaba Ötvös
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion
Published by: Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem
Keywords: early Christian centuries; garments of skin; physical body; Christian and Gnostic traditions;

Summary/Abstract: According to the Mosaic account the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin and clothed them (Gen 3,21). The interpretation and meaning of the garments of skin was much disputed in the early Christian centuries. This paper concentrates on the first part of the reception history of this biblical verse in the early Christian literature and the Gnostic tractates from Nag Hammadi. In the centre of the investigation is an argument drawn from the polemical writings – which is the identification of the garments of skin with the physical body of the created man – and I made an attempt to explore its place and context in the controversies between the Christian and Gnostic traditions, on the one hand, and among the several different Christian traditions, on the other. At first, I look for this argument in the Church Fathers’ polemical works to reconstruct the point of view of contemporary Fathers (Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria) on the Gnostics’ opinion. In the second main part, I turn to the primary sources but because of the absence of any reference to biblical verses, the scope of research has had to be extended to cover not only the terminology but also the concepts in the Gnostic mythological theologies concerning the body of the earthly man (the body created by the archons and the clothing metaphor). Last, I sketch the place and development of the aforementioned theme in the controversy against Origen and the Origenian tradition in the Christian theology. On the basis of the results of this short exploration, the identification of the garments of skin with the physical body can be regarded as a recurrent topos in the Christian polemical literature. At first it appeared in the controversy against the Valentinian authors in the heresiological literature but later it fulfilled a similar function against Origen’s and the Origenian interpretation. The examined concepts entail questions about created man’s nature, but these questions are preceded by another, namely, the question of being able to see God.

  • Issue Year: III/2011
  • Issue No: 3-4
  • Page Range: 106-121
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Hungarian