DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49369#0075
NOTE ON OTHER FRAGMENTS OF THE ACTS OF PAHL 57
as from ‘Paul the Apostle,’ in which the Gentiles are exhorted to consult
‘ Έλλ^ικαΐ βίβλοι.,’ especially Hystaspes and the Sibylline books, and to read the
prophecies of Christ which they contain. This passage is one which Zahn assigns
to the Acts of Paul—not, as Hilgenfeld, to a Preaching of Paul (or of Peter and
Paul) : and it seems to me most probable that he is right.
The closing sentences of the passage quoted from the Policraticus admit of two
interpretations, according as we understand the words ‘eius discipuli’ to mean
‘ disciples of Paul’ or ‘ disciples of Christ.’ If the latter interpretation be adopted,
we must see in the sentence a reference to the cures recorded in the Acts of the
Apostles (v. 15) as having been wrought, or expected to be wrought, by the shadow
of Peter : and this seems a straightforward and simple explanation. But if ‘ eius
discipuli ’ are Paul’s companions, we must suppose that the source used by John of
Salisbury contained an account of cures effected .by the shadow of Silas or
Timotheus. Similarly, the words ‘ resurgens mortuus,’ lower down, may be taken
to apply either to our Lord, or to a miracle of raising a dead person performed by
Paul at Athens in presence of the philosophers : and this last seems to me the most
natural interpretation of the words. It seemsmore forcible to say that the resurrec-
tion of a dead man, actually witnessed, confuted the subtleties of the schools, than
that the report or preaching of the resurrection of Christ did so.
as from ‘Paul the Apostle,’ in which the Gentiles are exhorted to consult
‘ Έλλ^ικαΐ βίβλοι.,’ especially Hystaspes and the Sibylline books, and to read the
prophecies of Christ which they contain. This passage is one which Zahn assigns
to the Acts of Paul—not, as Hilgenfeld, to a Preaching of Paul (or of Peter and
Paul) : and it seems to me most probable that he is right.
The closing sentences of the passage quoted from the Policraticus admit of two
interpretations, according as we understand the words ‘eius discipuli’ to mean
‘ disciples of Paul’ or ‘ disciples of Christ.’ If the latter interpretation be adopted,
we must see in the sentence a reference to the cures recorded in the Acts of the
Apostles (v. 15) as having been wrought, or expected to be wrought, by the shadow
of Peter : and this seems a straightforward and simple explanation. But if ‘ eius
discipuli ’ are Paul’s companions, we must suppose that the source used by John of
Salisbury contained an account of cures effected .by the shadow of Silas or
Timotheus. Similarly, the words ‘ resurgens mortuus,’ lower down, may be taken
to apply either to our Lord, or to a miracle of raising a dead person performed by
Paul at Athens in presence of the philosophers : and this last seems to me the most
natural interpretation of the words. It seemsmore forcible to say that the resurrec-
tion of a dead man, actually witnessed, confuted the subtleties of the schools, than
that the report or preaching of the resurrection of Christ did so.