Paul and Pseudepigraphy (Pauline Studies, Book 8)

authorship and pseudepigraphy in early christian literature 17

ascension, after the mission of the holy spirit from heaven, after many Jews

had been converted and had shown marvelous faith, after the stoning of

stephen the deacon and martyr, and when Paul still bore the name saul,

and was grievously persecuting those who had become believers in Christ,

did Christ call that man (by a voice) from heaven, and made him his dis-

ciple and apostle. how, then, is it possible that Christ could have written

those books which they wish to have it believed that he did write before

his death, and which were addressed to Peter and Paul, as those among his

disciples who had been most intimate with him, seeing that up to that date

Paul had not yet become a disciple of his at all?

Augustine, de doctrina christiana 2.8.13

In his treatise On Christian Doctrine (396/7 ce), augustine accepted the

view that solomon was not the author the Wisdom of solomon, but that

instead the book was written by Jesus sirach. In spite of its pseudepigraph-

ical character augustine did not regard the Wisdom of solomon as unca-

nonical because the church had accepted it into the canon of scripture.

the positive judgment of the church on the book’s canonicity appears

to have overruled augustine’s personal opinion about the book’s literary

authenticity. among the ancient statements on the canonicity of pseude-

pigraphical books, this remark by augustine forms a rare exception.12

now the whole canon of scripture on which we say this judgment is to be

exercised, is contained in the following books: five books of Moses... next

are the Prophets, in which there is one book of the Psalms of david; and

three books of solomon, viz., Proverbs, song of songs, and ecclesiastes. for

two books, one called Wisdom and the other ecclesiasticus, are ascribed to

solomon from a certain resemblance of style, but the most likely opinion is

that they were written by Jesus the son of sirach. still they are to be reck-

oned among the prophetical books, since they have attained recognition as

being authoritative.

Augustinus, Contra faustum Manichaeum 33.6

the Manicheans, whose theology was severely condemned by augustine

in his Reply to Faustus the Manichean (396 ce), assumed that pseudo-

apostolic writings did not carry transparent pseudonyms but were forged

under the names of apostles to deceive their readers. In his debate with

his Manichean opponents, augustine claimed that the Christians used the

same criteria and arguments to identify their genuine apostolic writings as

12 trans. in NPNF 1 2:538–39.