The hereTics’ AposTle And Two pAuline pseudepigrAphA
from nAg hAmmAdi
michael Kaler
York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
whether or not paul truly was “the heretics’ apostle,” as Tertullian
described him (Against the Valentinians i.4) is debatable. it might be more
accurate to say that he was simply the Apostle for early christians gener-
ally, although understandings of him, his work, and his figure could vary
greatly—certainly the various “gnostic” pauls differed greatly from the
pauls whose lineage descended from the pastorals. There can be no doubt
that paul is frequently referenced within the nag hammadi collection of
“gnostic” early christian literature.1 i hope to explore this topic in much
greater depth in future work, as a supplement to the pioneering work of
Klaus Koschorke is badly needed,2 but for the moment, let it suffice to say
that these references make use of his authority,3 his writings (explicitly
signalled or not),4 and, in two cases (the Apocalypse of Paul, in codex V,
and the Prayer of Paul the Apostle in codex i), the unknown authors take
1 The degree to which the nag hammadi material can be described as “gnostic” is
debated, and so too, more broadly, is the usefulness of the term “gnostic” itself, with the clas-
sic arguments being found in Karen King, What is Gnosticism? (cambridge, mA: Belknap,
2003) and, especially, michael williams, “interpreting the nag hammadi collection(s) in
the history of ‘gnosticism(s),’ ” in l. painchaud and A. pasquier (eds.), Les texts de Nag
Hammadi et le problème de leur classification: Acte du colloque tenu à Québec du 15 au 19
septembre 1993 (Bibliothèque copte de nag hammadi section “Études” 3; Québec/louvain:
les presses de l’université laval/peeters, 1995), 3–50. This article is no place to enter into
what has been a long and confusing debate. suffice it to say that for our present purposes,
i will follow the lead of nicola denzey lewis (Introduction to “Gnosticism”: Ancient Voices,
Christian Worlds [oxford: oxford university press, 2012]), and refer to “gnostic” writings
in quotation marks. This will indicate, on the one hand, that the word has some useful-
ness in terms of describing general tendencies within the writings having to do with the
importance of esoteric literature and some broadly shared conceptions about the origins
and fate of (some) human spirits, and the demiurgical rulers of the world. on the other
hand, the quotations also warn us not to mistake these general tendencies for identifiers
of a specific group or organization.
2 see Klaus Koschorke, “paulus in den nag-hammadi-Texten,” ZTK 78 (1980): 177–205.
3 for example, in the introduction to the Hypostasis of the Archons, in which he is
referred to as “the great apostle” (86.22–23) whose testimony guarantees the authenticity
of the Hypostasis.
4 see craig A. evans et al., Nag Hammadi Texts and the Bible: A Synopsis and Index (new
Testament Tools and studies 18; leiden: Brill, 1993), for a useful summary of the references
to paul’s writings to be found among the nag hammadi codices.