chapter six
more neutral criteria for the reconstruction by placing the fragments in
Jerome’s biography and using as my key criteria () the time when Jerome
presented the fragments and () the information about the language of
the fragments as it is described in their introductions.
The application of these criteria led to the recovery of an anti-rabbinic
collection of gospel fragments that Jerome derived from the version of
the Gospel of Matthew that was used by the Nazarenes. Thus, just like
the “sect” of the Nazarenes turned out to be a product of Epiphanius’
“scholarly” imagination, so also the assumption about an independent
“Gospel of the Nazarenes” has only reflected the imagination of modern
scholars. An examination of the evidence that is transmitted by Eusebius
confirmed that the earliest references to theGospel of the Hebrewssuggest
a Syro-Palestinian milieu, not Egyptian, as the most probable place of
origin for theGospel of the Hebrews.
Chapters and presented case studies on two themes. Chapter dis-
cussed Jewish-Christian passion traditions and Chapter the relation of
some of the fragments to theDiatessaronand to theGospel of Thomas.
There has been much discussion about the relationships between Jewish-
Christian gospels, theDiatessaronand theGospel of Thomas.Theanal-
yses in Chapters and indicate that the points of contact must be
located at the post-synoptic/pre-Diatessaronic stage in the development
of Jewish-Christian gospel traditions. In the light of the analyzed pas-
sages, none of the three traditions depends directly on the others. Instead,
they all show traces of post-synoptic/pre-Diatessaronicharmonizing tra-
ditions. This confirms the hypothesis that theGospel of the Hebrewswas a
post-synoptic composition which has clear connections to harmonizing
gospel traditions. In this regard, it is similar to theGospel of the Ebionites
which is also clearly a post-synoptic harmonizing gospel.
The fragment from theGospel of the Hebrewsanalyzed in Chapter .
gives James the Just a role in the passion narrative which corresponds
to the high esteem in which he was held. Although James the Just was
originally the spokesman of conservative Jewish Christians, his person
was later embraced equally by proto-orthodox Christians, Jewish Chris-
tians of thePseudo-Clementinesas well as Gnostic circles. Therefore, it is
also difficult to give only one possible Sitz im Leben for the fragment that
Jerome quotes in hisOn Illustrious Men. Although the fragment possibly
was in theGospel of the Hebrews, it may also have served the needs of
mainstream bishops in their dispute over the correct Easter practice. On
the whole, the hypothesis about theGospel of the Hebrewsthat has been
developed in this volume, because it locates both synoptic and strong