Le travail de mémoire dans les Actes apocryphes de Paul

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to identify a Pauline community and a Pauline network of the 2nd century, by considering the Acts of Paul as Church memories and pastoral document. First we take an inventory of the main pastoral topics : non only the woman’s place in the community, but also community life and common property, diet and social integration in the city networks, prophecy and inspired speech, charismatic authority versus bishopric institution. The Church community of AcPl seems to be a charismatic community, where women and wandering prophets keep their importance, just at the time of the raise of Montanism or “New Prophecy” (circa 180). Indeed, several characters are named after well-known figures of the orthodox literature against Montanists. Last, the Third Pauline Letter to Corinthians, which has been inserted in the book, refers to a crisis inside the Corinthian community at the end of the 2nd century, after the coming of two wandering preachers and before the institution of the only bishop’s authority, before bishop Dionysios (circa 170-180). The community of the AcPl is in search for a via media between the charismatic traditional Church pattern and the new one.