The Apocryphon of John’s Father Discourse as Christian Theology

Abstract

Abstract The Coptic Apocryphon of John’s Father Discourse with its distinctive apophaticism is often regarded as ‘standard’ or ‘stereotyped’ Middle Platonism, but closer analysis reveals that the Platonism in the text is subordinate to a theology which defines God as the Christian God by means of Christian texts (e.g. Eph. 4:6, 1 Corinthians 15, and John 4:24) and uses the polemical monotheism prominent in second-century Christian apologies to assert the supremacy and oneness of the Christian Father against other pretenders to deity. It is this polemical monotheism and not Platonic reasoning that provides the logic of the negations in the discourse. Platonic reasoning is often ignored and even criticized. Thus, the author of the Father Discourse like the writers of second-century Christian apologies does not present stereotyped Platonism, but a Christian theology that incorporates materials from Platonism and uses them to a different end than did second-century Platonic philosophers.