Titus 1,12: Epimenides, Ancient Christian Scholars, Zeus's Death, and the Cretan Paradox
Many logicians and exegetes have read Titus 1,12 as an example of the Liar's Paradox without paying sufficient attention to the nature of ancient oracular utterance. Instead of reading the verse as a logical puzzle, it should be read from its ancient context in the history of religions - a cont...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
De Gruyter
2021
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| In: |
Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum
Year: 2021, Volume: 25, Issue: 3, Pages: 367-394 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible. Titusbrief 1,12
/ Epimenides, Cretensis
/ Išoʿdad, Hdatta, Bischof
/ Hieronymus, Sophronius Eusebius 345-420
/ Zeus, God
/ Death
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| RelBib Classification: | BE Greco-Roman religions CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations HC New Testament KAA Church history KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity |
| Further subjects: | B
12
B Cretan Paradox B Death of Zeus B Epimenides B Titus 1 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Many logicians and exegetes have read Titus 1,12 as an example of the Liar's Paradox without paying sufficient attention to the nature of ancient oracular utterance. Instead of reading the verse as a logical puzzle, it should be read from its ancient context in the history of religions - a context of which ancient Christian scholars were aware. The Syriac scholars preserved a shocking Cretan tradition about Zeus's death that probably goes back to Theodore of Mopsuestia. The god responsible for Epimenides' oracle presumably rejected the Cretan tradition of Zeus's death and tomb. The truth value of 1,12 consequently depends on the oracle and not the human being (i.e., Epimenides) who delivers the oracle. A reading sensitive to the history of religions preserves the Pauline author's perspective in Titus 1,13: ἡ μαρτυρία αὕτη ἐστὶν ἀληθής. There is, consequently, a strong analogy between Caiaphas's words in John 11:49-50 and those of Epimenides in Titus 1,12. |
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| ISSN: | 1612-961X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1515/zac-2021-0032 |