Questions of James to John

Quaestiones Iacobi, fratris Domini, ad Iohannem theologum

Other titles: 3 Apocalypse of John

Standard abbreviation: Quest. Jas.

Clavis numbers: CANT 279

Category: Apocalypses

Compiled by Kathleen Gibbons; updates by Tony Burke.

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Gibbons, Kathleen. “Questions of James to John.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/questions-of-james-to-john.

Created August 2018. Current as of January 2024.

1. SUMMARY

Quest. Jas., is a dialogue between James, the brother of the Lord and John the Theologian, author of the canonical Book of Revelation and several apocryphal apocalypses. The text can be divided into two parts. In the first section (chaps. 1–2), John offers a survey of the soul’s journey through hell after death, and the different fates that await it depending on whether it is the soul of an unrepentant sinner or a righteous person. While this text describes the hellfire that awaits the unrepentant sinners and the wicked angels, unlike other tours of hell it does not provide a taxonomy of the various punishments that the soul will receive in the afterlife depending on the nature of its sins. The second portion of the text focuses on the theme of redemption (chaps 3–5). Here James asks John if anyone can be saved, given that everyone sins. He responds with a list of figures from scripture (Peter, the repentant thief on the cross, Manasseh, and David) and Christian history (Cyprian of Antioch, Mary of Egypt, and Andrew of Crete) who serve as models for repentance. The final chapter varies in the manuscript tradition; in the editio princeps the text finished with a discussion of the soteriological value of charity.

Named historical figures and characters: Andrew of Crete, Bathsheba, Cyprian of Antioch, David (king), Good Thief, Holy Spirit, Isaiah (prophet), James (the Righteous), Jesus Christ, John (son of Zebedee), Manasseh, Mary of Egypt, Michael (angel), Nathan (prophet), Peter (apostle), Uriah.

Geographical locations: Gehenna, Hades, Paradise.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Greek (BHG 765–765b)

A London, Lambeth Palace Library, 1197, fols. 11^r–16^v (15th/16th cent.)

E Athens, Ethnikē Bibliothēkē tēs Hellados, Metochion tou Panagiou Taphou 594, pp. 1–27 (15th/16th cent.)

M Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, gr. II 87 (coll. 1258), fols. 255^r–263^r (14th/15th cent.) ~ Pinakes

N Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, gr. II 99 (coll. 1261), fols. 53^r–55^r(16th cent.) ~ Pinakes

S Sofia, C’rkovno-istoričeski i archiven Institut, 881, fols. 107^v–116^v (17th cent.)

T Athens, Historikon Museion tou Neou Hellenismou, 39, fols. 41^r–48^v (16th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Unevaluated manuscripts:

London, Highgate School, II.29, fols. 36^v–43^r (15th cent.)

Mount Athos, Monē Ibēron, 689 (Lampros 4809), fol. 198^v–204^v (17th cent.)

Vassiliev, Athanasius. Anecdota graeco-byzantina, pars prior. Moscow: Imperial University, 1893 (editio princeps based on Venice, Marc., II 87, pp. 317–22).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Court, John M. The Book of Revelation and the Johannine Apocalyptic Tradition. JSNTS 190. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000 (Greek text with English translation, pp. 104–31).

Gibbons, Kathleen, and Tony Burke. “Questions of James to John.” Pages 461–80 in New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures. Vol. 2. Edited by Tony Burke. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020.

3.3 General Works

Elliott, J. K. The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in English Translation. Oxford: Clarendon, 1993 (p. 684).

Kaestli, Jean-Daniel, and Jean-Claude Picard. “Première Apocalypse Apocryphe de Jean.” Pages 983–90 in volume 2 of Écrits Apocryphes Chrétiens. Edited by Pierrre Geoltrain and Jean-Daniel Kaestli. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 516. Paris: Gallimard, 2005 (discussion pp. 989–90).

Tóth, Péter. “New Wine in Old Wineskin: Byzantine Reuses of the Apocryphal Revelation Dialogue.” Pages 77–93 in Dialogues and Debates from Late Antiquity to Late Byzantium. Edited by Averil Cameron and Niels Gaul. New York: Routledge, 2017.