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This collection of essays in honour of Heikki Raisanen, New Testament professor at the University of Helsinki, consists of 22 essays written by his colleagues and students on Jesus, the gospels, Paul, early Christianity, and biblical interpretation. Raisanen's own research has been characterized by methodological awareness combined with a keen interest in ethical issues. Both these aspects come to expression in his insistence on "fair play" as a correct scholarly attitude involving an honest dialogue, a real encounter, and a recognition of diverging opinions. In this spirit, most of the...

Was the Gospel of John written in critical response to the Gospel of Thomas, an early collection of Jesus's sayings? Or was it directed to the Christians among whom Thomas originated? Ismo Dunderberg challenges these views, arguing that the two gospels were written at about the same time but without knowledge of each other. He also offers a thorough discussion of the identity and functions of the enigmatic Beloved Disciple in the Gospel of John, throwing new light on this figure by comparing it to other beloved' disciples of Jesus in early Christian literature.

Valentinus was a popular, influential, and controversial early Christian teacher. His school flourished in the second and third centuries C.E. Yet because his followers ascribed the creation of the visible world not to a supreme God but to an inferior and ignorant Creator-God, they were from early on accused of heresy, and rumors were spread of their immorality and sorcery.

Beyond Gnosticism suggests that scholars approach Valentinians as an early Christian group rather than as a representative of ancient "Gnosticism"-a term notoriously difficult to define. The study shows that...

While the early Christian texts discussed in this book are often treated as "gnostic" ones, they are here approached as witnesses to the views of educated Christians engaged in dialogue with philosophical traditions. Following the idea that ancient philosophical schools provided their adherents with ways of life, Ismo Dunderberg explores issues related to morality and lifestyle in non-canonical gospels and among groups that were gradually denounced as heretical in the church. He deals with the soul's progress from material concerns to a life dominated by spirit, the control of emotions, the...