Facultad

de Filosofía y Letras
Prof. Israel Muñoz Gallarte
ATh 2017-2019

Title of the Project: Edition, Translation and Commentary of the Acta

Thomae
Acronym: ATh
Summary: The present project builds on the conclusions presented in
the 2007 publication Acta Andreae Apocrypha. A New Perspective on the
Nature, Intention and Significance of the Primitive Text (Geneve) by L. Roig
Lanzillotta. After the analysis of the textual tradition of the sixteen texts
that preserved the Apocryphal Acts of Andrew (AA), the author offered
the edition and commentary of AA, as it was transmitted by the Vatican
Greek codex 808, and proposed a theorical framework and innovative
methodology for a new approach to the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
(AAA).
Since this moment and thanks to scholarships granted by the Spanish
Headquarters and other international Institutions, the members of the
research group have had the opportunity of working in a coordinate
manner in the Acts of Thomas (ATh) and its context. This interesting
writing that inludes the well-known Hymn of the Pearl deserves a new
critical edition, since that by C. Thilo (1823) and Lipsius-Bonnet (1903)
are clearly outdated.
Therefore, it seems essential a new edition that takes into account the
new codicological findings and does not fall into the aprioristic
proposals regarding ATh. Likewise, it is needed a new approach that
considers, on the one hand, the textual transmission of ATh and
reevaluates, on the other, the character of the original text. Indeed,
while almost all academics defend and/or accept the hypothesis about
a supposed Syrian archetype, in our view, there is enough evidence to

Plaza del Cardenal Salazar, s/n. 14071- Córdoba, España.

Tf., 957.21.87.56
fg2mugai@uco.es
 claim that its original language was Greek (Roig Lanzillotta 2015;
Muñoz Gallarte 2017).
Secondly, rejecting the Syrian hypothesis will allow us to replace the
composition of ATh, normally located in Edessa, in this way
reintegrating ATh to the corpus of five AAA, all other product of the
cosmopolitan world of the ancient Mediterranean sea.
Thirdly, after establishing a new textual basis we intend to make the
text accessible both the academic world and a wider public by means of
a Spanish and English translations. In this sense, some publishing
houses have already shown interest in the results of this project.
Finally, It is essential to carry out a commentary that sheds light on the
meaning of the text and extrapolates the new understanding to the
explanation of Christian origins, development. Also interesting the
possible literary relationships of the AAA with Greek literature in
general and the Greek novel in particular, to Greco-Roman philosophy.
We believe that this research project and its result with allow a revision
of the hermeneutical frameworks applied, since the XIXth to the
endings of XXth century to AAA, in order to allow a new interpretation.
The present project builds as midpoint of the main research lines that
the researchers have been carrying on last decades in European
Institutes like CRASIS (http://www.rug.nl/research/centre-for-
religious-studies/research-institutes/crasis/), the results of which have
been periodically presented in international congresses and published
in form of academic articles and books

Plaza del Cardenal Salazar, s/n. 14071- Córdoba, España.

Tf., 957.21.87.56
fg2mugai@uco.es