ABSTRACT

The apocryphal revelation dialogue as a distinct literary form The term ‘apocryphal revelation dialogue’ originates in German scholarship. It was probably Kurt Rudolph who first observed that one of the main generic peculiarities of the gnostic writings in the second to fourth centuries was that they communicate in a special dialogue format he termed revelatory discourse (Offenbarungsdiskurs) or revelatory instruction (Offenbarungsvortrag).3 The nature of this dialogue type is aptly illustrated by the beginning of the work known as the

Letter of Peter to Philip.4 The text depicts how the apostles gather on the Mount of Olives and experience a supernatural revelation of Christ.