A collection of forty two lyric hymns, the earliest known Christian hymnbook, surviving mainly in Syriac with partial Greek and Coptic witnesses. Attributed pseudonymously to Solomon in imitation of the biblical Psalms and Song of Songs tradition, the Odes speak in first person mystical voice of union with the divine, of Christ as the incarnate Word, and of the believer clothed in light, in language that shares vocabulary and imagery with both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gospel of John, making the collection an important, contested witness to the diversity of belief and expression in the earliest Christian centuries.
Facts
Origins
Era of Compositionmost scholars date it to somewhere between AD 70 and 125 1 Era of CompositionMost scholars date composition to the late first or early second century CE, based on its close verbal affinities with the Gospel of John and with Qumran sectarian hymns; a small minority have argued for a pre-Christian Jewish core. 2 LanguageThe main surviving witness is Syriac (a form of Aramaic), with partial Greek and Coptic manuscripts; the closest fit in this atlas's language vocabulary is Hebrew and Aramaic, though Syriac specifically is the primary transmission language. Attributed Author / CompilerPseudonymously attributed to King Solomon, in the manner of other Solomonic wisdom literature; the actual author or authors are unknown. 2 Transmission
Manuscript TraditionThe fullest witness is a Syriac manuscript (Codex Harris, discovered by J. Rendel Harris and published in 1909), supplemented by the British Museum Odes manuscript, a Coptic manuscript embedding five Odes within the Gnostic Pistis Sophia, and a Greek papyrus of Ode 11 (Bodmer Papyrus XI). 2 Status
Canonical Status Text
Literary Form Structure
Structure42 individual odes, hymns of praise and mystical devotion, surviving mostly complete in Syriac alongside partial Coptic and Greek witnesses. 2 Connections
Attributed To
Source Odes of Solomon (Wikipedia)
Belongs to Tradition
Source The Odes of Solomon (Charlesworth Critical Edition)James H. Charlesworth
In Language
Sources
1. Odes of Solomon (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia: Odes of Solomon, lead section
There used to be confusion among scholars on the dating of the Odes of Solomon; however, most scholars date it to somewhere between AD 70 and 125.
Lead section
There used to be confusion among scholars on the dating of the Odes of Solomon; however, most scholars date it to somewhere between AD 70 and 125
Attributed To: Solomon, Lead
The Odes of Solomon are a collection of 42 odes, anonymous but long attributed to Solomon.
View the Source 2. The Odes of Solomon (Charlesworth Critical Edition)
James H. Charlesworth, Oxford / Scholars Press, 1973
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