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182 "



Adam ]^adinou

TIIK

Artamantiua

JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Gamaliel, Paul simply operates with coiiecptions familiar to the Palesliniiiii llicdliiiriuns. Messiah, as the Midnish remarks, is. ou the one haiiil. the liist Adam, the orifrinal man who e.xistcd before Creation, his spirit heins already present. On Iheotherliaud. he is also the seeond Adam in so far as his bodily appea ranee followed the Creation, and iiiasmueh as, aeconlini; Paul, to the flesh, he is of the posterity of Adam, therefore, is not dependent upon Philo for his Christolo^iy as most seholars hold indeed, he dilVers from him on most essential points. With Philo the original man is an idea: with Paul he is the iiersonality of AVith Pliilo the tirst man i,s the orij^inal man .lesus, Paul identities the orijiinal man with the seeond Adam, The Christian apostle evidently drew upon the Palestinian theology of his day but it can not be denied that in aneient times this theology was indebted to the Alexandrians for many of its ideas, and probably among them for that of preexistenee. The ^lidrash thus considered alfords a suitable transition to the Gnostic theories of the original man. It has been sjiid that the Midrash already speaks of the spirit (n'fe/m) of the tirst Adam or of the Messiah without, however, absolutely identifying Adam and This identitication could only be made liy Messiah, persons who regarded only the spirit of the Seri|)tur<' (meaning, of course, their conee])tiou of it) and not the li'tter as bindin.g; who lived in a The Clem- medium more exjio.sed to the heathen mythology than that of the rabbinical entines. schools. In such circles originated the Clementine "Homilies" and " Recognitions, " in whieli the doctrine of the original man (called also in the Clementine writings "the true jirophet'') is of prime importance. It is quite certain that this doctrine is of Jud.-eo-Christian origin. The ideiuity of A<lam and .Icsus seems to have been taught in the original form of the Clementine writings. The "liomilies" distinctly assert:

,

to be understood the appearances of Adam and the patriarchs is |ioinled out by Epiphanius ("Adver-

Other Gnostic Systems.

" If any one do not allow the man fashioned liy the hands of (iod to liave the holy spirit of Christ, is lie not guilty of tho impiety in allowing another, iMirii of an impure stock, to have it? But he would art nio?,t piously if he should .say timi He alone has it who lias chani^M.'d Mis form and His name fr-om the heginning of the world, and so apiieared ngain and again in the world until, coming to his own times. tie shall enjoy rest forever " C' tlom," iii. 2<)j.

...

The tity of

"

" also lay stress .lesus: for in the

upon the

Recognitions

Adam

and

passage

iden45)

(i,

wherein it is mysteriously hinted that Adam was anointed with the eternal oil, the meaning can only be that Adam is theanointeil (n'titD). If other passages in the

"Recognitions" seem to conti"a<lict this idenonly serve to show how vacillating

titication they

the work is in reference to the doctrine of the original man. This conception is expressed in true PhiIonic and Platonic fashion in i, 18, where it is declared that the "interna species" (i'Sfo) of man had its existence earlier. The original man of the Clementines is, therefore, ,simply a pi'oduct of three clcnu'iits, namely, Jewi.sh theology, Platonie-Philonic philosophy, and Oriental theosojihy and this fact ,serves to explain their obscurity of expression on the subject. In close relationship to the Clementine writings stand the Bible translator Symmachus and the .lewish-Christian sect to which he belonged, Victorinus Rhetor ("Ad Gal." i. 19: Mignc, "Patr, Lat." viii. col. 11.1.5) states that "The Symmachiani teach Christum Adam esse et esse animam generalcm.'" The .lewish-Chinstian sect of the Elcesaites also taught (about the year 100) that Jesus appeared on earth in changing human forms, and that He will reappear (Hippolytus, "Philosophoumena," X. 25). Tliat by these " changing human forms " are

'

Kum —

—

sus Ilierescs," xxx, 3), according to the Jewish-Christian sects of Sampsjeans, Ossenes, Xazarcnes, and Ebioniles adopted the doctrine of the Elcesjiites that Jesus and Adaui

whom

are identical. portion of these Gnostic teachings, when combined with Persian and old Babylonian mythology, furnished Mams, nr .Mani, with his inirticnlar (toeHe even retains the trine of the oiiglnal man.

A

Jewish designations and " Iblis Kailim "

(

the

Mani-



l^rv!il4'st

182

cheism.

"

Filirist.

the original distinct from

hmnaii

Kadim

Insan

= pOTip

ra,

"(

as

= pDTp

may

DIK)

k seen iu

But, according to Manes,

man the

He

is

fumlamentally

father of the is a creation of the first

King of Light, and is therefore endowed with five elements of the kingdom of light: whereas Adam really owes his existence to the kingdom of darkness, and only escapes belonging altogether to the number of demons through th(r fact that he bears the likeness of the original man in the elements of light concentered in him. Tln> Gnostic doctrine of tile identity of Ailam, as the <ii'iginal man, with the Messiah appears in Manes in liis teaching of the " Redeeming Christ," who has His abode iu the sun anil moon, but is (as Kessler, in Herzog's "Rcalencyclo])ildie flir Protestant. Theologie," 2 ed, ix. 247. has pointed out) identical with the original man. that Adam was tho of the si'Vcnfold series of true pi'ophets, comprising Adam. Seth, Xoah. Abmham. Zoroaster, iiuddha. and .Jesus, The ste]iping-stciue from the (inostic original man to Manicheism w.is pixibably the older .MainUean conception, which may have exercised great influence. Of this conception, however, there remains in the later Mandaim writings little more than the exjiression "Gabra I^admaya" Adam Kadmon; Kolasta, i. 11). ( The relation of the ^lohammedan sects to Jewish Gnosticism in their teachings concerning the incarnation of the Divine Being is very Mohammed- uncertain. It is only known that an Sects, their theories contain moie Cinostio It also appeal's in this theoi-y

first

=

than Buddhist elements; an<I in this connection it was probably not by mere accident that the founder of one of their sects, Ami.i.i..Ml iiix Saba (052), was a Jcwisli apostate. Their Gnostic character plainly ajipeared a century later (Tti.'i). when Abdallali's views were systematized by the Ismailians. Their doctrine was then .stated as follows: "God has clTccted seven successive incarnations of His being, in the shape of prophets whom

He

sent into the world and these were Adam, Noah. J[<ises, Jesus, Jlohammcd. and the ]Mahdi (Augu.st Miiller, " Der Islam," i, .588), It is not difficult to discern heiein the Clementine theory of the

Abraham.

sevenfold prophetic chain beginning

with

Adam

and ending with the Messiah Maliili). A further development of llu- Mohammedan doctrine is that of Darosi, wliosc adherents, imder the name of Druses, form at the present day an independent community, religiously as well as politically. (

Darosi in 1017 iiublicly preached in the mosques that Adam's soul had Druses. passed into Ali, his son-in-law, and from him to the Fatimides (.Midler. Hi. i. (5152). It is interesting to note that the identification, partial or complete, of Adam (the original man) with the Savior of man is universal, however varying the conception of the Messiah-JIahdi

The

may

be.