Recent Book Release: Epiphanius’ Alogi and the Johannine Controversy

We are excited to announce the recent release of Epiphanius’ Alogi and the Johannine Controversy by Edinburgh alumnus, Scott Manor.  Dr. Manor is VP Academic AffairsIDean of Faculty and Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  He completed his PhD Thesis (2012) under the direction of Dr. Sara Parvis with further guidance from Dr. Paul Parvis and Professor Paul Foster.  The book is now available for purchase here.

About Epiphanius’ Alogi and the Johannine Controversy

Epiphanius’ Alogi and the Johannine Controversy challenges the common view in New Testament and Patristics scholarship that a group known as the Alogi and its leader Gaius of Rome led a widespread campaign in the early church to reject the Gospel and Apocalypse of John as heretical forgeries. In contrast, this work argues that the evidence points to the fact that Epiphanius constructed the Alogi as a fictional heresy comprised of bits of various earlier sources that discuss the Johannine writings that Epiphanius found disagreeable.

The motivation behind Epiphanius’ Alogi and the Johannine Controversy

The motivation behind this project is twofold. First, there is a dissonance between the scholarly consensus and the evidence from this era (ca. 2nd-3rd centuries). In fact, none of the church fathers prior to Epiphanius directly refer to the Alogi or an explicit anti-Johannine campaign. Second, most contemporary works that rightly challenge the current model tend to focus on the early ecclesiastical reception of the Johannine texts, but they give little attention to the evidence concerning the church’s putative opposition to these works. This book fills this gap by examining the historical and literary background to the account of the Alogi in light of Epiphanius’ unique methodology of recording the history of heresy through the prism of his imagination.