Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 25:1 (Mar 1982)
Article: The Problem Of Hippolytus Of Rome: A Study In Historical-Critical Reconstruction
Author: David Dunbar

JETS 25:1 (March 1982) p. 63

The Problem Of Hippolytus Of Rome:
A Study In Historical-Critical Reconstruction

David Dunbar*

The middle of the twentieth century witnessed a major debate in the world of patristic scholarship in regard to the life and literary activity of Hippolytus of Rome. This article will present a survey of that debate, not only because of the significance of the discussion per se but also because of its significance for the task of Biblical apologetics. It will be useful for our purposes to trace first the major points in the traditional reconstruction of Hippolytus’ life, after which we will examine the radical challenge to this view raised by Pierre Nautin.

I. The Traditional Reconstruction

Of the major figures of the early Church perhaps none presents any greater puzzles for the historian than Hippolytus. Though he was in his own day an esteemed and prolific writer, the facts of his life as well as many of his theological works were quickly forgotten, particularly in the West. The crucial problem for all modern reconstructions of his life is the lack of any known reference to him in the writings of his contemporaries. As a result, the data supplied by the later fathers and by the martyrologies is relatively sparse and sometimes contradictory. The various lines of evidence may be subsumed under three heads.

1. Patristic Testimony. Eusebius is the first author to mention Hippolytus, whom he describes as a bishop of an unknown church and one of the many earned churchmen of the early third century.1 We are supplied with a partial listing of his works:

At that very time also, Hippolytus, besides very many other memoirs, composed the treatise On Easter, in which he sets forth a register of the times and puts forward a certain canon of a sixteen-year cycle for Easter, determining the times relative to the first year of the Emperor Alexander. Of his other treatises the following have reached us: On the Hexaemeron; On What Followed the Hexaemeron; Against Marcion; On the Song; On the Parts of Ezekiel; On Easter; Against All the Heresies; and very many others also might be found preserved by many people.2

The list of works given by Eusebius is supplemented by Jerome who, in addition to those cited by his predecessor, mentions twelve other treatises: On Genesis; On Zechariah; On the Psalms; On Isaiah; On Daniel; On the Apocalypse; On Proverbs; On Ecclesiastes; On Saul and t~thonissa; On the Antichrist; On the

*David Dunbar is assistant professor of Biblical and systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.