10
accomplished all the prophecies (98-121)
3. Third part : the end of the Jewish practices (AZ 122-129.2)
Section 7 : the end of the Jewish practices (122-129) <Lacuna>
4. Epilogue : conversion of Zacchaeus (130)
20
As was mentioned, since the publication of its Greek text by Conybeare in 1898, AZ has not
received the scholarly attention it deserves. Very few articles have been written on it and only an
occasional reference to it appears in the main anthologies of Jewish-Christian controversy.
21
Hopefully,
the new translation will stimulate further study of it among those who do not have ready access to
Andrist's dissertation.
The Dialogue of Simon and Theophilus
The Altercatio Simonis et Theophilus (ST) is the oldest surviving Jewish-Christian dialogue
preserved in Latin. The only independent ancient reference to the Altercatio is by Gennadius in chapter 51
of his appendix to Jerome's De Viris Illustribus. Gennadius attributes its authorship to an Evagrius.
Another Evagrius wrote the Disputation of Simon the Jew and Theophilus the Christian, which is
known to almost all.
Gennadius calls him "another" (alius) Evagrius, thus distinguishing him from "Evagrius of
Pontus," whom he had mentioned earlier in chapter 11. The only other subsequent references to this
Evagrius in ancient times seem to depend on Gennadius' passage. Adolph Harnack, the editor of the first
published text of ST, wrote that in 1747 Remi Cellier proposed that Evagrius was a monk and disciple of
the well known Martin of Tours.
22
In keeping with this authorship, a suggested date for the dialogue is probably around 400 AD, or
20
Andrist, 163.
21
Samuel Krauss and William Horbury, The Jewish-Christian Controversy I: History (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, Paul
Siebeck, 1996), 36, 39; and H. Schreckenberg, Die christlichen Adversus-Judaeos-Texte und ihr literarisches und
historisches Umfeld (1-11. Jh). 2nd revised ed. (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1990), 285,86; 367,68; 391,92.
These works should be consulted for their references to ST and TA as well.
22
Harnack, Die Altercatio, 13, n.25.