4
they give no evidence of having used it as a source. In light of the attention given to it in the literature, it
is surprising that ancient writers did not take notice of it as often as one might expect and the surviving
manuscript tradition is surprisingly slight.
6
The similarities between Trypho and later dialogues are along
the lines of their citing some of the same OT texts. However, one might expect that to be true considering
the common subject that they all treat the Messiahship of Jesus.
The question has often been raised, however, about whether Jason and Papiscus served as a
source for one or more of our three dialogues. JP has been dated within the period 135 - 178 AD, based
on both internal and external factors. In his published Latin text of Simon and Theophilus (ST), Adolph
Harnack suggested that ST was basically a Latin reworking of JP.
7
Scholarship after this, however, has
been fiercely divided about this issue of JP as a possible source for the later dialogues. The most recent
defender of Harnack's view has been Lawrence Lahey. Lahey has amassed a large number of parallels
between the three dialogues and the meager evidence we do have of the lost JP, as it is preserved in
various Patristic writers.
8
On the other hand, many recent writers have been hesitant about, if not firmly
opposed, to Harnack's ideas. The most articulate recent opponent to any dependence on JP has been
Peter Andrist, in his recent dissertation on Athanasius and Zacchaeus.
9
The question is complex and cannot be covered adequately here in many of its details. Suffice it
to affirm that caution should be taken in this area about any dogmatism about the conclusions of source-
critical methodology. No dialogue ever clearly cites another dialogue. Most of them do share common
texts and arguments. While parallel themes certainly do seem to exist, they are not as clear and unique as
6
A. Lukyn Williams, Adversus Judaeos: A Bird's Eye View of Christian Apologiae until the Renaissance
(Cambridge: University Press, 1935), 31; Skarsaune, 1.
7
Adolf Harnack, Die Altercatio Simonis Iudaei et Theophili Chistiani nebst Untersuchungen über die antijudische
Polemik in der alten Kirche. Texte und Untersuchungenzur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur (Leipzig: J.C.
Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlug, 1883), 1-15.
8
Lawrence Lahey, "A Translation of Evagrius' Altercatio Legis Inter Simonem Iudaeum et Theophilum Christianum
with a Preliminary Study on Its Relationship to Aristo of Pella's Dialogue of Jason and Papiscus" (M.A. Thesis:
Loyola University of Chicago, 1994), 74-89.
9
Patrick Andrist, Le Dialogue d'Athanase et Zachee, Etude des Sources et du Context litteraire (These de Doctorat,
Universite de Geneve, 2001), 271-310, esp. 289,290.