View source for Correspondence of Paul and Seneca

{{Short description|Forged letters}}
[[File:Paulus_St_Gallen.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Art depicting Saint [[Paul of Tarsus|Paul]] in a 9th-century manuscript from the [[Abbey of Saint Gall]].]]
The '''Correspondence of''' (or '''between''') '''Paul and Seneca''', also known as the '''Letters of Paul and Seneca''' or '''Epistle to Seneca the Younger''', is a collection of letters claiming to be between [[Paul the Apostle]] and [[Seneca the Younger]]. There are 8 epistles from Seneca, and 6 replies from Paul. They were purportedly authored from [[1st century CE|58&ndash;64 CE]] during the reign of Roman Emperor [[Nero]], but appear to have actually been written in the middle of the [[4th century|fourth century]] ({{circa|320&ndash;380 CE}}).  Until the [[Renaissance]], the epistles were seen as genuine, but scholars began to critically examine them in the 15th century, and today they are held to be inauthentic [[literary forgery|forgeries]].

==Summary and background==
[[File:Plato_Seneca_Aristotle_medieval.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|A 14th-century English depiction of three classical philosophers held in high esteem in the medieval era: [[Plato]], [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], and [[Aristotle]].  Seneca's reputation was partially linked to his apocryphal friendship with Paul.]]
{{New Testament Apocrypha}}

[[Paul of Tarsus]] was an early Christian theologian and evangelist, who wrote [[Pauline epistles|epistles to Christian communities]] and founded multiple churches across the Greek-speaking Eastern Mediterranean region. [[Seneca the Younger]] was one of the foremost philosophers of [[Stoicism]], a teacher and adviser to Emperor [[Nero]], a dramatist, and a Roman government official. The correspondence between them comprises fourteen letters in total (8 from Seneca, 6 from Paul) and is written in [[Latin]].  It has little substantive content. It largely consists of the two praising each other; Seneca lavishes flattery on Paul, while Paul responds in kind.<ref name="hine26" /><ref name="ehrman-f-533" />  For example, the first epistle from Seneca states that "[Paul's works] are so lofty and so brilliant with noble sentiments that in my opinion generations of men could hardly be enough to become established and perfected in them. I wish you good health, brother."<ref>Elliott 1993, p. 549</ref>  Essentially, the main interest of these letters is that they exist at all: they ostensibly demonstrate that Paul was important and respected enough to trade letters with the eminent philosopher Seneca, that Seneca was wise enough to understand Paul's greatness despite being a pagan, and that the two were friends.<ref name="hine26" /><ref name="ehrman2003">{{cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart |title=Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make it into the New Testament |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=United States |year=2003 | isbn=0-19-514182-2 |page=167&ndash;170 }}</ref>

Many, but not all, surviving manuscripts include dates on some of the letters of the correspondence.<ref name="lighfoot318" />  The earliest of these is "27 June in the consulship of Nero III and [[Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (consul 58)|Messala]]" (58 CE) and the latest is "28 March in the consulship of [[Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi (consul 27)#Family|Frugi]] and Bassus" (64 CE).<ref>Elliott 1993, p. 552</ref>  The one epistle that does include substantive content is the 11th one dated 64 CE, which directly discusses the [[Great Fire of Rome]].<ref name="ehrman-f-533" />

==Reception in the late Roman Empire and the Middle Ages==
The earliest known reference to them is in [[Jerome]]'s ''[[De Viris Illustribus (Jerome)|On Illustrious Men]]'' chapter 12, a work of around 392 CE:<ref>Hine 2017, p. 28</ref>

{{quote|Lucius Annaeus Seneca of Cordova, a disciple of the Stoic [[Sotion (Pythagorean)|Sotion]], and paternal uncle of the poet [[Lucan]], was a man of very temperate life whom I would not place in a catalogue of saints, were it not that I was prompted to do so by those ''Letters from Paul to Seneca'' and ''from Seneca to Paul'' which are very widely read. In these, when Seneca was Nero's teacher and the most influential person of the period, he said that he wished to have the same position among his own [i.e., the pagans] which Paul had among the Christians. Two years before Peter and Paul were crowned with martyrdom, he was put to death by Nero.
|author=[[Jerome]]
|title={{lang|la|[[De Viris Illustribus]]}} (''On Illustrious Men'')<ref>{{cite book |author=Jerome |author-link=Jerome |translator-last=Halton |translator-first=Thomas P. |date=1999 |orig-date=392 |title=On Illustrious Men  |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |series=The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation |pages=26&ndash;27 |isbn=0-8132-0100-4 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt2853x3}}</ref>}}

[[Augustine of Hippo]] also briefly mentions the correspondence, as does [[Pseudo-Linus]].<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=The Apocryphal New Testament |wslink=The Apocryphal New Testament (1924)/Epistles/The correspondence of Paul and Seneca |last=James |first=Montague Rhodes |authorlink=M. R. James |date=1924 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |pages=480 |scan=Page:The_Apocryphal_New_Testament_(1924).djvu/518}}</ref><ref name="elliott" /><ref name="kurfess134" /> During the late fourth and fifth century, such a correspondence was both plausible and interesting to educated Roman Christians. The [[Acts of the Apostles]] claims that Paul briefly met Seneca's brother, [[Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus|Gallio]].<ref>Briones & Dodson 2017, p. 3; Hines 2017, p. 36&ndash;38. See {{bibleverse|Acts|18:1–17|NRSV}}</ref> Paul's [[Epistle to Philemon]] says he was imprisoned in Rome and that the Praetorian Guard knew of this; the Guard was at one point commanded by [[Sextus Afranius Burrus|Burrus]], an ally of Seneca.<ref name="gregory2022">{{cite book |last=Gregory |first=Andrew  |editor-last1=Edwards |editor-first1=J. Christopher |date=2022 |title=Early New Testament Apocrypha |publisher=Zondervan Academic |chapter=Correspondence of Paul and Seneca  |pages=361&ndash;373 |series=Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies 9 |isbn=9780310099710 }}</ref>  Stoicism, much like [[Hellenistic Judaism]], was considered a precursor to Christianity that helped influence its stances and terminology; {{lang|la|conscientia}} ('[[conscience]]') was originally a Stoic term, for example, and Stoicism's criticisms of the (pagan) Roman religion was something Christians were eager to take for themselves as well.<ref>Lightfoot 1892, p. 286&ndash;288.</ref>  The Christian polemicist [[Tertullian]] called Seneca "{{lang|la|saepe noster}}" ("often ours") and approved of his criticism of pagan superstition.<ref name="gregory2022" />  The correspondence was in circulation during the Middle Ages among Latin-reading areas (Western Europe, rather than the Greek-reading Byzantine East), and likely contributed to Seneca having a good reputation among medieval Christians.<ref name="ehrman-f-535" /><ref>Lightfoot 1892, p. 317</ref><ref>Hines 2017, p. 29</ref> The medieval authors [[Peter of Cluny]], [[Peter Abelard]], and [[Petrarch]] all seem familiar with the correspondence.<ref>Kurfess 1965, p. 135</ref> A few medieval writers such as [[Giovanni Colonna (cardinal, 1295–1348)|Giovanni Colonna]] and [[Giovanni Boccaccio]] even claimed that Seneca had outright converted to Christianity before his suicide in 65 CE, partially on the basis of the correspondence.<ref>Hines 2017, p. 30&ndash;31</ref>

==Scholarly analysis==
Scholars almost universally believe the correspondence to be forged.<ref name="ehrman-f-535" />{{NoteTag|A tiny minority of 20th and 21st century works do support at least partial authenticity of the correspondence. [[Ilaria Ramelli]] is a rare example of an academic who cautiously supports partial authenticity, arguing that Paul's side of the correspondence might possibly be legitimate.<ref>Hines 2017, p. 41&ndash;43.  See Ramelli, Ilaria ''L'epistolario apocrifo Seneca-San Paolo'' in ''Vetera Christianorum'' 34, 1997, p. 299&ndash;310.</ref>  Italian historian [[Marta Sordi]] also supports the authenticity of the letters.<ref>[[Marta Sordi]], ''Seneca e i Cristiani'', in ''Amicitiae templa serena'', [[Vita e Pensiero]], series "Ricerche. Letteratura greca e latina", 2008, p. 1503 ([[miscellany]]). {{ISBN|9788834313978}}. As quoted in {{cite web|url=https://www-avvenire-it.translate.goog/agora/pagine/san-paolo-e-seneca-si-incontrarono_200901151017200330000?_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=it&_x_tr_pto=wapp|title=San Paolo e Seneca si incontrarono?|date=January 15, 2009|language=it|trans-title= Di Saint Paul and Seneca meet?|publisher=[[Avvenire|L'Avvenire]]|author=[[Gian Enrico Manzoni]]|quote=the correspondence was believed to be authentic during late antiquity and the Middle Ages: it thus ranged from the testimony of [[Saint Jerome]] (who in 392 wrote that the letters between the two great men circulated and were read by many people) to that of intellectuals such as [[Albertino Mussato]] and [[Giovanni Boccaccio|Boccaccio]], who had no doubts both about the authenticity and the Christian faith of Seneca.}}</ref>}}  During the 15th century in the [[Renaissance]], more skeptical analysis raised doubts on the veracity of the correspondence.<ref name="lighfoot318" />  Scholars such as [[Lorenzo Valla]] found that the writing style matched neither Seneca nor Paul, and the letters were denounced by [[Erasmus]].<ref>Briones & Dodson 2017, p. 7</ref>  Later scholars detected errors of fact and chronology that the genuine Seneca would not have made, but a forger not intricately familiar with Roman history writing centuries later might have.{{NoteTag|For example, the letter discussing the Great Fire of Rome is dated to March 64 CE, but the Great Fire occurred afterward, in July.<ref name="gregory2022" />}}  Scholars noticed with skepticism just how late the letters appeared in history; [[Lactantius]], a Christian author writing earlier in the 4th century, makes no mention of any such correspondence, despite frequently citing Seneca and positively evaluating both him and Paul.<ref name="ehrman-f-533">Ehrman 2012, p. 533&ndash;535</ref>  This suggests their creation in the middle of the 4th century, such that Lactantius would have been unfamiliar, yet Jerome would think them legitimate.<ref name="hine26">Hine 2017, p. 26</ref><ref name="elliott" />  The Latin style of the collection is also a good match to 4th-century works, such as the letters of [[Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|Symmachus]].<ref name="gregory2022" />

The 11th letter dated to 64 CE bears a different writing style of Latin from the other letters, and is out of chronological sequence with the rest of the correspondence.  This leads scholars to think that a different forger may have written that letter.<ref name="ehrman-f-533" />  The 13th and 14th epistles also have a somewhat different style than the others, indicating they too may have been appended later.<ref name="elliott" />  Additionally, the 14th epistle is unusually direct about Paul's evangelism, with him calling on Seneca to "make yourself a new herald of Jesus Christ",<ref>Elliott 1993, p. 553</ref> yet Jerome only quotes the 12th epistle in support of listing Seneca as a saint, leading to suspicion that the version of the correspondence Jerome read in the late 4th century did not yet include the final two letters.<ref name="kurfess134">Kurfess 1965, p. 134</ref>

The motive of the forger is unknown.  [[J. B. Lightfoot]] wrote that it was likely "either to recommend Seneca to Christian readers or to recommend Christianity to students of Seneca,"<ref name="lighfoot318">Lightfoot 1892, p. 318&ndash;319</ref> a position that [[Adolf von Harnack]] agreed with.<ref name="ehrman-f-535">Ehrman 2012, p. 535&ndash;539</ref>  Claude Barlow thought that the writings might have been a rhetorical exercise; essentially, a fictional essay by a novice writer practicing their craft that escaped to readers who did not realize its origins.<ref>Barlow, Claude, ''Epistolae Senecae ad Paulum et Pauli ad Senecam'', 1938, p. 92.  Cited in Ehrman 2012, p. 536; and Gregory 2022, p. 365.</ref>  Similarly, the work was perhaps an [[epistolary novel]], similar to the letters of [[Chion of Heraclea]].<ref name="gregory2022" />  J. K. Elliott wrote that it was "to show the superiority of Christianity over pagan philosophy."<ref name="elliott">Elliott 1993, p. 547</ref>  [[Bart Ehrman]] suggests that the creation of the letters may have been part of early [[Christian apologism|Christian apologia]].  In this theory, a [[Roman paganism|Roman pagan]] polemic against Christianity was the claim that Paul was not particularly significant in his era.  The forger accepted the somewhat elitist terms of this argument – that only "great" people deserve to be listened to – and responded by having the greatest philosopher of Paul's day endorse and praise Paul, so mere flattery was enough to serve the purpose of the apologist.<ref name="ehrman-f-535" />

Critics generally deride the worth of the correspondence as well for not including much of anything interesting, such as a debate on the merits of Stoicism, Christianity, or even just court gossip.<ref name="ehrman-f-533" />  Erasmus wrote that "I do not see how he could have made these letters in a more feeble or insipid fashion."<ref name="ehrman-f-535" />  [[Philip Schaff]] in his ''History of the Christian Church'' said that "They are very poor in thought and style, full of errors of chronology and history, and undoubtedly a forgery."<ref>{{cite book |last=Schaff |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Schaff |date=1858 |title=History of the Christian Church |url=http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/history/1_ch05.htm |chapter=St. Paul and the Conversion of the Gentiles |volume=1 |publisher= |at=Section I, Sub.2 |isbn=}}</ref>  J. B. Lightfoot was caustic about the overall worth of the correspondence, criticizing "the poverty of thought and style, the errors in chronology and history, and the whole conception of the relative positions of the Stoic philosopher and the Christian Apostle" which "betray clearly the hand of a forger."<ref name="lightfoot">Lightfoot 1892, p. 250</ref>

{{quote|As they are now universally allowed to be spurious, it will be unnecessary to state at length the grounds of their condemnation. It is sufficient to say that the letters are inane and unworthy throughout; that the style of either correspondent is unlike his genuine writings; that the relations between the two, as there represented, are highly improbable; and lastly, that the chronological notices (which however are absent in some important <!-- 'MSS' in original -->[manuscripts]) are wrong in almost every instance. Thus, independently of the unbroken silence of three centuries and a half about this correspondence, internal evidence alone is sufficient to condemn them hopelessly.<ref name="lighfoot318" />|author=[[J. B. Lightfoot]] |title=''Dissertations on the Apostolic Age'', The Letters of Paul and Seneca}}

==Notes==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last1=Briones |first1=David E. |last2=Dodson |first2=Joseph R. |author-link= |date=2017 |title=Paul and Seneca in Dialogue |chapter=Introduction |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004341357 |pages=1&ndash;21}}
* {{cite book |last = Elliott |first = James Keith |title = The Apocryphal New Testament |year = 1993 |publisher = Oxford University Press |isbn = 0-19-826182-9 |pages=547&ndash;553 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Ehrman |first1=Bart |author-link=Bart Ehrman |title=Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195182491 |page=206 |edition=Illustrated, Reprint }}
* {{cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart |author-link=Bart Ehrman |date=2012 |title=Forgery and Counterforgery: The Use of Literary Deceit in Early Christian Polemics |publisher= Oxford University Press |pages=533&ndash;539 |isbn=9780199928033 }}
* {{cite book |last=Hine |first=Harry M. |editor-last=Briones |editor-first=David E. |editor-last2=Dodson |editor-first2=Joseph R. |date=2017 |title=Paul and Seneca in Dialogue |chapter=Seneca and Paul: The First Two Thousand Years |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/9789004341364_003 |page=22&ndash;48|isbn=9789004341364 }}
* {{cite book |last=Kurfess |first=Alfons |author-link=Alfons Kurfess |editor-last=Schneemelcher |editor-first=Wilhelm |editor-link=Wilhelm Schneemelcher |translator-last1=Wilson |translator-first1=Robert McLachlan |translator-link1=R. McL. Wilson |date=1965 |orig-date=1964 |title=New Testament Apocrypha: Volume Two: Writings Relating to the Apostles; Apocalypses and Related Subjects |chapter=The Apocryphal Correspondence Between Seneca and Paul |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Westminster Press |page=133&ndash;141 }}
* {{cite book |last=Lightfoot |first=Joseph Barber |author-link=Joseph Lightfoot |date=1892 |title=Dissertations on the Apostolic Age |url=https://archive.org/details/dissertationsona00ligh/ |publisher=Macmillan  |isbn= }}

== External links ==
* {{Wikisourcelang-inline|en|Correspondence of Paul and Seneca|Correspondence of Paul and Seneca}}
* [https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/epistles-of-paul-and-seneca/ "Epistles of Paul and Seneca"], overview and bibliography by Chance Bonar.  NASSCAL: ''e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha''.
* [https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/buch/der-apokryphe-briefwechsel-zwischen-seneca-und-paulus-9783161564437 Der apokryphe Briefwechsel zwischen Seneca und Paulus], an open-access e-book (in German) 

{{Seneca}}
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[[Category:Apocryphal epistles]]
[[Category:Pseudepigraphy]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Paul the Apostle]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Seneca the Younger]]
[[Category:4th-century Christian texts]]
[[Category:Latin pseudepigrapha]]