Odes of Solomon



Odes of Solomon

Introduction

In 1909, J. Rendell Harris discovered the odes of Solomon which were long lost. These odes essentially are a set of 42 religious poems, written by a Jewish author. The manuscript had lost some of its initial leaves, and the 42 odes remained (Doherty, 2013). These odes focus on a range of fundamental questions on which Christianity is based. The Johannine tradition and synoptic Gospels are also seen to be affiliated with these odes. It is more likely that Odes and John came from the same community, but the odes emphasize more on Essenes as compared to John. This essay describes some concepts based on the Odes of Solomon.

Discussion

Various historians consider the collection of 42 religious poems to be composed somewhere during the first three centuries of AD, in the Greek or Syriac language. The author Odist is considered to be a Jew. The term “apocryphal” is often used to describe these odes, as they remained hidden from the eyes of scholars for a period of more than centuries. The author describes origins of various Christianity concepts; he considered Jesus was the Messiah, for him the humanity was waiting for long. He also discussed other concepts such as Gender of God, Virgin Mary and Jesus. For example, the ODE 19 describes the scene when Virgin Mary gave birth to her son. In this ode, God is described as a male, while Virgin as a female who gave birth without any pain and without seeking help of any midwife (Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, 2002).

The odes of Solomon have various concepts in parallel to Johannine theology, and some in contrdiction. Word and living water are referenced in both of the texts, and also salvation is considered to be achieved only through knowing and loving God; ...