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This article seeks to demonstrate the utility of the concept of "esotericism" for gaining insights into how ancient sources approach matters of identity, ritual, soteriology, and eschatology through discourses of secrecy and revelation. The article takes the Nag Hammadi Gospel of Philip (NHC II, 3) as a case study, analysing how the image of the Jerusalem temple (the heart of Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism) has been adapted for polemical purposes in order to create boundaries between perfect Christians on the one hand, and imperfect Christians and Jews on the other hand. By paying careful attention to how the text uses the language of esotericism, expressed via temple imagery, to rhetorically distinguish between these groups, new light is shed on both its doctrine of transformational soteriology, and how these distinctions are retained eschatologically. In concluding, it is suggested that by placing the concept of "esotericism" at the heart of our analysis, insights regarding the Gospel of Philip's date and provenance are also possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In his lengthy Tractatus super Psalmos, Hilary of Poitiers states only twice that humans are to 'live the life of the angels.' Nevertheless, these rare statements seem to undermine both the role of the human body in eschatological life and the christocentrism of Hilary's soteriology. However, this paper will argue that Hilary's designation of different eschatological locations for humans and angels-namely in Mt. Zion and Jerusalem, respectively-in the Tractatus super Psalmos demonstrate that Hilary, at least in this later work, believes that while humans will resemble angels in certain aspects, ultimately they will be conformed to Christ whose body is the holy temple or Church of the heavenly Jerusalem, Mt. Zion itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zeph. iii 6-8ab proclaims anew, in post-exilic times, the Day of YHWH as a disastrous event for Jerusalem. Various updatings in Zeph. iii 14-20 add to this image the idea of a forgiving God whose primary will aims at the wellbeing of his people. The Day of YHWH is understood in the sense of a comprehensive final judgment (iii 8b). Zeph. iii 11-13 points to a distinction between pious people and sinners in Jerusalem as a means of salvation, whereas iii 9-10 the nations (seen as a rest) are presented as taking part in the salvation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]