This volume studies the ways modern research has tried to detect traces of Docetism in ancient sources, including the gospels and the Johannine epistles and several second-century authors. As a concept, Docetism is often used in scholarly literature for denoting loosely connected or even quite different phenomena or doctrines that all have to do with defining the nature of Christ and the reality of the incarnation and passion of Jesus. The essays gathered here address the topic from a new perspective by concentrating on the ancient documents themselves instead of staying on a purely theoretical or dogmatic level, while also critically re-examining the historical contexts in which these were produced and first circulated.

Contributors: Reimund Bieringer, Allen Brent, Paul Foster, Jorg Frey, Paul Anthony Hartog, Taras Khomych, Dominika Kurek-Chomycz, Winrich Lohr, Maarten J.J. Menken, Jens Schroter, Alistair C. Stewart, Joseph Verheyden, Francis Watson