INTRODUCTION

Ever since Adam and Eve were expelled from paradise, people have been trying to get back in again. The protoplasts' return, however, was blocked by cherubim and a flaming sword (Gen. 3.24), and post-biblical tradition has elaborated further on these obstacles, while also developing ways to get around or through them. Some have thought this possible even during earthly life: witness Paul's rapture ἓως τρíτου οὐρανοῦ … εἰς τὸν παράδεισον (2 Cor. 12.3, 4), or the four who entered the Pardes (however that is to be understood) in rabbinic tradition (b. Hag. 14b). Others, however, have thought in terms of a post-mortem journey, like Jesus and the penitent thief (Luke 23.43).

The focus of this chapter is the character of journeys through the heavenly realms, whether in this life or the next, in early Christian and Christian-influenced literature up to about 300 ad. Specifically, we will examine works which refer to methods for passing guardian figures blocking heavenly ascent. The motif is identified by Rudolph as a favorite gnostisches theme:

The focus in this essay will be on narratives of passage past these obstacles, or on detailed prescriptions of how to pass them, rather than on brief allusions to this motif, which are also common.