Editing Gnosticism (section)

===Angel christology===
Regarding the angel Christology of some early Christians, Darrell Hannah notes:
{{blockquote|[Some] early Christians understood the pre-incarnate Christ, ontologically, as an angel. This "true" angel Christology took many forms and may have appeared as early as the late First Century, if indeed this is the view opposed in the early chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The [[Elchasaites]], or at least Christians influenced by them, paired the male Christ with the female Holy Spirit, envisioning both as two gigantic angels. Some Valentinian Gnostics supposed that Christ took on an angelic nature and that he might be the Saviour of angels. The author of the ''[[Testament of Solomon]]'' held Christ to be a particularly effective "thwarting" angel in the exorcism of demons. The author of ''De Centesima'' and [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]]' "[[Ebionites]]" held Christ to have been the highest and most important of the first created archangels, a view similar in many respects to [[The Shepherd of Hermas|Hermas]]' equation of Christ with [[Michael (angel)|Michael]]. Finally, a possible exegetical tradition behind the ''[[Ascension of Isaiah]]'' and attested by [[Origen]]'s Hebrew master, may witness to yet another angel Christology, as well as an angel Pneumatology.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hannah|first=Darrell D.|title=Michael and Christ: Michael Traditions and Angel Christology in Early Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qKtXVU9EQTIC&pg=PA214|year=1999|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|isbn=978-3-16-147054-7|pages=214f}}</ref>}}

The [[Pseudepigrapha|pseudepigraphical]] Christian text ''[[Ascension of Isaiah]]'' identifies Jesus with angel Christology:
{{blockquote|[The Lord Christ is commissioned by the Father] And I heard the voice of the Most High, the father of my LORD as he said to my LORD Christ who will be called Jesus, 'Go out and descend through all the heavens...<ref>{{cite book|author=M.A. Knibb (trans.)|editor=James H. Charlesworth|title=The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RU77ekrD_vIC&pg=PA173|volume=2|year=2010|publisher=Hendrickson Publishers|isbn=978-1-59856-490-7|page=173|chapter=Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah}}</ref>}}

[[The Shepherd of Hermas]] is a Christian literary work considered as [[biblical canon|canonical scripture]] by some of the early [[Church fathers]] such as Irenaeus. Jesus is identified with angel Christology in parable 5, when the author mentions a Son of God, as a virtuous man filled with a Holy "pre-existent spirit".<ref name="Papandrea2016">{{cite book|last=Papandrea|first=James L.|title=The Earliest Christologies: Five Images of Christ in the Postapostolic Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_akCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA29|date=2016|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=978-0-8308-5127-0|page=29|quote=The most prominent example of Angel Adoptionism from the early Church would have to be the document known as ''The Shepherd'' of Hermass. In ''The Shepherd,'' the savior is an angel called the "angel of justification", who seems to be identified with the archangel Michael. Although the angel is often understood to be Jesus, he is never named as Jesus.}}</ref>