Urbandale posted:

So whats the deal with the Simon Magus is Paul conspiracy thing

according to The Apostle Paul in the Jewish Imagination (Daniel R. Langton, Cambridge 2010) "Simon Magus ... is widely regarded by modern scholars as representing Paul". it doesn't seem to be contentious. i poked around and Langton's book seems to be well regarded in academic circles. Langton only cites Harris Hirschberg, though, from an article in 1943 where he says, "One of the epoch-making hypotheses of the "Tübingen School" in the last century was the theory that Simon Magus, mentioned in the Acts and the Patristic literature, was but a nickname given to Paul by his Jewish Christian antagonists. Modern research has subjected this view to a revision and has proved that Simon Magus was a historical character; but that at least in the Clementina his name was used as an allusion to the Apostle to the Gentiles." none of these guys even mention Lavos, though, so i would have to say it's specious at best.