God as Male–Female: Priscillian, Prophecy, and the Witness of Irenaeus and Marius Victorinus

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a well-rendered piece, tightly focused on the theo-linguistic deployment of terminology in the writings of Priscillian, with attention to sourcing and the political motivations of that sourcing (i.e., for Priscillian to justify his movement and stave off polemics). 

The piece should be published after minor revisions for grammar and clarity.

A sample of the needed type of edits (throughout the piece) are given below:

Underlined words (from the) in the abstract should not be underlined.

Sentence in second full paragraph that begins "As Conti argues," should be deleted or revised, as it does not add any expositional or argumentative value to simply say "there is much to be explored here."

Second para: Sentence starting with "This paper is concerned" has an errant comma after these words.

Third paragraph: the parenthetical comment about the Vulgate manuscript tradition either needs a footnote providing the evidence (which manuscripts) by direct reference OR it needs to cite a known authority on Vulgate manuscript vagaries.

Third paragraph: Sentence beginning with "Other heretical groups" contains the peculiar phrase: "identified in very general terms from any specific knowledge." Revise for clarity.

Paragraph beginning with "The fact that": final sentence needs to delete errant comma after "argument," and it appears to be missing a word in the following clause.

Etc. The author should use the representative corrections above to not only fix those but also to review the entire paper to fix any other lingering issues.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

A sample of the needed type of edits (throughout the piece) are given below:

Underlined words (from the) in the abstract should not be underlined.

Sentence in second full paragraph that begins "As Conti argues," should be deleted or revised, as it does not add any expositional or argumentative value to simply say "there is much to be explored here."

Second para: Sentence starting with "This paper is concerned" has an errant comma after these words.

Third paragraph: the parenthetical comment about the Vulgate manuscript tradition either needs a footnote providing the evidence (which manuscripts) by direct reference OR it needs to cite a known authority on Vulgate manuscript vagaries.

Third paragraph: Sentence beginning with "Other heretical groups" contains the peculiar phrase: "identified in very general terms from any specific knowledge." Revise for clarity.

Paragraph beginning with "The fact that": final sentence needs to delete errant comma after "argument," and it appears to be missing a word in the following clause.

Etc. The author should use the representative corrections above to not only fix those but also to review the entire paper to fix any other lingering issues.

Author Response

My responses to the comments of the two referees are in italics. I have also made further slight improvements, all evident in tracking.

Underlined words (from the) in the abstract should not be underlined.   Removed. I think the underlining is automatically generated in the proofs by Latin words

Sentence in second full paragraph that begins "As Conti argues," should be deleted or revised, as it does not add any expositional or argumentative value to simply say "there is much to be explored here."  Modified

Second para: Sentence starting with "This paper is concerned" has an errant comma after these words. Corrected

Third paragraph: the parenthetical comment about the Vulgate manuscript tradition either needs a footnote providing the evidence (which manuscripts) by direct reference OR it needs to cite a known authority on Vulgate manuscript vagaries.  Detail clarified in footnote

Third paragraph: Sentence beginning with "Other heretical groups" contains the peculiar phrase: "identified in very general terms from any specific knowledge." Revise for clarity.Corrected

Paragraph beginning with "The fact that": final sentence needs to delete errant comma after "argument," and it appears to be missing a word in the following clause. Corrected

Etc. The author should use the representative corrections above to not only fix those but also to review the entire paper to fix any other lingering issues. Done

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Interesting topic and engagement with the writings of Priscillian on the masculofemina. The article is in depth and well engaged with the source texts, although at times the clarity of source material to author argument can be less than clear (likely due to MDPI formatting requirements). Occasionally the article meanders and could benefit from some signposting for the reader.

Some minor formatting issues:

1. "2. Priscillian and prophecy" subheading un bolded
2. extra highlighting on pages 2, 4, and 7
3. breaking space on page 3 after 2 Kings 2:3-15 reference

These may simply be vagaries with the MDPI PDF generation.

Author Response

Some minor formatting issues:

1. "2. Priscillian and prophecy" subheading un bolded Corrected
   2. extra highlighting on pages 2, 4, and 7 automatically generated
   3. breaking space on page 3 after 2 Kings 2:3-15 reference corrected.