This important collection is very tough to read, and it often seems like pure gibberish. One of the most important suggestions made by the find at Nag Hammadi is that there may have been communities as late as the fourth century which allowed for such a variety of opinion and practice. Clearly, most of the modern interest in a supposed Gnostic Religion relates to this latter tendency. Others suggest that the saving gnosis taught by a wholly human Jesus is accessible to anyone willing to do the necessary intellectual and moral work. Some have Christ Jesus as a being from another, higher dimension of being and go so far as to anthropomorphize metaphysical principles. Some texts read as esoteric mumbo jumbo and suggest occult practices passed from teacher to student. As the texts found at Nag Hammadi indicate, opinions varied. Beyond this it is difficult to generalize. In other words, salvation was possible without such submission. There were, however, Christian teachers, some, like Clement of Alexandria, still considered orthodox, most others not, who, with their followers, emphasized a salvific knowledge, a gnosis, available to individuals without the mediation of what became the "catholic" church. There never was, so far as we can determine at this late date, a Gnostic Church. Gnosticism is a convenient rubric imposed by older heresiologists and modern scholars upon a body of Christian and syncretic literature rejected by the Roman Church. What one would like, however, is an affordable edition with the texts in their original languages as well as in English translation. The texts themselves, at least versions of them, were substantially familiar, but the critical apparatus is helpful. Breaking with usual habits, I bought it new, possibly at the bookstore of the C.G. The appearance of the long-discussed Nag Hammadi codices in an affordable English edition was a happy event.
It has remained an intellectual hobby since then. The scholarly controversy about the nature and origins of gnosticism was the topic of my undergraduate thesis at Grinnell College and a subject of further study at Union Theological Seminary, most particularly with Cyril Richardson and Elaine Pagels.
That this collection has resurfaced at this historical juncture is more than likely no coincidence.-P. The word gnosis is defined as "the immediate knowledge of spiritual truth." This doomed radical sect believed in being here now-withdrawing from the contamination of society and materiality-and that heaven is an internal state, not some place above the clouds. There are 45 separate titles, including a Coptic translation from the Greek of two well-known works: the Gospel of Thomas, attributed to Jesus' brother Judas, and Plato's Republic. The library itself is a diverse collection of texts that the Gnostics considered to be related to their heretical philosophy in some way. First published in 1978, this is the revised 1988 edition supported by illuminating introductions to each document. It is a collection of religious and philosophic texts gathered and translated into Coptic by fourth-century Gnostic Christians and translated into English by dozens of highly reputable experts. OL14992019W Page_number_confidence 97.24 Pages 870 Partner Innodata Pdf_module_version 0.0.18 Ppi 360 Rcs_key 24143 Republisher_date 20220226181116 Republisher_operator Republisher_time 2395 Scandate 20220221115806 Scanner Scanningcenter cebu Scribe3_search_catalog isbn Scribe3_search_id 9780061626005 Tts_version 4.The Nag Hammadi Library was discovered in 1945 buried in a large stone jar in the desert outside the modern Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 19:08:46 Associated-names Meyer, Marvin W Autocrop_version 0.0.5_books-20210916-0.1 Bookplateleaf 0002 Boxid IA40817615 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier
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