Discovered in Egypt in 1945, the fascinating and challenging Nag Hammadi writings forever changed our understanding of early Christianity. State-of-the-art and the only volume of its kind, Introduction to "Gnosticism": Ancient Voices, Christian Worlds guides students through the most significant of the Nag Hammadi texts. Employing an exceptionally lucid and accessible writing style, Nicola Denzey Lewis groups the texts by theme and genre, places them in the broader context of the ancient world, and reveals their most inscrutable mysteries. Ideal for use in courses in Early Christianity/Origins of Christianity, Christianity to 1500, Gnostic Gospels, Gnosticism, Early Christian Writings, Orthodoxy and Heresy, and New Testament Studies, Introduction to "Gnosticism" is enhanced by numerous pedagogical features, including images of the manuscripts, study and discussion questions, annotated bibliographies, tables, diagrams, and a glossary.
Discovered in Egypt in 1945, the fascinating and challenging Nag Hammadi writings forever changed our understanding of early Christianity. State-of-the-art and the only volume of its kind, Introduction to "Gnosticism": Ancient Voices, Christian Worlds guides students through the most significant of the Nag Hammadi texts. Employing an exceptionally lucid and accessible writing style, Nicola Denzey Lewis groups the texts by theme and genre, places them in the broader context of the ancient world, and reveals their most inscrutable mysteries. Ideal for use in courses in Early Christianity/Origins of Christianity, Christianity to 1500, Gnostic Gospels, Gnosticism, Early Christian Writings, Orthodoxy and Heresy, and New Testament Studies, Introduction to "Gnosticism" is enhanced by numerous pedagogical features, including images of the manuscripts, study and discussion questions, annotated bibliographies, tables, diagrams, and a glossary.
1. A FOURTH-CENTURY CHRISTIAN LIBRARY: THE NAG HAMMADI CODICES; 2. THE PROBLEM WITH GNOSTICISM; 3. THE ROMAN EMPIRE: RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPES; 4. CHRISTIANITY IN THE SECOND-CENTURY EMPIRE: AN OVERVIEW; 5. GNOSTIC PRAYER: PRAYER OF THE APOSTLE PAUL AND PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING; 6. VALENTINUS AND THE VALENTINIANS; 7. SOME VALENTINIAN WRITINGS FROM NAG HAMMADI: TRIPARTITE TRACTATE, INTERPRETATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND A VALENTINIAN EXPOSITION; 8. TWO VALENTINIAN GOSPELS: GOSPEL OF TRUTH AND THE GOSPEL OF PHILIP; 9. THE THOMAS LITERATURE: THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS, BOOK OF THOMAS THE CONTENDER; 10. SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: THE THREE STELES OF SETH; 11. IN THE BEGINNING. TWO CREATION MYTHS: HYPOSTASIS OF THE ARCHONS AND ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD; 12. A CLASSIC TEXT: THE APOCRYPHON OF JOHN; EXCURSUS: TABLE OF GENESIS COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE APOCRYPHON OF JOHN, HYPOSTASIS OF THE ARCHONS, AND ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD; 13. A CLASSIC TEXT: THE GOSPEL OF THE EGYPTIANS; 14. DEALING WITH DEATH: FIRST APOCALYPSE OF JAMES, SECOND APOCALYPSE OF JAMES, APOCRYPHON OF JAMES, TREATISE ON THE RESURRECTION; 15. DECONSTRUCTING THE DIVINE FEMININE: THUNDER: PERFECT MIND AND TRIMORPHIC PROTENNOIA; 16. WHAT ARE PAGAN TEXTS DOING IN A CHRISTIAN LIBRARY? DISCOURSE ON THE EIGHTH AND NINTH; PLATO'S REPUBLIC; ASCLEPIUS; SENTENCES OF SEXTUS; 17. APOSTOLIC TRADITIONS IN CONFLICT: LETTER OF PETER TO PHILIP, ACTS OF PETER AND THE TWELVE APOSTLES, APOCALYPSE OF PETER; 18. VISIONS OF THE END! APOCALYPSES IN NAG HAMMADI: APOCALYPSE OF PAUL, APOCALYPSE OF ADAM; 19. THE SETHIAN PLATONIZING APOCALYPSES; 20. BEYOND NAG HAMMADI: GOSPEL OF JUDAS AND THE GOSPEL OF MARY MAGDALENE; WHO WAS JUDAS?
Nicola Denzey Lewis is an award-winning teacher who has taught Gnosticism for fifteen years at Bowdoin College, Dartmouth University, and Harvard University. An internationally recognized expert in Gnosticism, she is the author of two books and numerous articles on various aspects of Nag Hammadi. She is currently Visiting Associate Professor in Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean in the Department of Religious Studies at Brown University.
Beginners and advanced scholars alike will enjoy and learn from the
book, which can be used as a textbook for students, a reference
work, or simply as an enjoyable discovery of a developing and fas
cinating subject.
*Revd Dr John Binns, The Church Times*
This textbook provides the reader with an excellent guide to the
Nag Hammadi text and their world.
*Erin Evans, The Expository Times*
It clearly and gracefully fills a longstanding gap in the
field...highly recommended.
*Michael Kaler, Studies in Religion*
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