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The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels, 1979

Fascinating! Documents that were detained for thirty years in a monopoly of greed, political squabbles, and personal rivalries among scholars, finally found their way into the right hands at the right time--Elaine Pagels. In 1945, the year of the discovery of fifty-two texts at Nag Hammadi in Northern Egypt, she was two years old. In 1961 UNESCO intervened to place the discovery at the disposal of the world. In 1977, the Gnostic Gospels were in the public domain: and shortly thereafter Elaine Pagels, Ph.D. from Harvard, with a focus on early Christian Gnosticism, published her book.

This is not light reading but essential for understanding the formation of the consciousness of our Western World. Pagels describes the foundation of the formal Roman Catholic Church as, "...a highly effective system of organization...political structures that identify and unite people into a common affiliation." In other words, a structure open to all, as long as one obeyed all rules, honored the hierarchy of Pope, cardinal, bishop, priest, and deacon, celebrated all rituals, believed in the virgin birth, baptism by water, sin, heaven, hell, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Gnostics pursued an inner kingdom of transformed consciousness. They understood "the Son of Man" to be the divine spark within everyone, the pure, aware child within The search for this child was seen as a solitary and difficult process and not one dictated by a political institution. Gnostics believed in the term "virgin" only as it applied to the spirit, and Christ's resurrection was understood as pure metaphor.

Orthodox Christians saw torture and martyrdom as a path to heaven. Gnostics viewed the massacre as senseless slaughter. Orthodox Christians felt that the place of women in the church was silent subservience. Gnostics viewed them as spiritual equals in their pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. Orthodox Christians stated, "To deny the bishop is to deny God." Gnostics referred to bishops as "waterless canales." Or, as Christ Himself said, "...whitewashed tombs."

Professor Pagels shows that the methods of Gnosticism could not appeal to a mass religion, as its high levels of spiritual evolution could be attained only by a few. She feels that the Christian faith might not have survived without the structure given by the Catholic Church that united social and political structures in an unruly world.

We do have the Catholic Church to thank for Michelangelo, and all the artists of the Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic periods: for the ecclesiastical music of Monteverdi, Haydn, Mozart, Pergolesi, Beethoven, Verdi and Faure. The work of Catholic missionaries has helped millions worldwide.

The simple truths of the life and words of Jesus Christ have created quite a stir.

By Elizabeth Wallace, editor and illustrator of Jesus Christ In His Own Words
JesusChristinhisownwords(dot)com
Jesus Christ In His Own Words

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"The Gnostic Gospels" Feature

ISBN13: 9780394502786
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

"The Gnostic Gospels" Overview

A provocative study of the gnostic gospels and the world of early Christianity as revealed through the Nag Hammadi texts.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

"The Gnostic Gospels" Specifications

Gnosticism's Christian form grew to prominence in the 2nd century A.D. Ultimately denounced as heretical by the early church, Gnosticism proposed a revealed knowledge of God ("gnosis" meaning "knowledge" in Greek), held as a secret tradition of the apostles. In The Gnostic Gospels, author Elaine Pagels suggests that Christianity could have developed quite differently if Gnostic texts had become part of the Christian canon. Without a doubt: Gnosticism celebrates God as both Mother and Father, shows a very human Jesus's relationship to Mary Magdalene, suggests the Resurrection is better understood symbolically, and speaks to self-knowledge as the route to union with God. Pagels argues that Christian orthodoxy grew out of the political considerations of the day, serving to legitimize and consolidate early church leadership. Her contrast of that developing orthodoxy with Gnostic teachings presents an intriguing trajectory on a world faith as it "might have become." The Gnostic Gospels provides engaging reading for those seeking a broader perspective on the early development of Christianity. --F. Hall

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