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The Essential Gnostic Gospels
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Book Synopsis The Gnostic Gospels by : Elaine Pagels
Download or read book The Gnostic Gospels written by Elaine Pagels and published by Random House. This book was released on 2004-06-29 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time The Gnostic Gospels is a landmark study of the long-buried roots of Christianity, a work of luminous scholarship and wide popular appeal. First published in 1979 to critical acclaim, winning the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Gnostic Gospels has continued to grow in reputation and influence over the past two decades. It is now widely recognized as one of the most brilliant and accessible histories of early Christian spirituality published in our time. In 1945 an Egyptian peasant unearthed what proved to be the Gnostic Gospels, thirteen papyrus volumes that expounded a radically different view of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ from that of the New Testament. In this spellbinding book, renowned religious scholar Elaine Pagels elucidates the mysteries and meanings of these sacred texts both in the world of the first Christians and in the context of Christianity today. With insight and passion, Pagels explores a remarkable range of recently discovered gospels, including the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, to show how a variety of “Christianities” emerged at a time of extraordinary spiritual upheaval. Some Christians questioned the need for clergy and church doctrine, and taught that the divine could be discovered through spiritual search. Many others, like Buddhists and Hindus, sought enlightenment—and access to God—within. Such explorations raised questions: Was the resurrection to be understood symbolically and not literally? Was God to be envisioned only in masculine form, or feminine as well? Was martyrdom a necessary—or worthy—expression of faith? These early Christians dared to ask questions that orthodox Christians later suppressed—and their explorations led to profoundly different visions of Jesus and his message. Brilliant, provocative, and stunning in its implications, The Gnostic Gospels is a radical, eloquent reconsideration of the origins of the Christian faith.
Book Synopsis The Gnostic Gospels by : Alan Jacobs
Download or read book The Gnostic Gospels written by Alan Jacobs and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2016-11-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This eye-opening collection of texts sheds light on the esoteric knowledge of Gnosticism, revealing intimate conversations between Jesus and his Disciples In 1945, several gospels, hidden since the first century, were found in the Egyptian Desert at Nag Hammadi. This discovery caused a sensation as the scrolls revealed the mysteries of the Gnostics—a movement which emerged during the formative period of Christianity. ‘Gnosis’, from the Greek, broadly meaning ‘hidden spiritual knowledge’, was associated with renouncing the material world, and focusing on attaining the life of the Holy Spirit. Many Christian sects are derived from the esoteric knowledge of Gnosticism. The gospels selected here by Alan Jacobs reveal intimate conversations between Jesus and his Disciples. The Gospel of Mary Magdalene sheds new light on his relationship with his favorite follower, while the Gospel of Thomas consists of mini-parables of deep inward and symbolic meaning—many of which are not found in the New Testament. The wisdom in this inspiring collection of texts is wholly relevant to our lives today, addressing the questions of good and evil, sin and suffering, and the path to salvation.
Book Synopsis Essential Gnostic Scriptures by : Marvin Meyer
Download or read book Essential Gnostic Scriptures written by Marvin Meyer and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2011-11-22 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The people we’ve come to call gnostics were passionate advocates of the view that salvation comes through knowledge and personal experience, and their passion shines through in the remarkable body of writings they produced over a period of more than a millennium and a half. Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer have created a translation that brings the gnostic voices to us from across the centuries with remarkable power and beauty—beginning with texts from the earliest years of Christianity—including material from the Nag Hammadi library—and continuing all the way up to expressions of gnostic wisdom found within Islam and in the Cathar movement of the Middle Ages. The twenty-one texts included here serve as a compact introduction to Gnosticism and its principal ideas—and they also provide an entrée to the pleasures of gnostic literature in general, representing, as they do, the greatest masterpieces of that tradition.
Download or read book St. Mary Magdalene written by Tau Malachi and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2012-02-08 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Gospels of the Bible there are a few comments about Mary Magdalene here and there. But in the Gnostic scriptures that have been discovered, there are tantalizing hints that both her relationship to Jesus and her role among Jesus' disciples may have been profoundly important. Among several schools of Gnostic Christianity, Mary plays an essential role in the revelation of the gospel. Here, for the first time in print, is a Sophian Gospel of St. Mary Magdalene. No secret oral tradition as extensive as this has ever been recorded, and none has ever presented a Gnostic view of Mary Magdalene as she is portrayed in this groundbreaking work—as a powerful holy woman, the innermost disciple and beloved wife of Jesus, and a Christed woman who is coequal with Jesus in the Christ revelation.
Book Synopsis The Gnostic Bible by : Willis Barnstone
Download or read book The Gnostic Bible written by Willis Barnstone and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2006 with total page 874 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most comprehensive collection of gnostic literature ever published, this volume is the result of a unique collaboration between a renowned poet-translator and a leading scholar of early Christian texts.
Book Synopsis The Nag Hammadi Library in English by : James McConkey Robinson
Download or read book The Nag Hammadi Library in English written by James McConkey Robinson and published by Brill Archive. This book was released on 1984 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis The Essential Gnostic Gospels by : Alan Jacobs
Download or read book The Essential Gnostic Gospels written by Alan Jacobs and published by Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.. This book was released on 2006 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Gnostics were early Christians whose beliefs and practices put them at odds with the orthodox Church; indeed, the Church considered Gnostics to be heretics and made a concerted effort to destroy their writings. However, in 1945, a remarkable discovery was made in Nag Hamadi, in the Egyptian desert: a jar containing 13 papyrus documents, dating back to the fourth century ad, with genuine Gnostic texts in the original Greek. In addition, this manuscript included four gospels that offered accounts of Jesus and His times that are strikingly different from the New Testament. Alan Jacobs brings his unrivalled scholarship to bear on these illuminating and eye-opening works, offering inspiring and poetic translations that capture the verses’ uplifting spiritual message and beauty.
Book Synopsis What Are the Gospels? by : Richard A. Burridge
Download or read book What Are the Gospels? written by Richard A. Burridge and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995-05-11 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compares the work of the evangelists to the development of biography in the Graeco-Roman world
Download or read book Gnostics written by Sean Martin and published by Oldacastle Books. This book was released on 2010-08-01 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gnosticism is the name given to various religious schools that proliferated in the first centuries after Christ, nearly becoming the dominant form of Christianity, but was eventually branded as heretical by the emerging Christian church. The long and diverse history of Gnosticism is recounted here, as well as reasons for its continued relevance today. Although some Gnostic beliefs are close to mainstream Christianity, others examined here include that the world is imperfect because it was created by an evil god who was constantly at war with the true, good God; that Christ and Satan were brothers; that reincarnation exists; and that women are the equal of men. Also covered is the influence Gnostics had on the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, psychologist Carl Jung, the Existentialists, the New Age movement, and writers as diverse as William Blake, W. B. Yeats, Albert Camus, and Philip K. Dick.
Download or read book The Secret Book of John written by and published by SkyLight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Secret Book of John: The Gnostic Gospel - Annotated & Explained decodes the principal themes, historical foundation, and spiritual contexts of this challenging yet fundamental Gnostic teaching. Drawing connections to Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, kabbalistic Judaism, and Sufism, Davies focuses on the mythology and psychology of the Gnostic religious quest. He illuminates the Gnostics' ardent call for self-awareness and introspection, and the empowering message that divine wholeness will be restored not by worshiping false gods in an illusory material world but by our recognition of the inherent divinity within ourselves."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Hidden Gospels written by Philip Jenkins and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2002-12-05 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This incisive critique thoroughly and convincingly debunks the claims that recently discovered texts such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, and even the Dead Sea Scrolls undermine the historical validity of the New Testament. Jenkins places the recent controversies surrounding the hidden gospels in a broad historical context and argues that, far from being revolutionary, such attempts to find an alternative Christianity date back at least to the Enlightenment. By employing the appropriate scholarly and historical methodologies, he demonstrates that the texts purported to represent pristine Christianity were in fact composed long after the canonical gospels found in the Bible. Produced by obscure heretical movements, these texts have attracted much media attention chiefly because they seem to support radical, feminist, and post-modern positions in the modern church. Indeed, Jenkins shows how best-selling books on the "hidden gospels" have been taken up by an uncritical, drama-hungry media as the basis for a social movement that could have powerful effects on the faith and practice of contemporary Christianity.
Download or read book Reading Judas written by Elaine Pagels and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2007-03-06 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The instant New York Times bestseller interpreting the controversial long-lost gospel The recently unearthed Gospel of Judas is a source of fascination for biblical scholars and lay Christians alike. Now two leading experts on the Gnostic gospels tackle the important questions posed by its discovery, including: How could any Christian imagine Judas to be Jesus' favorite? And what kind of vision of God does the author offer? Working from Karen L. King's brilliant new translation, Elaine Pagels and King provide the context necessary for considering its meaning. Reading Judas plunges into the heart of Christianity itself and will stand as the definitive look at the gospel for years to come.
Book Synopsis The Lost Gospel by : Simcha Jacobovici
Download or read book The Lost Gospel written by Simcha Jacobovici and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-11-12 with total page 754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Waiting to be rediscovered in the British Library is an ancient manuscript of the early Church, copied by an anonymous monk. The manuscript is at least 1,450 years old, possibly dating to the first century. And now, The Lost Gospel provides the first ever translation from Syriac into English of this unique document that tells the inside story of Jesus’ social, family, and political life.The Lost Gospel takes the reader on an unparalleled historical adventure through a paradigm shifting manuscript. What the authors eventually discover is as astounding as it is surprising: the confirmation of Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdalene; the names of their two children; the towering presence of Mary Magdalene; a previously unknown plot on Jesus’ life (thirteen years prior to the crucifixion); an assassination attempt against Mary Magdalene and their children; Jesus’ connection to political figures at the highest level of the Roman Empire; and a religious movement that antedates that of Paul—the Church of Mary Magdalene.Part historical detective story, part modern adventure, The Lost Gospel reveals secrets that have been hiding in plain sight for millennia.
Download or read book Christian Zen written by and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2003 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the Gospel of Thomas, exploring what Jesus was really like and what he stood for. It demonstrates that Jesus's teaching is akin to Zen, in that it has an emphasis on direct seeing rather than endless cognition.
Book Synopsis The Gnostic New Age by : April D. DeConick
Download or read book The Gnostic New Age written by April D. DeConick and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-27 with total page 515 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gnosticism is a countercultural spirituality that forever changed the practice of Christianity. Before it emerged in the second century, passage to the afterlife required obedience to God and king. Gnosticism proposed that human beings were manifestations of the divine, unsettling the hierarchical foundations of the ancient world. Subversive and revolutionary, Gnostics taught that prayer and mediation could bring human beings into an ecstatic spiritual union with a transcendent deity. This mystical strain affected not just Christianity but many other religions, and it characterizes our understanding of the purpose and meaning of religion today. In The Gnostic New Age, April D. DeConick recovers this vibrant underground history to prove that Gnosticism was not suppressed or defeated by the Catholic Church long ago, nor was the movement a fabrication to justify the violent repression of alternative forms of Christianity. Gnosticism alleviated human suffering, soothing feelings of existential brokenness and alienation through the promise of renewal as God. DeConick begins in ancient Egypt and follows with the rise of Gnosticism in the Middle Ages, the advent of theosophy and other occult movements in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and contemporary New Age spiritual philosophies. As these theories find expression in science-fiction and fantasy films, DeConick sees evidence of Gnosticism's next incarnation. Her work emphasizes the universal, countercultural appeal of a movement that embodies much more than a simple challenge to religious authority.
Download or read book Secret Gospels written by Marvin Meyer and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2003-02-01 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marvin Meyer is one of the leading experts on the secret gospels-Gospel of Thomas, Secret Gospel of Mark, and others-who has changed forever how we read the canonical gospels and understand early Christianity. In this new collection of his work, Meyer looks at these revolutionary texts in original and illuminating ways. He writes, for example, about the naked youths in the villa of the Mysteries. On the walls of a villa in Pompeii, a famous mural depicts a naked male reading from a scroll, a look of wonder on his face. A naked youth again appears in the Gospel of Mark, abandoning his garment and fleeing naked when apprehended during Jesus' arrest. A similar youth appears in the Secret Gospel of Mark. These youths, Meyer proposes, serve as an image of religious initiation, candidates for the mysteries of Dionysus or of Christ. This is one of the many aspects of the secret gospels that Meyer examines with expert insight and creativity. Topics range from gender and infancy stories to discipleship and the relationship of the Gospel of Thomas to Islamic literature. Meyer's spellbinding readings of these materials offer fresh understandings of the canonical gospels. Marvin Meyer is Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies, and Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Chapman University, Orange, California. He is author of The Secret Teachings of Jesus: Four Gnostic Gospels and The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, and co-editor of Jesus Then and Now (Trinity Press International).
Download or read book The Gnostics written by David Brakke and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who were the Gnostics? And how did the Gnostic movement influence the development of Christianity in antiquity? Is it true that the Church rejected Gnosticism? This book offers an illuminating discussion of recent scholarly debates over the concept of “Gnosticism” and the nature of early Christian diversity. Acknowledging that the category “Gnosticism” is flawed and must be reformed, David Brakke argues for a more careful approach to gathering evidence for the ancient Christian movement known as the Gnostic school of thought. He shows how Gnostic myth and ritual addressed basic human concerns about alienation and meaning, offered a message of salvation in Jesus, and provided a way for people to regain knowledge of God, the ultimate source of their being. Rather than depicting the Gnostics as heretics or as the losers in the fight to define Christianity, Brakke argues that the Gnostics participated in an ongoing reinvention of Christianity, in which other Christians not only rejected their ideas but also adapted and transformed them. This book will challenge scholars to think in news ways, but it also provides an accessible introduction to the Gnostics and their fellow early Christians.
