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The Gnostic Gospels
Some thirty years ago, near Nag Hammadi in the upper Egyptian desert, an Arab peasant made an astonishing discovery. What he found, buried in an ancient earthenware jar, were fifty two papyrus texts, including gospels and other secret writings, some dating from the beginning of the Christian era-the period when the New Testament gospels themselves were written. Now, after years of scholarly investigation and analysis, the Nag Hammadi texts have turned out to be among the most important archeological discoveries of modern times.
This book by Professor Pagels, the distinguished historian of religion, is the first account written by a scholar for the general reader about these profoundly revealing documents. These so-called gnostic writings describe many of the people and events found in the New Testament, but from a strikingly different perspective. They show us that the early church, far from the unified body we have assumed it to be, was deeply split from the begin ning, that many followers of Christ were not in agreement on the facts of his life, the meaning of his teachings, or the form that the church should take.
From such texts as the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Thomas, in which the apostle appears as Jesus' twin, we learn that some gnostic Christians denied that Christ re turned in the flesh and appointed Peter his successor; that many gnostics challenged priestly authority and believed instead in the presence of the divine within the human; that the way to salvation was through self-knowledge. We learn too of gnostic groups that believed in a God who was both Father and Mother, and that women and men were spiritual equals.
In this brilliantly lucid account, we discover why the orthodox church chose to suppress these gnostic texts, and why the gnostics them selves were condemned as heretics as early as the first century.
Staat: Hardcover, geen dust jacket, in goede staat (zie foto's)
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