Gnostic Texts Research Articles

The Existence–Life–Intellect Triad in Gnosticism and Neoplatonism

In hisLife of Plotinus(16), Porphyry makes reference to certain gnostic ‘revelations’ under the names of ‘Zoroaster and Zostrianos and Nicotheus and Allogenes and Messos and many others of this kind’ which were circulated in Plotinus' school and refuted by Plotinus and his students, including Porphyry himself. Porphyry claims to have made ‘several refutations against the book of Zoroaster’ while Amelius apparently wrote some ‘forty volumes against the book of Zostrianos’. The surprising discovery of Coptic gnostic texts in the Nag Hammadi Library under the specific names ofAllogenes(Nag Hammadi Codex XI.3) andZostrianos(VIII.1) and the close relation of these texts toThe Three Steles of Seth(VII.5) andMarsanes(x) has led to the general consensus that we now possess some of the actual texts mentioned by Porphyry.

Gnosticism and Psychology

In this paper, I have attempted a historical analysis of what Jung might have been thinking when he wrote the 'Seven sermons'. To this end, I tried to ascertain which Gnostic texts Jung may have consulted before writing it. These documents were then compared with the 'Seven sermons', and numerous affinities noted between it and the Gnostic texts. Jung's contemporaneous academic works were then compared with this treatise, and parallels were established between the 'Seven sermons' and Jung's emerging psychology of the unconscious. In the process, an attempt was made to show how Jung made use of Gnostic themes in his emerging psychology. While there is no way of knowing precisely what Jung was thinking when he wrote the 'Seven sermons', it is clear that he was well acquainted not only with the work of Basilides, but also with the work of other Gnostic thinkers. It is not enough to assume that because Jung chose the pseudonym of Basilides, he was necessarily Jung's primary Gnostic influence. At the same time, it is also evident that Jung was developing his own psychology during the writing of the 'Seven sermons'. We recall Jung's observations regarding the 'Seven sermons', which we quoted on page 17: These conversations with the dead formed a kind of prelude to what I had to communicate to the world about the unconscious . . . All my works, all my creative activity, has come from those initial fantasies and dreams which began in 1912, almost fifty years ago. Everything that I accomplished in later life was already contained in them, although at first only in the form of emotions and images (Jung 21, p. 192). On the basis of what has been published, there are enough affinities between his academic work and this treatise to posit that the 'Seven sermons' played an important role in the emergence of Jung's psychology. Given these numerous parallels, I suspect that Jung's unpublished writings, including the Red Book, would only strengthen the arguments put forth in this paper.

Female Fault and Fulfilment in Gnosticism

Buckley challenges scholarly, stereotypical views of females in Gnosticism, which tend either toward idealization or outright devaluation. Examining six Gnostic texts or traditions that illuminate female figures, she analyzes a variety of females within their contexts. She makes no attempt to classify Gnostic females according to simplifying formulae; rather she treats them individually, allowing them to make sense within their own contexts.Originally published in 1986.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

The Sabbath in the parable of the shepherd

‘Sabbath is not frequently found in the Nag Hammadi texts (§ 1:1), but it has a clearly negative aspect in the ‘Exposition of Knowledge’ and the ‘Apocryphon of John’. Com-mentators of the ‘Gospel of Philip’ and the ‘Gospel of Truth’, however, find a very positive understanding of the word in these gnostic texts (§ 1:2-3). This contribution is an attempt to demonstrate that the usual interpretation of the latter treatise is not justified, and in order to pursue the precise meaning of Sabbath in Ever it is necessary to examine the meaning of the complicated digression on the parable of the Shepherd in this text (§ 2:4-5) with its distinctly gnostic interpretation (§ 3:7-9, 4: 10),sand its intertwining of (Jn 10: 1-) Mt 18:10ff. and Mt 12:11f. (-Jn 5:17) (§5:11-13) — a combination of texts which has nothing to do with the Diatessaron (§ 5:14). The elaboration on the theme of the lost sheep which has fallen into the pit (§ 6:15) is a clear instance of gnostic associative exegesis of the parable of the shepherd. In this exegesis the Sabbath is contrasted with the Perfect Day, the Sabbath denoting the cosmos or world of the Demiurge (6:17). The exegesis of the author is in close agreement with that of the Exposition of Knowledge.

A Catechesis against Apocryphal Texts by Shenute and the Gnostic Texts of Nag Hammadi

While the discovery of the Manichaean, and then the Gnostic, MS collections in Coptic has provoked a number of studies on the broad cultural context of these two religious movements, the specific Egyptian environment in which the MSS were transmitted remains largely unknown. Lack of documentation generally accounts for this ignorance. Especially in the case of the Coptic Gnostic library, all sorts of ideas and religious sects have been called forth to comment upon the corpus and to explain, it seems, everything except what was common in the Nile valley in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D.

Pre-Christian Gnosticism in the Nag Hammadi Texts?

One of the most important and controversial issues in Gnostic studies is the age of Gnosticism. Was it a post-Christian heresy? Was it roughly contemporaneous with the rise of Christianity? Was it Christianity's twin, as someone has called it? Or was it a fully developed movement preceding Christianity and influencing it? Ingeneral, German New Testament scholars, under the influence of Rudolf Bultmann, have assumed a pre-Christian Gnosticism as the basis for their interpretation of the New Testament. Other scholars such as Charles H. Dodd and Robert M. Grant have questioned their heavy reliance upon late Mandaean texts to support such a conviction. With the recovery of the Coptic Gnostic texts from Nag Hammadi a number of scholars, most notably James Robinson, have hailed these new materials as evidence for Bultmann's hypothesis:

Gnosis: A Selection of Gnostic Texts. Volume 2: Coptic and Mandean Sources. By Werner Foerster. English translation edited by R. McL. Wilson. Oxford University Press, 1974. vii+360 pp. $24.00.

Gnosis: A Selection of Gnostic Texts. Volume 2: Coptic and Mandean Sources. By Werner Foerster. English translation edited by R. McL. Wilson. Oxford University Press, 1974. vii+360 pp. $24.00. - Volume 44 Issue 1

SHORT NOTICES

Journal Article SHORT NOTICES Get access Gnosis: a selection of Gnostic texts. I. Patristic Evidence. By WERNER FOERSTER. English translation edited by R. McL. WILSON. Pp. viii+367. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972. £6. WILLIAM HORBURY WILLIAM HORBURY Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Journal of Theological Studies, Volume XXIV, Issue 2, October 1973, Pages 644-b–645, https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/XXIV.2.644-b Published: 01 October 1973

The Apocryphon of John

STUDENTS of Gnosticism will welcome this volume because it gives them access, for the first time in English, to the so-called longer version of the important Gnostic text which had been used, in part, as a source by Irenaeus in his great work against heresies. While the shorter version has been known in part since 1896 when Carl Schmidt announced its discovery, it was not edited until 1954.1 The longer version appears in two codices from Nag Hammadi, with the text in Codex II being better preserved than the text in Codex IV. Pahor Labib made the Coptic text of the Apocryphon available to a limited circle of scholars in his photographic reproduction of part of Codex II,2 but the text needed editing, which Giversen has done. The volume is divided into two parts. In Part I Giversen presents a brief introduction to Gnosticism and the manuscript find, a section dealing with the manuscript and the mechanical make-up of the Codex (which contains a number of other important works, including the Gospels of Thomas and Philip), and the paleography and language of the text, followed by the text edition and translation itself and indexes of Greek and Coptic words and proper names in the text.

A Note on the Authorship of the Apocalypse

The authorship and date of the Book of Revelation have been the subject of much scholarly debate. Additional information from recently published Coptic Gnostic texts will contribute to the final resolution of the debate.The Gnostic Apocrphon of John, used by Irenaeus as a source in his Adv. Haer., has been known since 1896.

Gnosis Revisited

Two problems are involved in the analysis of gnosticism. First comes the criticism of the sources. Since most of our information about gnosis still comes from the church fathers, we must try to determine how reliably such writers as Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius have reproduced their sources. In this connection Sagnard'sLa gnose valentinienne et le témoignage de saint Irénée(Paris, 1947), is especially useful since it establishes Irenaeus' essential trustworthiness. Second comes the interpretation of the gnostic text once it has been established. At this point there is much disagreement among modern scholars. In general the older way of looking at gnosticism, set forth by such scholars as De Faye, Leisegang, Casey, Nock, and most recently Sagnard, is based on description and historical investigation, with emphasis laid on the search for sources and interrelations. Ideally, proof of the existence of these sources and interrelations is offered, and the proof is based on historical probabilities.