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Gnosticism

History of Gnosticism
Early Gnosticism
Syrian-Egyptic Gnosticism
Gnosticism in modern times

Proto-Gnostics
Philo
Valentinius
Cerinthus
Basilides

Gnostic texts
Gnostic Gospels
Nag Hammadi library
Codex Tchacos
Bruce Codex
Gnosticism and the New Testament

Related articles
Gnosis
Pythagoreanism
Neoplatonism and Gnosticism
Manichaeism
Bosnian Church
Esoteric Christianity
Theosophy

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Codex IV is one of the texts discovered at Nag Hammadi
Codex IV is one of the texts discovered at Nag Hammadi

The Nag Hammadi library (popularly known as The Gnostic Gospels) is a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts discovered near the town of Nag Hammâdi in 1945. Gnosticism (γνώσις gnōsis, Knowledge) refers to a diverse Syncretistic Religious movement consisting of various Belief systems The history of Gnosticism is subject to a great deal of debate and interpretation Early Gnosticism refers to a point in Gnosticism that occurred following the Fathers of Christian Gnosticism and related groups but prior to the shift to Syrian-Egyptian Gnostic Schools were ancient Gnostic sects from around the Middle East. Gnosticism includes a variety of ancient religions prevalent in the Mediterranean in the third century AD. The Church Fathers or Fathers of the Church is a term used in Catholic and Orthodox forms of Christianity to refer to the early and Philo (20 BC - 50 AD) known also as Philo of Alexandria (gr Φίλων ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria Valentinus (also spelled Valentius) ( c 100 - c160 CE) was the best known and for a time most successful Early Christian gnostic Cerinthus ( c 100 was an Early Christian originator of a heretical sect a " Heresiarch " in the view of the Church Fathers "Basilides" redirects here For the 17th century Ethiopian Emperor see Fasilides of Ethiopia. Gnosticism used a number of Religious texts that are preserved in part or whole in ancient Manuscripts or are lost but mentioned critically in Patristic The term gnostic gospels refers to Gnostic collections of writings about the teachings of Jesus, written around the 2nd century AD. The Codex Tchacos is an ancient Egyptian Coptic Papyrus containing early Christian Gnostic texts from approximately 300 A The Bruce Codex (also called the Codex Brucianus) is a gnostic manuscript acquired by the British Museum. This article discusses the relationship between Gnosticism and the New Testament. Gnosis (from one of the Greek words for Knowledge, γνώσις is the spiritual knowledge of a Saint or mystically enlightened human being Pythagoreanism is a term used for the Esoteric and metaphysical beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers the Pythagoreans who were much influenced Neoplatonism (also Neo-Platonism) is the modern term for a school of Hellenistic philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based Manichaeism (in Modern Persian fa-Arab آیین مانی Āyin e Māni; Chinese zh 摩尼教 was one of the major Gnostic Religions originating The Bosnian Church ( crkva bosanska, ecclesia bosniensis) seems to have been a Catholic monastic order that separated itself from the wider Church possibly over the Esoteric Christianity is a term which refers to an ensemble of spiritual currents which regard Christianity as a Mystery religion, and profess the existence This article is about the philosophy introduced by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky The term gnostic gospels refers to Gnostic collections of writings about the teachings of Jesus, written around the 2nd century AD. Early Christianity is commonly defined as the Christianity of the three centuries between the Crucifixion of Jesus ( c Gnosticism (γνώσις gnōsis, Knowledge) refers to a diverse Syncretistic Religious movement consisting of various Belief systems Gnosticism used a number of Religious texts that are preserved in part or whole in ancient Manuscripts or are lost but mentioned critically in Patristic Nag Hammadi ( Arabic نجع حمادي is a city in Upper Egypt. That year, twelve leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by a local peasant named Mohammed Ali Samman. Papyrus (/pəˈpaɪrəs/ (Rhymes -aɪrəs)is a thick paper-like material produced from the Pith of the papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus A codex ( Latin for block of wood, Book; plural codices) is a book in the format used for modern books with separate pages normally Mohammed Ali Samman is the person who discovered the Gnostic Gospels of the Nag Hammadi library in December 1945 [1][2] The writings in these codices comprised fifty-two mostly Gnostic tractates (treatises), but they also include three works belonging to the Corpus Hermeticum and a partial translation / alteration of Plato's Republic. A treatise is a formal lengthy systematic Discourse on some subject Hermetica is a category of popular Late Antique literature purporting to contain secret wisdom and generally attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, "thrice-great Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece The Republic ( Greek: / Politeía, meaning "political system" Latin: Res Publica, meaning "public business" or In his "Introduction" to The Nag Hammadi Library in English, James Robinson suggests that these codices may have belonged to a nearby Pachomian monastery, and were buried after Bishop Athanasius condemned the uncritical use of non-canonical books in his Festal Letter of 367 AD. Saint Pachomius (ca 292-348 also known as Abba Pachomius and Pakhom in Arabic الأنبا باخوميوس, is generally recognized as the founder of A Biblical canon or canon of scripture is a list or Set of Biblical books considered to be authoritative as Scripture by a particular religious

The contents of the codices were written in Coptic, though the works were probably all translations from Greek. Coptic or Coptic Egyptian ( MetRemenkīmi) is the final stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly The best-known of these works is probably the Gospel of Thomas, of which the Nag Hammadi codices contain the only complete text. The Gospel According to Thomas ( Coptic: ⲡⲉ̅ⲩ̅ⲁ̅ⲅⲅ̅ⲉⲗ̅ⲓⲟⲛ̅ ⲡⲕ̅ⲁ̅ⲧⲁ ⲑ̅ⲱ̅ⲙⲁⲥ also known as The Gospel After the discovery it was recognized that fragments of these sayings attributed to Jesus appeared in manuscripts discovered at Oxyrhynchus in 1898, and matching quotations were recognized in other early Christian sources. Oxyrhynchus (Ὀξύρρυγχος "sharp-nosed" ancient Egyptian Pr-Medjed; Coptic Pemdje; modern Egyptian Arabic Subsequently, a 1st or 2nd century date of composition circa 80 AD for the lost Greek originals of the Gospel of Thomas has been proposed, though this is disputed by many if not the majority of biblical matter researchers. The Gospel According to Thomas ( Coptic: ⲡⲉ̅ⲩ̅ⲁ̅ⲅⲅ̅ⲉⲗ̅ⲓⲟⲛ̅ ⲡⲕ̅ⲁ̅ⲧⲁ ⲑ̅ⲱ̅ⲙⲁⲥ also known as The Gospel The once buried manuscripts themselves date from the 3rd and 4th centuries.

The Nag Hammadi codices are housed in the Coptic Museum in Cairo, Egypt. Coptic Museum is a Museum in Coptic Cairo, Egypt with the largest collection of Egyptian Christian artifacts in the world Cairo () which means "the Vanquisher" or "the Triumphant" is the capital and largest city of Egypt. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. To read about their significance to modern scholarship into early Christianity, see the Gnosticism article. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Gnosticism (γνώσις gnōsis, Knowledge) refers to a diverse Syncretistic Religious movement consisting of various Belief systems

Contents

Discovery at Nag Hammadi

The story of the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library in 1945 has been described as 'exciting as the contents of the find itself' (Markschies, Gnosis: An Introduction, 48). In December of that year, two Egyptian brothers found several papyri in a large earthernware vessel while digging for fertilizer around limestone caves near present-day Hamra Dom in Upper Egypt. Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 Ḩamrah Dawm (Hamra Dom Ḩamrat Dūm is a small village in Upper Egypt near the city of Qena, about 80 kilometres north-west of Luxor. The find was not initially reported by either of the brothers, who sought to make money from the manuscripts by selling them individually at intervals. It is also reported that the brothers' mother burned several of the manuscripts, worried, apparently, that the papers might have 'dangerous effects' (Markschies, Gnosis, 48). As a result, what came to be known as the Nag Hammadi library (owing to the proximity of the find to Nag Hammadi, the nearest major settlement) appeared only gradually, and its significance went unacknowledged until some time after its initial uncovering.

In 1946, the brothers became involved in a feud, and left the manuscripts with a Coptic priest, whose brother-in-law in October that year sold a codex to the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo (this tract is today numbered Codex III in the collection). Coptic or Coptic Egyptian ( MetRemenkīmi) is the final stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites in particular rites of sacrifice to and propitiation of a deity or deities A codex ( Latin for block of wood, Book; plural codices) is a book in the format used for modern books with separate pages normally The resident Coptologist and religious historian Jean Dorese, realising the significance of the artifact, published the first reference to it in 1948. Coptology is most commonly defined as the science of Coptic studies Over the years, most of the tracts were passed by the priest to a Cypriot antiques dealer in Cairo, thereafter being retained by the Department of Antiquities, for fear that they would be sold out of the country. After the revolution in 1956, these texts were handed to the Coptic Museum in Cairo, and declared national property. Gamal Abdel Nasser (جمال عبد الناصر Gamāl ‘Abd an-Nāṣir; - January 15 1918 September 28 1970) was the second President

Meanwhile, a single codex had been sold in Cairo to a Belgian antique dealer. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those An antique ( Latin: antiquus; old is an old Collectible item It is collected or desirable because of its age rarity condition utility or other unique After an attempt was made to sell the codex in both New York and Paris, it was acquired by the Carl Gustav Jung Institute in Zurich in 1951, through the mediation of Gilles Quispel. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the Gilles Quispel ( Rotterdam, 30 May 1916 - El Gouna Egypt, 2 March 2006) was a Dutch theologian and Historian There it was intended as a birthday present to the famous psychologist; for this reason, this codex is typically known as the Jung Codex, being Codex I in the collection. Mental health professional A psychologist is a practitioner of Psychology, the systematic investigation of the mind including Behavior, Cognition, The Jung Codex was found at Nag Hammadi. It slipped through the hands of the Egyptian authorities and was sold to private collectors in the United States

Jung's death in 1961 caused a quarrel over the ownership of the Jung Codex, with the result that the pages were not given to the Coptic Museum in Cairo until 1975, after a first edition of the text had been published. Thus the papyri were finally brought together in Cairo: of the 1945 find, eleven complete books and fragments of two others, 'amounting to well over 1000 written pages' (Markschies, Gnosis: An Introduction, 49) are preserved there.

Translation

The first edition of a text found at Nag Hammadi was from the Jung Codex, a partial translation of which appeared in Cairo in 1956, and a single extensive facsimile edition was planned. Due to the difficult political circumstances in Egypt, individual tracts followed from the Cairo and Zurich collections only slowly.

This state of affairs changed only in 1966, with the holding of the Messina Congress in Italy. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest At this conference, intended to allow scholars to arrive at a group consensus concerning the definition of gnosticism, James M. Robinson, an expert on religion, assembled a group of editors and translators whose express task was to publish a bilingual edition of the Nag Hammadi codices in English, in collaboration with the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity at the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. James M Robinson (born 1924 is Professor Emeritus of Religion Claremont Graduate University, Claremont California. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Claremont Graduate University (CGU is a private graduate-only university Claremont is a College town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, USA, about 30 miles (45 km east of downtown Los Angeles California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Robinson had been elected secretary of the International Committee for the Nag Hammadi Codices, which had been formed in 1970 by UNESCO and the Egyptian Ministry of Culture; it was in this capacity that he oversaw the project. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16 In the meantime, a facsimile edition in twelve volumes did appear between 1972 and 1977, with subsequent additions in 1979 and 1984 from publisher E. J. Brill in Leiden, called The Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices, making the whole find available for all interested parties to study in some form. "Leyden" redirects here For other uses see Leyden (disambiguation.

At the same time, in the former German Democratic Republic a group of scholars - including Alexander Bohlig, Martin Krause and New Testament scholars Gesine Schenke, Hans-Martin Schenke and Hans-Gebhard Bethge - were preparing the first German translation of the find. The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state Martin Krause, who was born in Lobstädt ( Saxony) on 17 June 1853, was a German concert pianist piano teacher and writer on music The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. The last three scholars prepared a complete scholarly translation under the auspices of the Berlin Humboldt University, which was published in 2001. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. For other universities in Berlin see List of Universities in Berlin.

The James M. Robinson translation was first published in 1977, with the name The Nag Hammadi Library in English, in collaboration between E. J. Brill and Harper & Row. Harper & Row was a publishing company based in New York City. The single-volume publication, according to Robinson, 'marked the end of one stage of Nag Hammadi scholarship and the beginning of another' (from the Preface to the third revised edition). Paperback editions followed in 1981 and 1984, from E. J. Brill and Harper respectively. A third, completely revised edition was published in 1988. This marks the final stage in the gradual dispersal of gnostic texts into the wider public arena - the full complement of codices was finally available in unadulterated form to people around the world, in a variety of languages.

A further English edition was published in 1987, by Yale scholar Bentley Layton, called The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with Annotations (Garden City: Doubleday & Co. Bentley Layton (born 1941 is Professor of Religious Studies (Ancient Christianity and Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (Coptic at Yale University (since , 1987). The volume unified new translations from the Nag Hammadi Library with extracts from the heresiological writers, and other gnostic material. It remains, along with The Nag Hammadi Library in English one of the more accessible volumes translating the Nag Hammadi find, with extensive historical introductions to individual gnostic groups, notes on translation, annotations to the text and the organisation of tracts into clearly defined movements.

Complete list of codices found in Nag Hammadi

Nag Hammadi texts
Nag Hammadi texts

The so-called "Codex XIII" is in fact not a codex, but rather the text of Trimorphic Protennoia, written on ". Hermetica is a category of popular Late Antique literature purporting to contain secret wisdom and generally attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, "thrice-great Hermetica is a category of popular Late Antique literature purporting to contain secret wisdom and generally attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, "thrice-great Hermetica is a category of popular Late Antique literature purporting to contain secret wisdom and generally attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, "thrice-great The Paraphrase of Shem is an Apocryphal Gnostic writing discovered in the Codex VII of the Nag Hammadi Codices Second Treatise of the Great Seth is an Apocryphal Gnostic writing discovered in the Codex VII of the Nag Hammadi Codices The Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter, not to be confused with the Apocalypse of Peter, is a text found amongst the Nag Hammadi library, and part of the The Teachings of Silvanus is one of the books found in the Nag Hammadi library. The Three Steles of Seth is a Sethian Gnostic text from the New Testament apocrypha. Zostrianos is a Sethian Gnostic text from the New Testament apocrypha. The Letter of Peter to Philip, found in the cache of texts at Nag Hammadi (bound into Codex VIII contains a brief letter purporting to be from Saint Peter to Melchizedek is an enigmatic figure twice mentioned in the Hebrew Tanakh and in the Christian Old Testament. The Thought of Norea is a brief Sethian Gnostic text The main surviving copies come from the Nag Hammadi library. The Testimony of Truth is the third manuscript from Codex IX of the Nag Hammadi Library. Marsanes is a Sethian Gnostic text from the New Testament apocrypha. Valentinus (also spelled Valentius) ( c 100 - c160 CE) was the best known and for a time most successful Early Christian gnostic Allogenes is a Sethian Gnostic text from the New Testament apocrypha. The Sentences of Sextus is a Hellenistic Pythagorean text which was also popular among Gnostic and non-Gnostic Christians. The Gospel of Truth is one of the Gnostic texts from the New Testament apocrypha found in the Nag Hammadi codices ("NHC" The ' Trimorphic Protennoia' is a Sethian Gnostic text from the New Testament apocrypha. On the Origin of the World is a Gnostic work dealing with creation and End times. . . eight leaves removed from a thirteenth book in late antiquity and tucked inside the front cover of the sixth. " (Robinson, NHLE, p. 10) Only a few lines from the beginning of Origin of the World are discernible on the bottom of the eighth leaf.

References in popular culture

Interest in the Gnostic Gospels increased dramatically in 2003, with the publication of the bestselling fiction novel The Da Vinci Code. The Da Vinci Code is a controversial mystery / detective Novel by US author Dan Brown, published in 2003 by Doubleday Events in the story suggest that the Gnostic Gospels had just as much validity as the accepted New Testament gospels, and that it was just an arbitrary decision by church leaders in the time of Emperor Constantine that excluded them from official status. Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (27 February ca. 272 &ndash 22 May 337 commonly known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine Scholars generally agree that many of the Gnostic Gospels, by comparison, were not written until generations later, during or after the second century AD although there are a number of well-known exceptions such as the Gospel of Thomas which has been dated as early as 50 AD. The Gospel According to Thomas ( Coptic: ⲡⲉ̅ⲩ̅ⲁ̅ⲅⲅ̅ⲉⲗ̅ⲓⲟⲛ̅ ⲡⲕ̅ⲁ̅ⲧⲁ ⲑ̅ⲱ̅ⲙⲁⲥ also known as The Gospel

Nevertheless, the oldest manuscripts of the complete New Testament, such as Codex Sinaiticus, are from no earlier than the fourth century AD. Codex Sinaiticus (Shelfmarks and references London Brit Libr, Additional 43725 Gregory - Aland nº א (Aleph or 01, Soden Such a fact of course is irrelevant to the case of the antiquity and preeminence given by Biblical scholars to the New Testament texts, since canonical text collections post-date actual composition. Also almost complete or proto-canons exist such as Papyrus 46, the harmony gospel Diatessaron and Marcion canon before fourth century AD. Papyrus 46 (also referred to as simply P46) is one of the oldest New Testament Manuscripts known to exist with its 'most probable date' The Diatessaron ( c 150 - 160 is the most prominent Gospel harmony. Along with the New Testament Canon's evolution being partially driven by the need to clarify traditionally accepted text from fraudulent and or Declamatio text (text that was created in order to legitimize otherwise heretical or nontraditional teachings). A Biblical canon or canon of scripture is a list or Set of Biblical books considered to be authoritative as Scripture by a particular religious Declamatio ( Latin, to declare) is the established Rhetorical device of adopting the Persona of an ancient figure to express a particular viewpoint [3][4]

In the song Original Sinsuality, from the album The Beekeeper, Tori Amos uses the Gnostic version of the Creation story. The Beekeeper is the eighth studio Album by Singer-songwriter Tori Amos. Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos on August 22, 1963) is a Pianist and Singer-songwriter of dual British and American

There is an episode of the television series Gilmore Girls titled "Nag Hammadi Is Where They Found the Gnostic Gospels. Gilmore Girls was an Emmy Award -winning Golden Globe -nominated American Comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino "

Philip K. Dick relied heavily on the Gnostic Gospels in a trilogy of books whose titles are The Divine Invasion, VALIS, and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. These books presume the imposition of a cage of unreality as expressed by the Gnostic notion of the material world as a creation of a malevolent being.

See also

Further reading

Notes and references

  1. ^ The Nag Hammadi Library: The Minor History Behind a Major Discovery
  2. ^ Marvin Meyer and James M. Robinson, Nag Hammadi Scriptures, The: The International Edition. Marvin Meyer is a scholar of religion and a tenured professor at Chapman University, in Orange California. James M Robinson (born 1924 is Professor Emeritus of Religion Claremont Graduate University, Claremont California. HarperOne, 2007. pp 2-3. ISBN 0060523786
  3. ^ In the second century St Irenaeus wrote "But it is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. Saint Irenaeus (Greek Ειρηναίος (2nd century AD - c 202 was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, Roman Empire (now Lyons France For since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the church has been scattered throughout the world, and since the "pillar and ground" of the church is the Gospel and the spirit of life, it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing incorruption on every side, and vivifying human afresh. From this fact, it is evident that the Logos, the fashioner demiourgos of all, he that sits on the cherubim and holds all things together, when he was manifested to humanity, gave us the gospel under four forms but bound together by one spirit. Demiurge (the Latinized form of Greek demiourgos, δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker" from demos (Against Heresies 3. On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis ( commonly called Against Heresies (Latin Adversus haereses,) is a five-volume work 11. 8)
  4. ^ In the 4th century, St Cyril of Jerusalem mentioned a "Gospel of Thomas" in his Cathechesis V: "Let none read the gospel according to Thomas, for it is the work, not of one of the twelve apostles, but of one of Mani's three wicked disciples. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (Κύριλλος Α΄ Ἱεροσολύμων was a distinguished theologian of the early Church (ca Mani (in Persian: مانی Syriac: syr-Syrc ܡܐܢܝ (c 210–276 AD was the founder of Manichaeism, an ancient Gnostic Religion "

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