The Nag Hammadi Library in English
Author: James McConkey Robinson
Publisher: Brill Archive
Published: 1984
Total Pages: 516
ISBN-13: 9789004071858
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The Gnostic Gospels
Author: Elaine Pagels
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2004-06-29
Total Pages: 250
ISBN-13: 1588364178
DOWNLOAD EBOOKSelected 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.
The Gnostic Bible
Author: Willis Barnstone
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Published: 2008-11-25
Total Pages: 153
ISBN-13: 9781590306420
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe gnostics were religious thinkers who believed that salvation was found through mystical knowledge and personal religious experience. Their scriptures, composed over more than a millennium, are texts of remarkable beauty. Now you can experience that beauty directly by listening to the texts in poetic readings by the translators. For their audio reading, Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer have chosen the most captivating poetry from their larger collection, The Gnostic Bible. Included with the audio program is a book, The Gnostics and Their Scriptures, which serves as the perfect short introduction to the gnostic movement.
The Gnostic New Age
Author: April D. DeConick
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2016-09-27
Total Pages: 515
ISBN-13: 0231542046
DOWNLOAD EBOOKGnosticism 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.
Against the Protestant Gnostics
Author: Philip J. Lee
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1993-08-19
Total Pages: 368
ISBN-13: 0190282096
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn this penetrating and provocative assessment of the current state of religion and its effects on society at large, Philip J. Lee criticizes conservatives and liberals alike as he traces gnostic motifs to the very roots of American Protestantism. With references to an extraordinary spectrum of writings from sources as diverse as John Calvin, Martin Buber, Tom Wolfe, Margaret Atwood, and Emily Dickinson, he probes the effects of gnostic thinking on a wide range of issues. Calling for the restoration of a dialectical faith and practice, the book points to positive ways of restoring health to endangered Protestant churches.
THE GNOSTIC JESUS
Author: Edward D. Andrews
Publisher: Christian Publishing House
Published: 2021-06-09
Total Pages: 279
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKJesus is identified by some Gnostics as an embodiment of the supreme being who became incarnate to bring gnōsis to the earth. In contrast, others adamantly denied that the supreme being came in the flesh, claiming Jesus to be merely a human who attained enlightenment through gnosis and taught his disciples to do the same. Among the Mandaeans, Jesus was considered a mšiha kdaba or “false messiah” who perverted the teachings entrusted to him by John the Baptist. Still, other traditions identify Mani and Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, as salvific figures. In the course of a century and a half, Gnosticism comes and goes before us like a splendid vision. And yet, its influence upon Christianity was profound and permanent. It gave occasion to a great expansion of Christian thought, to a clearer idea of the historical relation of Christianity to earlier and surrounding religions, and to a better definition of the basis of true faith. Therefore, it deserves a more careful study than it has only recently received.
The Gnostic Gospels
Author: Alan Jacobs
Publisher:
Published: 2005
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9781844832231
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Secret Book of John
Author:
Publisher: SkyLight Paths Publishing
Published: 2005
Total Pages: 194
ISBN-13: 1594730822
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"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.
Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism, and Early Christianity
Author: Charles W. Hedrick
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Published: 2005-10-17
Total Pages: 383
ISBN-13: 1597524026
DOWNLOAD EBOOK[This] book acquaints the beginner with the topic of gnosticism and early Christianity and presents to the specialist some of the new frontiers their colleagues are exploring. For the beginner there is a concise introduction to gnosticism. It covers the issues of origin, literature, leading ideas, and possible links with early Christianity. Each contributor has prepared a preface to his or her paper that points to its salient features and explains how the essay fits into the overall subject of the book. --from the Preface
Gnosticism and the New Testament
Author: Pheme Perkins
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 1993
Total Pages: 276
ISBN-13: 9781451415971
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe gnostic writings found at Nag Hammadi have stimulated much controversy about the relationship between early Christians and the diverse religious movement of the first three centuries. Perkins fills the New Testament student's need for a guide to recent developments in scholarship with a helpful survey that addresses the origins of Gnosticism, its relationship to Judaism, Redeemer myths and New Testament hymns, and other relevant topics.
