The Gnostic Society Library - The Nag Hammadi Library

[Guest guest]

THE GNOSTIC SOCIETY LIBRARY

The Nag Hammadi Library

 

About the Nag Hammadi Library Section

The Nag Hammadi Library, a collection of thirteen ancient codices

containing over fifty texts, was discovered in upper Egypt in 1945.

This immensely important discovery includes a large number of primary

Gnostic scriptures -- texts once thought to have been entirely

destroyed during the early Christian struggle to define " orthodoxy " --

scriptures such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and

the Gospel of Truth.

 

The discovery and translation of the Nag Hammadi library, completed

in the 1970's, has provided impetus to a major re-evaluation of early

Christian history and the nature of Gnosticism. Readers unfamiliar

with this history may wish to review the brief Introduction to

Gnosticism and the Nag Hammadi Library provided here, as well as an

excerpt from Elaine Pagels' excellent popular introduction to the Nag

Hammadi texts, The Gnostic Gospels...

 

An Overview of the Nag Hammadi Texts

When analyzed according to subject matter, there are six separate

major categories of writings collected in the Nag Hammadi codices:

 

Writings of creative and redemptive mythology, including Gnostic

alternative versions of creation and salvation: The Apocryphon of

John; The Hypostasis of the Archons; On the Origin of the World; The

Apocalypse of Adam; The Paraphrase of Shem. (For an in-depth

discussion of these, see the Archive commentary on Genesis and

Gnosis.)

 

Observations and commentaries on diverse Gnostic themes, such as the

nature of reality, the nature of the soul, the relationship of the

soul to the world: The Gospel of Truth; The Treatise on the

Resurrection; The Tripartite Tractate; Eugnostos the Blessed; The

Second Treatise of the Great Seth; The Teachings of Silvanus; The

Testimony of Truth.

 

Liturgical and initiatory texts: The Discourse on the Eighth and

Ninth; The Prayer of Thanksgiving; A Valentinian Exposition; The

Three Steles of Seth; The Prayer of the Apostle Paul. (The Gospel of

Philip, listed under the sixth category below, has great relevance

here also, for it is in effect a treatise on Gnostic sacramental

theology).

 

Writings dealing primarily with the feminine deific and spiritual

principle, particularly with the Divine Sophia: The Thunder, Perfect

Mind; The Thought of Norea; The Sophia of Jesus Christ; The Exegesis

on the Soul.

 

Writings pertaining to the lives and experiences of some of the

apostles: The Apocalypse of Peter; The Letter of Peter to Philip; The

Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles; The (First) Apocalypse of

James; The (Second) Apocalypse of James, The Apocalypse of Paul.

 

Scriptures which contain sayings of Jesus as well as descriptions of

incidents in His life: The Dialogue of the Saviour; The Book of

Thomas the Contender; The Apocryphon of James; The Gospel of Philip;

The Gospel of Thomas.

 

This leaves a small number of scriptures of the Nag Hammadi Library

which may be called " unclassifiable. " It also must be kept in mind

that the passage of time and translation into languages very

different from the original have rendered many of these scriptures

abstruse in style. Some of them are difficult reading, especially

for those readers not familiar with Gnostic imagery, nomenclature

and the like. Lacunae are also present in most of these scriptures --

in a few of the texts extensive sections have been lost due to age

and deterioration of the manuscripts. The most readily comprehensible

of the Nag Hammadi scriptures is undoubtedly The Gospel of Thomas,

with The Gospel of Philip and the The Gospel of Truth as close

seconds in order of easy comprehension. (These texts were all also

thankfully very well preserved and have few lacunae.) There are

various translations of most of these scriptures available; the most

complete being the one volume collection The Nag Hammadi Library in

English, edited by James Robinson, from which the translations

presented here are principally quoted.

 

Commentary on the Nag Hammadi Collection

To help place the Nag Hammadi materials into a better focus of

understanding, in association with BC Recordings, the Library has

developed a series of introductory lectures and commentaries upon NHL

materials. You will find an extensive collection of these lectures

by Dr. Stephan Hoeller introducing Gnosticism and the Nag Hammadi

Library at BC Recordings. In addition to that extensive collection,

we have these free lectures available (note that these lectures are

in an older RealAudio format, and much lower audio quality than the

mp3 recordings available at BC Recordings):

 

Christ: The Misunderstood Redeemer -- An understanding of the

Gnostic perception of Christ is crucial to any meaningful reading of

texts in the Nag Hammadi collection. In this lecture Dr. Stephan

Hoeller uses several of the works in the Nag Hammadi Library to

introduce the Gnostic Christ. (RealAudio format, 75 min.)

 

Redemption and Redeemer in the Gospel of Thomas -- The Gospel of

Thomas is one of the most important Gnostic texts discovered at Nag

Hammadi. In this lecture, Dr. Hoeller explores the " soteriology " --

the concept of a redeemer and the process of redemption -- as

developed in the text of the Thomas Gospel.(RealAudio format, 75 min.)

 

The Sorrow of Sophia: Feminine Divine Image of Suffering --

Gnosticism developed a unique understanding of the feminine aspects

within divinity. In this lecture Dr. Hoeller explores the Gnostic

image of the suffering and the alienation of the divine feminine,

using as his text a reading from The Exegesis on the Soul (NHL

II,6). (RealAudio format, 80 min.)

 

THE GNOSTIC SOCIETY LIBRARY

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl.html