You will be hard pressed to find a more direct and more academic treatment of Gnosticism than The Gnostic Gospels anywhere. Elaine Pagels, PhD. is one of the worlds leading academics on the subject of religious history, and holds a professorship on the subject at Princeton University. The Gnostic Gospels is her examination of an archeological find in Nag Hammadi. The find contained ancient manuscripts suggesting a dramatically different history of Christianity.
Pagels explains how, for 20 centuries the history of Christianity was told by the victors. The Gnostic Gospels reconstructs the various beliefs of the earliest Christian philosophies, and presents a theory for why they were repressed. Pagels creates a compelling argument by analyzing the 20th century discovery in the context of historical documents of the early Catholic Church. This not only provides insight into the differences between Gnosticism and Orthodox Christianity, but it gives the reader a glimpse into the contemporary philosophies opposed to Gnosticism.
The Politics of Orthodoxy
Pagels explains that Gnostics believed that they had “gone further” than the Christian church. That there was a higher truth, and those who were spiritually mature could access it through their own experience. This higher truth includes a very different understanding of The Resurrection as an event that each of us must experience while we are alive. The political implications of this personal journey is a major theme of Pagels work. She details several instances when early Gnostics declared themselves independent of the Orthodox church, which was the de-facto authority on the period’s spiritual and political issues.
Is this book, or Gnosticism for you?
If you have ever said, “I think of myself as more of a spiritual person than a religious one” you are humming the Gnostic tune. I suggest you check out my page on Gnosticism, or give The Gnostic Gospels a listen. I do recommend audio on this one however. There are few things as dull to me as reading an academic book full of cross-references to ancient manuscripts. Listening to it however, is a rewarding glimpse into an ancient culture visciously debating issues that linger with us today.