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Title: The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels ISBN: 0-679-72453-2 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 19 September, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.13 (102 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A provocative, insightful look at the early Christian church
Comment: Noted historian of the early church Elaine Pagels has produced a clear, cogent, and very effective introduction to the subject of Gnosticism, a different form of Christianity that was declared heretical and virtually stamped out by the orthodox church by the start of the second century after Christ. Most of what we knew of the Gnostic belief system came from the religious authors who worked so hard to destroy the movement, but that changed drastically with the still relatively recent discovery of a number of lost Gnostic writings near Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt. Unlike the Dead Sea Scrolls, this momentous discovery of ancient papyri has received little attention, and I must admit I went into this book knowing virtually nothing about Gnosticism. As an historian by training and a Christian, the information in these "heretical" texts intrigue me, and I believe that Christians should challenge their faith by examining material that does not fall in line with accepted beliefs. I should note that Pagels does not attempt to summarize or examine in detail the Gnostic Gospels in and of themselves; her particular focus here is the way in which Gnosticism affected the rise of the orthodox church that declared the Gnostics heretics. Still, she presents a great deal of information on many of the newly discovered texts and inarguably shows that the Christian church was founded in a society espousing a number of contradictory viewpoints.
Pagels does a good job of presenting the context in which the early Christians lived and eventually argued against one another. The debate was seemingly one over spiritual authority, and social and political issues played a part alongside purely religious disagreements between different factions. I think she tends to overemphasize the sociopolitical implications of Gnosticism, yet her arguments are certainly sensible and enlightening. One of the problems with Gnosticism as a movement was the disagreement among many so-called Gnostics on a number of issues. In terms of Gnosticism as a whole, however, one can point to a number of thoughts and ideas that ably represent the whole. Gnostics basically saw their faith as an internal thing, a practice based on the secret knowledge Jesus supposedly shared with a select number of individuals, one of whom was Mary Magdalene. Gnostics attracted women in particular because most Gnostics viewed everyone as equal and allowed for the participation of women in any sacred act. The orthodox, arguing that the disciples were men and thus the church held no leadership positions for women, opposed the teachings on these grounds. Gnostics basically believed that one found Christ in oneself; inner visions were the trademarks of true Gnostics. To the orthodox church founded on the basis of Peter's succession as the head of the church, Gnostics thus placed themselves not only on the same footing as the apostles but above even the Twelve. They tried to answer their own questions as to how Christ could be both human and divine, and many of them came to view Christ as a spiritual being who only appeared to suffer and die. Many also interpreted the virgin birth in spiritual rather than human terms. To the orthodox Christians, this was blasphemy, for the church as we know it is basically built on the faith and belief that God's son took on a human form and died in the literal sense on the Cross in order to conquer Death and save all of his followers. Some Gnostics came to believe that the Creator was not God but a demiurge who falsely declared there was no other God but him. Thus, orthodox Christians were seen as following a false god out of ignorance, a charge that did not set well with orthodox Christians. The orthodox beliefs on the subject of resurrection legitimized a hierarchy of persons through whose authority all others must approach God. Gnostic teachings were thus seen as subversive of this social order by offering direct access to God outside of the priests and bishops of the orthodox church.
A true discussion of Gnostic beliefs would take many pages to even begin, and Pagels has jam packed a relatively short book with much information along those lines. Her contrast between the two competing forms of early Christianity clearly explains how and why the orthodox church worked so vehemently to stamp out the heretical Gnostic acolytes. I am of the opinion that Gnosticism would have died out of its own accord had it not been declared heretical; its followers basically practiced a deeply personal and largely unorganized form of worship that excluded the masses. The early church needed organization in order to survive, especially during the times of awful persecution we find in the centuries after Christ's death. This is a deeply provocative book indeed, addressing a subject I will continue to investigate. As a Christian of fundamentalist Southern Baptist persuasion, I will add that nothing I read here posed any threat to my current beliefs or faith. Those Christians who fear the influence of a different type of Christianity should not avoid this book or others like it out of fear; instead, such individuals should test their faith by reading this provocative material because one's faith can actually be strengthened rather than weakened by such endeavors.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wonderful initial attempt to describe this subject....
Comment: In THE GNOSTIC GOSPELS, Elaine Pagels writes that in the second century C.E., Christians who followed the solitary path they believed Jesus advocated-of self discovery in the search for the divine-lost their struggle with orthodox Christians who interpreted Jesus' message differently. But for the discovery of their writings at Nag Hammadi in 1945, their experience would have been lost forever. Pagels suggests the orthodox church was so powerful that if these gospels had been discovered at any time earlier, they probably would have been destroyed as heretical material. Pagels includes the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant churches in her definition of orthodox Christianity (any group that holds the four gospels of the new testament of the bible as doctine).
Unlike Gnosticism (which refers to the individual search for the knowledge of god within), orthodox Christianity was organized and external. Key aspects of orthodox Christianity included a hierarchical structure (priests, bishops and the pope); a belief in male supremacy; and doctrinal conformity (belief that god became man, died and was resurrected from the dead, i.e., the message of the four gospels of the new testament of the bible).
The psychological reality is that most people are afraid of the unknown and prefer to have direction in spiritual matters so the orthodox approach had great appeal for the masses. However, in spite of the dominance of orthodoxy, over the course of the twenty centuries or so since Jesus lived and died, some individuals such as Blake, Dostoevsky, and saints like Teresa and Francis probably experienced something akin to the Gnostic path. Pagels says Dostoevsky in his book the Brothers Karamazov "attributes to Ivan a vision of Christ rejected by the church, the Christ who 'desired man's free love that he should follow Thee freely' choosing the truth of one's own conscience over material well-being, social approval, and religious certainty" - or as the Gnostic gospels put it "denouncing the church for seducing people away from the 'truth of their freedom'."
I enjoyed this powerful book and highly recommend it to anyone taking the road less traveled.
Rating: 5
Summary: Utterly awesome
Comment: Chapter 5 and 6 make this book priceless to me. I love all of Professor Pagels works and own them all. This book grabbed my attention because it lays out so well how religion is man made. How humans design a God and over years, decades and centuries fine tune this God to suit their needs. Having read and re-read this gem of a book, I come away each time knowing that my gut reaction to what I believe Christ really taught is right. That he isn't a God and didn't say he was a God but as Professor Pagel notes in this work, simply wanted people to think for themselves and look deep within for the truth. That each of us is unique and good if we seek to be good. That the 'church' was and is more a political body than a spiritual body. That spiritual is unique and fits the person and their walk in life.
In Chapter 5 I better understood how by the second century orthodox Christian began ti establish man made rules for church membership. Church meaning the people and people being the Christian church. Creeds were required and not simply a personal proclamation that one according to their own knowledge was a 'christian'.
Chapter 6 is my favorite. Gnosis: Self=Knowledge as knowledge of God. On page 120 the author notes: 'The Gospel of Thomas relates that when the disciples asked Jesus where they should go, he said only, 'There is light within a man of light, and it lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness.' Far from legitimizing any institution, both says direct one instead to oneself--to one's inner capacity to find one's own direction, to the 'light within.'
The author notes that during the fourth century the organized church began to insist that monks who were solitary look within mode, adhere to more structured less personal 'beliefs' or Godly leadings.
Page 122 she notes: 'But some Gnostic Christians went so far as to claim that humanity created God--and so, from its own inner potential, discovered for itself the revelation of truth. This conviction may underline the ironic comment in the Gospel of Philip:
'...God created humanity [but now human beings] create God. That is the way it is in the world--human beings make gods, and worship their creation. It would be appropriate for the gods to worship human beings!'
Reading page 124 I remember an audible WOW when I read 'Many gnostics, on the contrary, instead that ignorance and not sin, is what involves a person in suffering. The gnostic movement shared certain affinities with contemporary methods of exploring the self through psychotherapeutic techniques. Both gnosticism and psychotherapy value, above all, knowledge--the self knowledge which is insight. They agree that, lacking this, a person experiences the sense of being driven by impulses he does not understand....'
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Title: Beyond Belief : The Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels ISBN: 0375501568 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Jean-Yves Leloup, Joseph Rowe, Jacob Needleman ISBN: 0892819111 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: 30 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Holy Blood, Holy Grail by MICHAEL BAIGENT, RICHARD LEIGH, HENRY LINCOLN ISBN: 0440136482 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 15 January, 1983 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Nag Hammadi Library in English : Revised Edition by James M. Robinson ISBN: 0060669357 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 21 November, 1990 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels ISBN: 0679731180 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 30 April, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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