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The Gnostic Gospels

By Elaine Pagels

By Elaine Pagels

By Elaine Pagels

By Elaine Pagels

By Elaine Pagels
Read by Lorna Raver

By Elaine Pagels
Read by Lorna Raver

Best Seller

Part of Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction Books

Category: Religion

Category: Religion

Category: Religion | Audiobooks

Paperback $17.00

Sep 19, 1989 | ISBN 9780679724537

Ebook $7.99

Jun 29, 2004 | ISBN 9781588364173

Audiobook Download $12.50

Feb 14, 2006 | 425 Minutes

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    The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
    Paperback $17.00
    Sep 19, 1989 | ISBN 9780679724537

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    • Paperback $17.00

      Sep 19, 1989 | ISBN 9780679724537

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      Jun 29, 2004 | ISBN 9781588364173

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    About The Gnostic Gospels

    A provocative study of the gnostic gospels and the world of early Christianity as revealed through the Nag Hammadi texts.

    About The Gnostic Gospels

    Selected 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.

    About The Gnostic Gospels

    The Gnostic Gospels provides engaging listening for those seeking a broader perspective on the early development of Christianity. Author and noted scholar Elaine Pagels suggests that Christianity could have developed quite differently if Gnostic texts had become part of the Christian canon. Without a doubt: Gnosticism celebrates God as both Mother and Father, shows a very human Jesus’s relationship to Mary Magdalene, suggests the Resurrection is better understood symbolically, and speaks to self-knowledge as the route to union with God. Pagels argues that Christian orthodoxy grew out of the political considerations of the day, serving to legitimize and consolidate early church leadership. Her contrast of that developing orthodoxy with Gnostic teachings presents an intriguing trajectory on a world faith as it "might have become."

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    Also by Elaine Pagels

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    Reading Judas
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    Adam, Eve, and the Serpent
    See all books by Elaine Pagels

    Also by Elaine Pagels

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    Reading Judas
    Beyond Belief
    The Origin of Satan
    Adam, Eve, and the Serpent
    See all books by Elaine Pagels

    About Elaine Pagels

    Elaine Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University. She is the author of several books, including Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, the New York Times bestseller Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, and The… More about Elaine Pagels

    About Elaine Pagels

    Elaine Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University. She is the author of several books, including Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, the New York Times bestseller Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, and The… More about Elaine Pagels

    About Elaine Pagels

    Elaine Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University. She is the author of several books, including Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, the New York Times bestseller Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, and The… More about Elaine Pagels

    Product Details

    Category: Religion

    Paperback | $17.00
    Published by Vintage
    Sep 19, 1989 | 224 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780679724537

    Category: Religion

    Ebook | $7.99
    Published by Random House
    Jun 29, 2004 | 224 Pages | ISBN 9781588364173

    Category: Religion | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $12.50
    Published by Random House Audio
    Feb 14, 2006 | 425 Minutes | ISBN 9780739333181
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    Praise

    “The first major and eminently readable book on gnosticism benefiting from the discovery in 1945 of a collection of Gnostic Christian texts at Nag Hammadi in Egypt.” –The New York Times Book Review

    Awards

    National Book Awards WINNER 1980

    National Book Critics Circle Awards WINNER 1979

    Table Of Contents

    Introduction

    1. The Controversy over Christ’s Resurrection: Historical Event or Symbol?
    2. “One God, One Bishop”: The Politics of Monotheism
    3. God the Father/God the Mother
    4. The Passion of Christ and the Persecution of Christians
    5. Whose Church Is the “True Church”?
    6. Gnosis: Self-Knowledge as Knowledge of God

    Conclusion

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