The Nag Hammadi Library
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The Nag Hammadi Library description
The Nag Hammadi Library was discovered in 1945 buried in a large stone jar in the desert outside the modern Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi. It is a collection of religious and philosophic texts gathered and translated into Coptic by fourth-century Gnostic Christians and translated into English by dozens of highly reputable experts. First published i ... review details
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The Nag Hammadi Library Customer Reviews
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Fascinating theology, but don't expect much historical Jesus
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The Gnostic writings of Nag Hammadi are fascinating but badly misunderstood, thanks largely to sensationalist media reports and books like the Da Vinci Code.
On the whole, these writings aimed not to preserve history, but to reinterpret Jewish and Christian theology, often from the foundation up. So, for example, many Gnostics believed that this world was a horrible mistake created by a demigod who was too stupid to realize that he wasn't the real God.
The stories here of Jesus and the disciples (including Mary Magdalene) are fictional accounts used as vehicles for these theological views. To call them "fiction" is not a value judgment (many fictional elements are likely present in the Gospel of John as well), but simply an observation of how these thinkers (writing primarily in the second through fourth centuries) shared their ideas.
As a result, they don't, unfortuntately, tell us much about the historical Jesus. The Gospel of Thomas (included in this volume) may include some genuine sayings of Jesus, but this is hotly debated. And anyway, on the whole, Matthew, Mark, and Luke remain the best historical evidence that we have.
To be clear: those seeking to find historical dirt on the apostles, or accounts of Jesus marrying Mary Magdalene, will be disappointed. But if you don't mind wading through cryptic texts, buy this volume (or the newer volume of these texts called "The Nag Hammadi Scriptures"), and begin with the Apocryphon of John or the Hypostasis of the Archons. After several reads, a fascinating theological world emerges. |
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