Introduction to "Gnosticism"

Nicola Denzey Lewis is an award-winning teacher who has taught Gnosticism for fifteen years at Bowdoin College, Dartmouth University, and Harvard University. An internationally recognized expert in Gnosticism, she is the author of two books and numerous articles on various aspects of Nag Hammadi. She is currently Visiting Associate Professor in Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean in the Department of Religious Studies at Brown University.

• 1. A FOURTH-CENTURY CHRISTIAN LIBRARY: THE NAG HAMMADI CODICES; 2. THE PROBLEM WITH GNOSTICISM; 3. THE ROMAN EMPIRE: RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPES; 4. CHRISTIANITY IN THE SECOND-CENTURY EMPIRE: AN OVERVIEW; 5. GNOSTIC PRAYER: PRAYER OF THE APOSTLE PAUL AND PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING; 6. VALENTINUS AND THE VALENTINIANS; 7. SOME VALENTINIAN WRITINGS FROM NAG HAMMADI: TRIPARTITE TRACTATE, INTERPRETATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND A VALENTINIAN EXPOSITION; 8. TWO VALENTINIAN GOSPELS: GOSPEL OF TRUTH AND THE GOSPEL OF PHILIP; 9. THE THOMAS LITERATURE: THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS, BOOK OF THOMAS THE CONTENDER; 10. SETHIAN GNOSTICISM: THE THREE STELES OF SETH; 11. IN THE BEGINNING. TWO CREATION MYTHS: HYPOSTASIS OF THE ARCHONS AND ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD; 12. A CLASSIC TEXT: THE APOCRYPHON OF JOHN; EXCURSUS: TABLE OF GENESIS COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE APOCRYPHON OF JOHN, HYPOSTASIS OF THE ARCHONS, AND ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD; 13. A CLASSIC TEXT: THE GOSPEL OF THE EGYPTIANS; 14. DEALING WITH DEATH: FIRST APOCALYPSE OF JAMES, SECOND APOCALYPSE OF JAMES, APOCRYPHON OF JAMES, TREATISE ON THE RESURRECTION; 15. DECONSTRUCTING THE DIVINE FEMININE: THUNDER: PERFECT MIND AND TRIMORPHIC PROTENNOIA; 16. WHAT ARE PAGAN TEXTS DOING IN A CHRISTIAN LIBRARY? DISCOURSE ON THE EIGHTH AND NINTH; PLATO'S REPUBLIC; ASCLEPIUS; SENTENCES OF SEXTUS; 17. APOSTOLIC TRADITIONS IN CONFLICT: LETTER OF PETER TO PHILIP, ACTS OF PETER AND THE TWELVE APOSTLES, APOCALYPSE OF PETER; 18. VISIONS OF THE END! APOCALYPSES IN NAG HAMMADI: APOCALYPSE OF PAUL, APOCALYPSE OF ADAM; 19. THE SETHIAN PLATONIZING APOCALYPSES; 20. BEYOND NAG HAMMADI: GOSPEL OF JUDAS AND THE GOSPEL OF MARY MAGDALENE; WHO WAS JUDAS?

Beginners and advanced scholars alike will enjoy and learn from the book, which can be used as a textbook for students, a reference work, or simply as an enjoyable discovery of a developing and fas cinating subject.