Pre-Christian Gnosticism - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Pre-Christian Gnosticism write by Edwin M. Yamauchi. This book was released on 2003-10-14. Pre-Christian Gnosticism available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. One of the most important issues facing New Testament scholarship today is the issue of Gnosticism. So wrote the author in 1973 in the first edition. With the publication since then of the entire Nag Hammadi library, this observation has become even more incisive. Was there a pre-Christian Gnosticism? Did Gnosticism directly or indirectly influence nascent Christianity? Many modern scholars argue that Gnosticism preceded the emergence of New Testament Christianity and constituted the raw material from which the apostles formed their message about Jesus. The author here analyzes the evidence used to support this thesis. He notes a series of methodological fallacies in the use of this evidence and concludes that clearly Gnostic materials are late and pre-Christian materials are not clearly Gnostic. A new chapter in this paperback edition brings the discussion up to date.
The Gnostics
The Gnostics - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Gnostics write by David Brakke. This book was released on 2011-01-01. The Gnostics available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Who were the Gnostics? And how did the Gnostic movement influence the development of Christianity in antiquity? Is it true that the Church rejected Gnosticism? This book offers an illuminating discussion of recent scholarly debates over the concept of “Gnosticism” and the nature of early Christian diversity. Acknowledging that the category “Gnosticism” is flawed and must be reformed, David Brakke argues for a more careful approach to gathering evidence for the ancient Christian movement known as the Gnostic school of thought. He shows how Gnostic myth and ritual addressed basic human concerns about alienation and meaning, offered a message of salvation in Jesus, and provided a way for people to regain knowledge of God, the ultimate source of their being. Rather than depicting the Gnostics as heretics or as the losers in the fight to define Christianity, Brakke argues that the Gnostics participated in an ongoing reinvention of Christianity, in which other Christians not only rejected their ideas but also adapted and transformed them. This book will challenge scholars to think in news ways, but it also provides an accessible introduction to the Gnostics and their fellow early Christians.
What is Gnosticism?
What is Gnosticism? - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook What is Gnosticism? write by Karen L. King. This book was released on 2003. What is Gnosticism? available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A study of gnosticism examines the various ways early Christians strove to define themselves in a pluralistic Roman society, while questioning the traditional ideas of heresy and orthodoxy that have previously influenced historians.
The Gnostic Gospels
The Gnostic Gospels - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Gnostic Gospels write by Elaine Pagels. This book was released on 2004-06-29. The Gnostic Gospels available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. 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.
Gnosticism and the New Testament
Gnosticism and the New Testament - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Gnosticism and the New Testament write by Pheme Perkins. This book was released on 1993. Gnosticism and the New Testament available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The gnostic writings found at Nag Hammadi have stimulated much controversy about the relationship between early Christians and the diverse religious movement of the first three centuries. Perkins fills the New Testament student's need for a guide to recent developments in scholarship with a helpful survey that addresses the origins of Gnosticism, its relationship to Judaism, Redeemer myths and New Testament hymns, and other relevant topics.
