The Gnostic Gospels (Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction Books)

CHAPTER ONE

For a more technical discussion of this topic, scholars are advised to consult E. Pagels, “Visions, Appearances, and Apostolic Authority: Gnostic and Orthodox Traditions,” in Gnosis: Festschrift für Hans Jonas, ed. B. Aland (Göttingen, 1978), 415–430.

1. K. Stendahl, Immortality and Resurrection (New York, 1968).

2. Luke 24:36–43.

3. Acts 2:22–36.

4. Ibid., 10:40–41.

5. Tertullian, De Resurrectione Carnis 2.

6. Tertullian, De Carne Christi 5.

7. Ibid.

8. John 20:27.

9. Mark 16:12; Luke 24:13–32.

10. Luke 24:31.

11. John 20:11–17.

12. Acts 9:3–4.

13. Ibid., 9:7.

14. Ibid., 22:9.

15. I. Corinthians 15:50.

16. Ibid., 15:51–53.

17. Mark 10:42–44.

18. Luke 24:34.

19. Matthew 16:13–19.

20. John 21:15–19.

21. H. von Campenhausen, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power (London, 1969), trans. by J. A. Baker (original title: Kirchliches Amt und geistliche Vollmacht, Tübingen, 1953), 17 (see discussion in Ch. 1).

22. Mark 16:9; John 20:11–17.

23. Matthew 28:16–20; Luke 24:36–49; John 20:19–23.

24. Matthew 28:18.

25. Acts 1:15–20.

26. Ibid., 1:22. Emphasis added.

27. Ibid., 1:26.

28. Ibid., 1:6–11.

29. Ibid., 7:56.

30. Acts 9:1–6.

31. Ibid., 22:17–18; cf. also Acts 18:9–10.

32. See J. Lindblom, Gesichte und Offenbarungen: Vorstellungen von göttlichen Weisungen und übernatürlichen Erscheinungen im ältesten Christentum (Lund, 1968), 32–113.

33. See K. Holl, Der Kirchenbegriff des Paulus in seinem Verhältnis zu dem der Urgemeinde, in Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Kirchengeschichte (Tübingen, 1921), II, 50–51.

34. G. Blum, Tradition und Sukzession: Studium zum Normbegriff des Apostolischen von Paulus bis Irenaeus (Berlin, 1963), 48.

35. Campenhausen, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power, 14–24. For discussion, see E. Pagels, “Visions, Appearances, and Apostolic Authority,” 415–430.

36. Origen, Commentarium in I Corinthians, in Journal of Theological Studies 10 (1909), 46–47.

37. Tertullian, De Resurrectione Carnis, 19–27.

38. Irenaeus, AH 1.30.13.

39. I Corinthians 15:8.

40. Mark 16:9.

41. John 20:11–19.

42. Gospel of Mary 10.17–21, in NHL 472.

43. Apocalypse of Peter 83.8–10, in NHL 344. For discussion of Peter in gnostic traditions, see P. Perkins, “Peter in Gnostic Revelations,” in Proceedings of SBL: 1974 Seminar Papers II (Washington, 1974), 1–13.

44. Treatise on Resurrection 48.10–16, in NHL 52–53. See M. L. Peel, The Epistle to Rheginos; A Valentinian Letter on the Resurrection: Introduction, Translation, Analysis, and Exposition (London/Philadelphia 1969); B. Layton, The Gnostic Treatise on Resurrection from Nag Hammadi. Edited, with Translation and Commentary (Missoula, 1979). The translation I cite follows that of Layton, as noted in the Acknowledgments.

45. Treatise on Resurrection 48.34–38, in NHL 53.

46. Ibid., 47.18–49.24, in NHL 53.

47. Gospel of Philip 73.1–3, in NHL 144.

48. Ibid., 57.19–20, in NHL 135.

49. Cf. H. Koester, “One Jesus and Four Primitive Gospels,” in J. M. Robinson and H. Koester, Trajectories through Early Christianity (Philadelphia, 1971), 158–204, and Robinson, “The Johannine Trajectory,” ibid., 232–268.

50. Mark 16:9–20.

51. Gospel of Mary 9.14–18, in NHL 472.

52. Ibid., 10.4–5, in NHL 472.

53. Ibid., 17.8–15, in NHL 473.

54. Ibid., 18.1–12, in NHL 473.

55. The author of the Gospel of Mary may have noted that neither Mark nor John specifies that the resurrected Jesus appeared physically to Mary. Mark’s account, which adds that Jesus later appeared “in another form,” could be taken to suggest that he was a disembodied presence who took on various forms in order to become visible. John’s account relates that Jesus warned Mary not to touch him—in contrast to the stories that say he insisted on the disciples’ touching him to prove that he was “not a ghost.”

56. Irenaeus, AH 3.2.1–3.3.1. See also M. Smith, Clement of Alexandria and a Secret Gospel of Mark (Cambridge, 1973), 197–278.

57. Ibid., 3.4.1–2.

58. Mark 4:11.

59. Matthew 13:11.

60. II Corinthians 12:2–4.

61. I Corinthians 2:6.

62. R. Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, trans, by K. Grobel (London, 1965), I, 327; U. Wilckens, Weisheit und Torheit (Tübingen, 1959), 44 f., 214–224.

63. R. Scroggs, “Paul: and ,” New Testament Studies 14, 33–55. See also E. Pagels, The Gnostic Paul (Philadelphia, 1975), 1–10; 55–58; 157–164.

64. Apocryphon of John 1.30–2.7, in NHL 99.

65. Ibid., 2.9–18, in NHL 99.

66. Letter of Peter to Philip 134.10–18, in NHL 395. For analysis, see M. Meyer, The Letter of Peter to Philip NHL VIII, 2: Text, Translation, and Commentary (Claremont, 1979).

67. Sophia Jesu Christi 91.8–13, in NHL 207–208.

68. For discussion, see H.-C. Puech, “Gnostic Gospels and Related Documents,” in New Testament Apocrypha I. 231–362.

69. Gospel of Philip 57.28–35, in NHL 135.

70. Clemens Alexandrinus, EXCERPTA 23.4.

71. Irenaeus, AH 3.11.9.

72. Book of Thomas the Contender 138.7–18, in NHL 189.

73. Irenaeus, AH 1.18.1.

74. Acts of John 94–96, in New Testament Apocrypha II. 227–232. For brief discussion, see E. Pagels, “To the Universe Belongs the Dancer,” in Parabola IV.2 (1979), 7–9.

75. Irenaeus, AH 2.15.3.

76. Ibid., 2.13.3–10. Emphasis added.

77. Heracleon, Frag. 39, in Origen, Commentarium in Johannes. Hereafter cited as COMM. JO.

78. Hippolytus, REF 6.42.

79. Irenaeus, AH 1.14.1.

80. Ibid., 1.14.3.

81. Ibid., 1.13.3–4.

82. Ibid., 3.4.1.

83. Ibid., 1.13.6.

84. Ibid., 3.2.2.

85. Ptolemy, Epistula ad Floram 7.9; for discussion, see Campenhausen, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power, 158–161.

86. Irenaeus, AH 1.30.13.

87. Dialogue of the Savior 139.12–13, in NHL 235.

88. Apocalypse of Peter 72.10–28, in NHL 340–341.

89. Apocryphon of James 2.8–15, in NHL 30.

90. Tertullian, De Praescriptione Haereticorum 42. Hereafter cited as DE PRAESCR.

91. Ibid., 37.

92. Irenaeus, AH 1.10.2.

93. Ibid., 3.4.1.

94. Ibid., 3.3.2.

95. Apocalypse of Peter 74.16–21, in NHL 341. Cf. Brashler, The Coptic Apocalypse of Peter; Perkins, “Peter in Gnostic Revelations.”

96. Apocalypse of Peter 79.24–30, in NHL 343.

97. Ibid., 76.27–34, in NHL 342.

98. Ibid., 78.31–79.10, in NHL 343.

99. For discussion, see E. Pagels, “The Demiurge and his Archons: A Gnostic View of the Bishop and Presbyters?” in Harvard Theological Review 69.3–4 (1976), 301–324.

100. Tertullian, De Carne Christi 5.

101. Gospel of Thomas, 38.33–39.2, in NHL 121.

102. Cf. E. Leach, Melchisedek and the Emperor: Icons of Subversion and Orthodoxy, in Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland for 1972 (London, 1973), 1 ff.