The Gnostic Gospels (Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction Books)

CHAPTER TWO

For a more technical discussion of this subject, 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.

1. Cf. N. A. Dahl, “The Gnostic Response: The Ignorant Creator,” documentation prepared for the Nag Hammadi Section of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, 1976.

2. Hypostasis of the Archons 86.27–94.26, in NHL 153–158. Note that the citation is conflated from two separate variants of the story in 86.27–87.4 and 94.19–26; a third occurs in the same text at 94.34–95.13. Cf. B. Layton, “The Hypostasis of the Archons,” Harvard Theological Review 67 (1974), 351 ff.

3. On the Origin of the World 103.9–20, in NHL 165. For analysis of the texts, see F. L. Fallon, The Sabaoth Accounts in “The Nature of the Archons” (CG 11,4) and “On the Origin of the World” (CG 11, 5): An Analysis (Cambridge, 1974).

4. Apocryphon of John 11.18–13.13, in NHL 105–106.

5. Testimony of Truth 45.24–46.11, in NHL 411.

6. Ibid., 47.7–30, in NHL 412.

7. See excellent discussion by B. A. Pearson, “Jewish Haggadic Traditions in the Testimony of Truth from Nag Hammadi, CG IX, 3,” in Ex Orbe Religionum: Studia Geo Widengren oblata (Leiden, 1972), 458–470.

8. On the Origin of the World 115.31–116.8, in NHL 172.

9. Hypostasis of the Archons 89.11–91.1, in NHL 154–155.

10. Tripartite Tractate 51.24–52.6, in NHL 55.

11. A Valentinian Exposition 22.19–23, in NHL 436.

12.Interpretation of Knowledge 9.29, in NHL 430.

13. Irenaeus, AH 4.33.3.

14. Ibid., 3.16.6.

15. Ibid., 3.16.8.

16. Ibid., Praefatio 2.

17. Ibid., 4.33.3; 3.16.8.

18. For discussion and references, see Pagels, “The Demiurge and his Archons.”

19. Irenaeus, AH 1.11.1.

20. Ibid., 1.1.1; cf. Tripartite Tractate 51.1 ff., in NHL 55 ff.

21. Heracleon, Frag. 22, in Origen, COMM. JO. 13.19.

22. Ibid., Frag. 24, in Origen, COMM. JO. 13.25.

23. Gospel of Philip 53.24–34, in NHL 132–133.

24. Irenaeus, AH 3.15.2. Emphasis added.

25. Clemens Romanus, I Clement 3.3.

26. Ibid., 1.1.

27. Ibid., 14.19–20; 60.

28. Ibid., 60.4–61.2; 63.1–2.

29. Ibid., 63.1.

30. Ibid., 41.3.

31. Ibid., 41.1.

32. See, for example, Campenhausen, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power, 86–87: “Dogmatic issues are nowhere mentioned. We can no longer discern the background and the real point of the quarrel.”

33. So says H. Beyschlag, Clemens Romanus und der Frühkatholizismus (Tübingen, 1966), 339–353.

34. Ignatius, Magnesians 6.1; Trallions 3.1; Ephesians 5.3.

35. Magnesians 6.1–7.2; Trallians 3.1; Smyrneans 8.1–2. For citations and discussion, see Pagels, “The Demiurge and his Archons,” 306–307.

36. Trallians 3.1; Smyrneans 8.2.

37. See, for example, Campenhausen, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power, 84–106.

38. Tertullian, Adversus Valentinianos 4.

39. Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata 7.7.

40. Irenaeus, AH 3.2.1–3.1.

41. Ibid., Praefatio 2; 3.15.1–2.

42. Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata 4.89.6–90.1.

43. Cf. Plato, Timaeus 41. For discussion, see G. Quispel, “The Origins of the Gnostic Demiurge,” in Kyriakon: Festschrift Johannes Quasten (Münster, 1970), 252–271.

44. Heracleon, Frag. 40, in Origen, COMM. JO. 13.60.

45. Lord: Irenaeus, AH 4.1–5.

46. commander: Ibid., 1.7.4.

47. judge: Heracleon, Frag. 48, in Origen, COMM. JO. 20.38.

48. Irenaeus, AH 3.12.6–12.

49.Ibid., 1.21.1–4.

50. Ibid., 1.13.6.

51. Ibid., 1.21.5.

52. Ibid., 3.15.2.

53. Ibid., 1.7.4.

54. Ibid., 1.13.6.

55. Ibid., 3.15.2.

56. Tertullian, Adversus Valentinianos 4.

57. Irenaeus, AH 3.15.2.

58. Ibid., 3.3.2.

59. Ibid., 3.15.2.

60. Ibid., 1.21.1–2.

61. For a detailed discussion of this process, see Campenhausen, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power, 76 ff.

62. Apocalypse of Peter 79.22–30, in NHL 343.

63. Tripartite Tractate 69.7–10, in NHL 64; 70.21–29, in NHL 65; 72.16–19, in NHL 66.

64. Ibid., 79.20–32, in NHL 69.

65. Irenaeus, AH 1.13.1–6.

66. Ibid., 1.13.3

67. Ibid., 1.13.4; for technical discussion of the lot (kleros), see Pagels, “The Demiurge and his Archons,” 316–318.

Irenaeus tries to deny this: AH 1.134.

Such use of lots had precedent both in ancient Israel, where God was thought to express His choice through the casting of lots, and also among the apostles themselves, who selected by lot the twelfth apostle to replace Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:17–20). Apparently the followers of Valentinus intended to follow their example.

68. Tertullian, DE PRAESCR. 41. Emphasis added.

69. Ibid., 41.

70. Ibid., 41.

71. Irenaeus, AH 1.13.1.

72. Ibid., 1.6.2–3.

73. Ibid., Quotation conflated from 3.15.2 and 2.16.4.

74. Ibid., 3.15.2.

75. Ibid., 3.25.1.

76. Ibid., 5.26.1.

77. Irenaeus, Ad Florinum, in Eusebius, Historia ecclesiae 5.20.4–8.

78. Irenaeus, AH 4.26.3. Emphasis added.

79. Ibid., 4.26.2.

80. Ibid., 4.26.2.

81. Ibid., 1.27.4.

82. Ibid., 5.31.1.

83. Ibid., 5.35.2.