The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels  

“The Gnostic Gospels” by Elaine Pagels, originally published by Random House ed. 1979 The other day I purchased “The Gnostic Gospels” by Elaine Pagels. I walked out of the bookstore happy that I had acquired a text that could provide me with an overview and basic understanding of Christian Gnosticism. But the book delivered so much more. Pagels, a collaborating scholar of the Nag Hammadi Library, not only reveals many of the teachings from the ancient gnostic texts, but also considers how gnostic forms of Christianity contrasted with orthodox teachings in the early Christian movement. Referring to the writings discovered at Nag Hammadi she says, “Now for the first time, we have the opportunity to find out about the earliest Christian heresy; for the first time, the heretics can speak for themselves.” The gnostics differed greatly from the orthodox in many ways. Gnostics were confused by some of the orthodox beliefs, among them the idea that God is perfectly good, but still “he created a world that includes pain, injustice, and death. On the other hand, orthodox Christians refuted the ideas of the Divine Mother and that Christ’s resurrection is to be understood symbolically, not literally. A meaty introduction sets the historical stage and successfully satiated my curious appetite for historical background, but on page 20 of the introduction Pagels sums up one of the most significant spiritual differences; “Orthodox Jews and Christians insist that a chasm separates humanity from its creator: God is wholly other. But some of the gnostics who wrote these gospels contradict this: self-knowledge is knowledge of God; the self and the divine are identical. Second, the “living Jesus” of these texts speaks of illusion and enlightenment, not of sin and repentance, like the Jesus of the New Testament. Instead of coming to save us from sin, he comes as a guide who opens access to spiritual understanding. But when the disciple attains enlightenment, Jesus no longer serves as his spiritual master: the two have become equal – even identical.” By the end of the second century, orthodox church authorities vehemently fought for an organized, universal church and adherence to church authority. Whoever confessed the creed, accepted the ritual of baptism, participated in worship, and obeyed the clergy was accepted as a fellow Christian. “To join with the bishop is to join the church; to separate oneself from the bishop is to separate oneself not only from the church, but from God himself.” Outside the church there is no salvation. Gnostics, on the other hand, referred to the orthodox observers as “waterless canals.” What distinguished the false from the true church was not its relationship to the clergy, but the level of understanding of its members, and the quality of their relationship with one another. Concluding the book with breathtaking sensitivity, Pagels highlights many of the gnostic teachings from the Nag Hammadi manuscripts. “The Gospel of Thomas relates that when the disciples asked Jesus where they should go, he said only, ‘There is light within a man of light, and it lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness.’” While Elaine Pagels writes with historical objectivity, her spiritual insight clearly shows in her interpretations of the ancient gnostic teachings. This book is a classic for anyone wanting to learn about Christian Gnosticism. The book not only answered my questions about the spiritual teachings, it also brought to light their origins in antiquity.