The Gnostic Gospels (ISBN 0-679-72453-2) by Elain Pagels was copyrighted in 1979 and published most recently by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, since 1989. It remains to this day one of the most controversial books written about the Christian religion.
The first chapter discusses the Controversy over Christ's Resurrection, whether it was symbolical or actual. The heresy concerning a symbolic resurrection is the primary Gnostic Heresy. The Gnostics base their opinion on the fact the Resurrection of Christ is a common theme in most of the pre-Christian mystery religions and the Pagan religions giving birth to Judaism.
In this chapter Pagels introduces the Gnostic idea about Mary Magdalene being not only an Apostle but that she was the first person to see Jesus after he resurrected. Rome does not like this interpretation because the Pope receives his authority from Peter who received this authority because Peter was the first to see the resurrected Christ. Obviously, if Mary was the first to see the resurrected Christ, Rome has a problem.
But that's just the beginning. In Chapter Two the author opens the Great Christian Can of Worms, the politics of monotheism. How the Church handles the differences between the Vindictive the Divine of the Old Testament with the Loving the Divine of the New Testament is the politics of monotheism.
Then in Chapter Three Pagels opens new wounds with a discussion of the Divine the Father vs. the Divine the Mother. This discussion culminates in Chapter Five: Whose Church is the True Church?
Pagels does not translate nor present the Gnostic Gospels in their full annotated form. She references them as she builds her theories about the early Church. Finally, in Chapter Six she defines Gnosis as direct knowledge of the Divine. This self-knowledge is so compelling the recipient is forever changed and resurrected as a new person.
This book is an excellent foundation book for understanding Gnosticism and the Gnostic Gospels.
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