Essays On The Coptic Gnostic Library

"The Gnostic Library" continues where the Dead Sea Scrolls left off. It is based on the Nag Hammadi codices, which were unearthed in 1945 -- a discovery considered as significant as the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves. The "Coptic Gnostic Library" contains all the texts of the Nag Hammadi codices, both in the original Coptic and in translation. It sheds an invaluable light upon early Judaism and the roots of Christianity. Now available in paperback.

The author had the responsibility for preparing and publishing for UNESCO The Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices in twelve volumes (197284), as well as the one-volume Nag Hammadi Library in English (1977), and the Coptic Gnostic Library critical edition in fourteen volumes (1975-95), reprinted in five volumes (2000). In the process he published a series of articles as the work in progress, analyzing one dimension after the other of the project. These essays collected here thus present the indispensable context for being able to understand the Nag Hammadi publications.

The Coptic Gnostic Library continues where the Dead Sea Scrolls left off. Our main sources of information for the Gnostic religion are the so-called Nag Hammadi codices, written in Coptic. These were unearthed in 1945 near the town of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt. The texts literally begin where the Dead Sea Scrolls end. Their discovery is considered equally significant as the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves, bringing to light a long-hidden wealth of information and insights into early Judaism and the roots of Christianity. Furthermore, these writings clearly show that the Gnostic religion was not only a force that interacted with early Christianity and Judaism in their formative periods, but also a significant religious movement in its own right. The Coptic Gnostic Library contains all the texts of the Nag Hammadi codices, both in the original Coptic and in translation. Each text has its own introduction, and full indexes are provided. The Coptic Gnostic Library is the starting point for all research into ancient Gnosticism. It is the result of decades of dedicated research by the most distinguished international scholars in this field. The Coptic Gnostic Library is the only authoritative edition of many of the Coptic writings of the Gnostics from the first centuries AD. It was originally published by Brill in fourteen hardback volumes as part of the Nag Hammadi (and Manichaean) Studies series between 1975 and 1995, under the general editorship of James M. Robinson. Now, for the first time, it is available in paperback, at a fraction of the price of the original hardback editions. - Photomechanical paperback reprint of the original 14 hardback volumes - Complete and unabridged: 5 volumes, totaling approximately 5.000 pages - Facing Coptic texts and English translations, Introductions, Notes, and Indexes - Only available as a set

The Nag Hammadi Story is not a history of research in the usual sense of a Forschungsbericht, which would report on the massive amount of scholarship that has been devoted to the content of the Nag Hammadi Codices for more than a half-century. Rather it is a socio-historical narration of just what went on during the thirty-two years from their discovery late in 1945, via their initial trafficking, and then the attempts to monopolize them, until finally, through the intervention of UNESCO, the whole collection of thirteen Codices was published in facsimiles and in English translation, both completed late in 1977.

First published in 1978, "The Nag Hammadi Library" was widely acclaimed by critics and scholars alike. Containing many of the writings of the Gnostics since the time of Christ, this was the work that launched modern Gnostic studies and exposed a movement whose teachings are in may ways as relevant today as they were sixteen centuries ago. Although some of the texts had appeared in other translations, the 1978 edition was the first and only translation of these ancient and fascinating manuscripts to appear in one volume. This new edition is the result of ten years of additional research, and editorial and critical work. Every translation has been changed or added to; many have been thoroughly revised. Unearthed in 1945 near the town of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt, the texts literally begin where the Dead Sea Scrolls end. Their discovery is seen as equally significant, bringing to light a long-hidden well of new information, sources, and insights into early Judaism and the roots of Christianity. Each text is accompanied by a new and expanded introduction. Also included are a revised general introduction and an afterword discussing the modern relevance of Gnosticism, from Voltaire and Blake through Melville and Yeats to Jack Kerouac and science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The translations and introductions to the Nag Hammadi texts are by members of the Coptic Gnostic Library Project, which includes such scholars as Helmut Koester, George McRae, and Elaine Pagels.

This synopsis of the Apocryphon of John presents the four Coptic text (NHC II,1; III,1 and IV,1; with BG 8502) in parallel columns with English translations in similar arrangement beneath the Coptic text. Important parallel texts are included in an appendix. The volume also contains a research bibliography on the Apocryphon of John and an index of Coptic and Greek words.