The Nag Hammadi Codices And Their Ancient Readers

Paul Linjamaa's study explores the way in which fourth century Egyptian monks produced, read and studied the Nag Hammadi Codices.

Since their discovery in 1945, the Nag Hammadi Codices have generated questions and scholarly debate as to their date and function. Paul Linjamaa contributes to the discussion by offering insights into previously uncharted aspects pertinent to the materiality of the manuscripts. He explores the practical implementation of the texts in their ancient setting through analyses of codicological aspects, paratextual elements, and scribal features. Linjamaa's research supports the hypothesis that the Nag Hammadi texts had their origins in Pachomian monasticism. He shows how Pachomian monks used the texts for textual edification, spiritual development and pedagogical practices. He also demonstrates that the texts were used for perfecting scribal and editorial practice, and that they were used as protective artefacts containing sacred symbols in the continuous monastic warfare against evil spirits. Linjamaa's application of new material methods provides clues to the origins and use of ancient texts, and challenges preconceptions about ancient orthodoxy. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

"Hugo Lundhaug and Lance Jenott offer a sustained argument for the monastic provenance of the Nag Hammadi Codices. They examine the arguments for and against a monastic Sitz im Leben and defend the view that the Codices were produced and read by Christian monks, most likely Pachomians, in the fourth- and fifth-century monasteries of Upper Egypt. Eschewing the modern classification of the Nag Hammadi texts as “Gnostic,” the authors approach the codices and their ancient owners from the perspective of the diverse monastic culture of late antique Egypt and situate them in the context of the ongoing controversies over extra-canonical literature and the theological legacy of Origen. Through a combination of sources, including idealized hagiographies, travelogues, monastic rules and exhortations, and the more quotidian details revealed in documentary papyri, manuscript collections, and archaeology, monasticism in the Thebaid is brought to life, and the Nag Hammadi codices situated within it. The cartonnage papyri from the leather covers of the codices, which bear witness to the monastic culture of the region, are closely examined, while scribal and codicological features of the codices are analyzed and compared with contemporary manuscripts from Egypt. Special attention is given to the codices’ scribal notes and colophons which offer direct evidence of their producers and users. The study ultimately reveals the Nag Hammadi Codices as a collection of books completely at home in the monastic manuscript culture of late antique Egypt."--

This volume showcases the new trend in scholarship to treat the Nag Hammadi Codices as sources for Christianity and monasticism in late antique Egypt rather than for Gnosticism. The essays situate the Nag Hammadi Codices and their texts in the context of late antique Egypt, treating such topics as Coptic readers and readings, the difficulty of dating early Greek and Coptic manuscripts, scribal practices, the importance of heavenly ascent, asceticism, and instruction in Egyptian monastic culture, the relationship of the texts to the Origenist controversy and Manichaeism, the continuity of mythical traditions in later Coptic literature, and issues relating to the codices' production and burial. Most of the essays were originally presented at the conference »The Nag Hammadi Codices in the Context of Fourth- and Fifth-Century Christianity in Egypt,« organized by the ERC-financed project New Contexts for Old Texts: Unorthodox Texts and Monastic Manuscript Culture in Fourth- and Fifth-Century Egypt (NEWCONT), at the University of Oslo in December 2013.Survey of contentsHugo Lundhaug/Lance Jenott: Introduction: The Nag Hammadi Codices in Context Part I: The Monastic Life Jon F. Dechow: The Nag Hammadi Milieu: An Assessment in the Light of the Origenist Controversies - James E. Goehring: The Material Encoding of Early Christian Division: Nag Hammadi Codex VII and the Ascetic Milieu in Upper Egypt - Melissa Harl Sellew: Reading Jesus in the Desert: The Gospel of Thomas Meets the Apophthegmata Patrum - Blossom Stefaniw: Hegemony and Homecoming in the Ascetic Imagination: Sextus, Silvanus, and Monastic Instruction in Egypt Part II: Egyptian Christianity and its Literature Dylan M. Burns: Magical, Coptic, Christian: The Great Angel Eleleth and the 'Four Luminaries' in Egyptian Literature of the First Millennium CE - Julio Cesar Dias Chaves: From the Apocalypse of Paul to Coptic Epic Passions: Greeting Paul and the Martyrs in Heaven - Ulla Tervahauta: The Soul Flees to Her Treasure where Her Mind Is: Scriptural Allusions in the Authentikos Logos Part III: Religious Diversity in Egypt Christian H. Bull: Hermes between Pagans and Christians: The Nag Hammadi Hermetica in Context - René Falkenberg: What Has Nag Hammadi to Do with Medinet Madi? The Case of Eugnostos and Manichaeism - Paula Tutty: Books of the Dead or Books with the Dead? Interpreting Book Depositions in Late Antique Egypt Part IV: Scribes and Manuscripts Hugo Lundhaug: The Dishna Papers and the Nag Hammadi Codices: The Remains of a Single Monastic Library? - Louis Painchaud: The Production and Destination of the Nag Hammadi Codices - Michael A. Williams/David Coblentz: A Reexamination of the Articulation Marks in Nag Hammadi Codices II and XIII - Christian Askeland: Dating Early Greek and Coptic Literary Hands.

The Definitive Collection of Gnostic Writings The year is 1945. At the foot of a cliff along the Nile River, near the city of Nag Hammadi, an Egyptian peasant unearths a large storage jar containing ancient manuscripts. The discovery turns out to be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the past century. A treasure of fourth-century texts, the manuscripts are the scriptures of the ancient mystical tradition commonly called Gnosticism, from the Greek gnosis, that is, secret knowledge. It is a discovery that challenges everything we thought we knew about the early Christian church, ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman religions. The Nag Hammadi Scriptures is the most complete and up-to-date English-language edition of these sacred texts from Egypt. It is full of treatises, testimonies, and secret books that had been lost for centuries. In addition to gospels purportedly by the apostles Thomas and Philip, and the revelations of James, Peter, and Paul, this collection also includes the Gospel of Mary and the controversial Gospel of Judas. The documents have been newly translated by a team of prominent international scholars. This volume also features introductory essays and extensive notes to help readers understand the context and significance of these texts that have revolutionized the study of early Christianity and ancient religious thought.

*Includes excerpts from the texts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading Many people interested in biblical themes know about the Dead Sea Scrolls and their guardians, the mysterious Essenes, the sect of Judaism that hid its priceless library in caves before marching against the Romans in an end-time war, certain that God would intervene at the decisive moment. The ancient texts found in their rock cabinets have produced tons of literature. Fewer people know about an equally fascinating finding in the same region of the planet, made only a few months apart: a collection of hitherto unknown Christian codices, buried in the 4th century AD, and found accidentally by peasants near the city of Nag Hammadi, Upper Egypt. Among the old codices was The Gospel of Thomas, lost for sixteen centuries, and other unfamiliar titles such as The Gospel of Philip and the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles. In this case it was not Essenes who had entrusted them to the protection of the caves and the centuries, but monks who followed a now forgotten variant of Christianity called Gnosticism. The Gnostics were mystics who had no real use or hope for the world. Their writings became forbidden when the Church defined the canon of the books authorized to be read in the congregation. For some reason, instead of burning them, the monks of Nag Hammadi decided to entrust them to posterity, perhaps waiting for better times. The library of Nag Hammadi, Egypt is as significant in the study of early Christianity as the writings of the Essenes to the understanding of Judaism during the time of the Roman occupation. Considering the history of religions, they were composed at the opposite sides of that watershed that was the 1st century CE, which witnessed the birth of Christianity and the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. The Dead Sea Scrolls belonged to a community that lived before the traumatic destruction of Holy City and its temple at the hands of the Romans. The library of Nag Hammadi was produced and buried by a group of Christians whose ancestors had left their place of origin many years before. Although all the titles of the Nag Hammadi library are not known, many people have heard about its most famous components: The Gospel of Thomas -at one time it was discussed whether it should be included in the New Testament- and The Gospel of Philip, which tried to revive the debate around the identity of Mary Magdalene: "Why do you love her more than all of us?" asks a disconcerted Peter to Jesus. Finally, the Nag Hammadi texts have led many scholars to reconsider the rigid canons imposed by the early Church, and the readers to find a more intimate religion that turned upside down many postulates of Christian orthodoxy. Along with the history of their discovery in 1945, the analysis of the main texts that form this collection, the exposition of their most important beliefs, and the reasons for their suppression in the 4th century CE, you will learn about the unknown gospels and the Gnostic texts of Nag Hammadi like never before.

This volume presents critical editions of three of the most fragmentary codices in the Nag Hammadi Library. Their nine tractates are presented in an English translation with critically edited transcriptions of Coptic texts, including introductions and notes. A complete set of indices is provided for Coptic and Greek words, proper names, ancient texts and authors, and modern authors. The contents of these three ancient books reflect the rich diversity of the Library as a whole. They include a fragmentary (and apparently non-Christian) revelation descent narrative (Hypsiphrone); a non-Christian Sethian text reflecting heavy platonizing influence (Allogenes); Hellenistic Greek wisdom literature (Sentence of Sextus); a non-christian Sethian text, secondarily Christianized (Trimorphic Protennoia); Valentinian Gnosticism (A Valentinian Exposition); a Christian-Gnostic tractate with Valentinian affinities (The Interpretation of Knowledge). A Christian-Gnostic (perhaps Valentinian) homily on the gospel (the Gospel of Truth); the first page of On the Origin of the World (completely preserved in NHC II) and an identified fragmentary tractate with ethical content. There are also five Valentinian liturgical supplements appended to Allogenes. The publication of these religio-philosophical materials from Nag Hammadi provides the scholar and interested reader with critical editions of texts that help to fill in background and context of gnostic origins, and that shed light on the interaction among early Christianity and gnostic movements in antiquity.