The collection of thirteen codices found in upper Egypt near Nag Hammadi in 1946 is one of the major archaeological discoveries of our time. Apparently the library of a Gnostic community in late antiquity, the codices are a repository of important spiritual materials from throughout the ancient world. Hence a thorough analysis of this new material is indispensable for any proper understanding of the history of religions in this period. The rich documentation which the codices add to early Coptic text material promises to raise to a new precision the historical analysis of that language.|This edition presents collotype reproductions in natural size of all folios of the thirteen codices as well as reproductions of the covers and photographs previously taken of fragments that are now lost.

The collection of thirteen codices found in upper Egypt near Nag Hammadi in 1946 is one of the major archaeological discoveries of our time. Perhaps the library of a Gnostic community in late antiquity, the codices are a repository of important spiritual materials from throughout the ancient world. Hence a thorough analysis of this new material is indispensable for any proper understanding of the history of religions in this period. The rich documentation which the codices add to early Coptic text material promises to raise to a new precision the historical analysis of that language.This edition presents collotype reproductions in natural size of all folios of the thirteen codices as well as reproductions of the covers and photographs previously taken of fragments that are now lost.

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.

The discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library (1945) has given an enormous impetus not only to the study of ancient Gnosticism but also to that of early Christianity in general. Most of the studies contained in this volume deal with mythological conceptions and theological ideas found in various Nag Hammadi writings. The gnostic views on the nature of God and on creation and salvation receive particular attention, ranging from Philo to the medieval Cathars. The Nag Hammadi Library also shed new light on the development of early Alexandrian Christianity and its theology. The book contains six studies which explicitly deal with these topics. This volume is of interest to students of Gnosticism, early Christianity and Graeco-Roman religious and philosophical ideas in general.

Both the Thunder: Perfect Mind (NHC VI,2) and the Trimorphic Protennoia (NHC XIII,1) present their readers with goddesses who descend in such auditive terms as sound, voice, and word. In Linguistic Manifestations in the Trimorphic Protennoia and the Thunder: Perfect Mind, Tilde Bak Halvgaard argues that these presentations reflect a philosophical discussion about the nature of words and names, utterances and language, as well as the relationship between language and reality, inspired especially by Platonic and Stoic dialectics. Her analysis of these linguistic manifestations against the background of ancient philosophy of language offers many new insights into the structure of the two texts and the paradoxical sayings of the Thunder: Perfect Mind.

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.

Preliminary Material --Foreword /James M. Robinson --Preface /Douglas M. Parrott --Table of Tractates in the Coptic Gnostic Library /Douglas M. Parrott --Abbreviations and Short Titles /Douglas M. Parrott --Textual Signs /Douglas M. Parrott --Introduction /Douglas M. Parrott --Codicological Analysis of Nag Hammadi Codices V and VI and Papyrus Berolinensis 8502 /James M. Robinson --NHC V,2: The Apocalypse of Paul /William R. Murdock and George W. MacRae --NHC V,3: The (First) Apocalypse of James /William R. Schoedel --NHC V,4: The (Second) Apocalypse of James /Charles W. Hedrick --NHC V,5: The Apocalypse of Adam /George W. MacRae --NHC VI,1: The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles /R. McL. Wilson and Douglas M. Parrott --NHC VI,2: The Thunder: Perfect Mind /George W. MacRae --NHC VI,3: Authoritative Teaching /George W. MacRae --NHC VI,4: The Concept of Our Great Power /Frederik Wisse and Francis E. Williams --NHC VI,5: Plato, Republic 588b-589b /James Brashler --NHC VI,6: The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth /Peter A. Dirkse , James Brashler , and Douglas M. Parrott --NHC VI,7: The Prayer of Thanksgiving /Peter A. Dirkse and James Brashler --NHC VI,7a: Scribal Note /Douglas M. Parrott --NHC VI,8: Asclepius 21-29 /Peter A. Dirkse and Douglas M. Parrott --BG,1: The Gospel of Mary /R. McL. Wilson and George W. MacRae --BG,4: The Act of Peter /James Brashler and Douglas M. Parrott --Word Indices /Douglas M. Parrott --References to Ancient Works and Authors /Douglas M. Parrott.

"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."--