Seek to see him : ascent and vision mysticism in the Gospel of Thomas /
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This monograph represents a critical juncture in Thomas studies since it dispels the belief that the Gospel of Thomas originates from gnostic traditions. Rather, Jewish mystical and Hermetic origins are proposed and examined. Following this analysis, the anthropogony and soteriology of Thomas are discussed. The Thomasites taught that they were the elect children of the Father, originating from the Light. The human, however, became unworthy of these luminous beginnings and was separated from the divine when Adam sinned. Now he must purify himself by leading an encratite lifestyle. He is to ascend into heaven, seeking a visio dei which will transform him into his original immortal state and grant him citizenship in the Kingdom.
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1 online resource (xiv, 211 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-199) and indexes. :
9789004313002 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jesu Lehren im Thomasevangelium /
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In this book, Thomas Zöckler treats the Gospel of Thomas as a witness to a distinctive early branch of the tradition of Jesus' teachings which shows a variety of theological notions and ideas. The author first considers Thomas' position within the early sayings tradition, summarizing the main arguments for this gospel's independence from the Synoptic Gospels, and comparing in detail the versions of the four wisdom sayings in Thomas and Q. In a second part, Zöckler identifies three theological motifs that dominate Thomas' sayings collection (Searching and Finding, Life and Death, Twoness and Oneness) and interprets the selected sayings which substantiate the relevance and significance of these motifs. This detailed exegetical investigation contributes to the growing recognition that teachings which the Gospel of Thomas ascribes to Jesus, many of which do not fit the Synoptic Gospel's theology and picture of Jesus, clearly belonged nevertheless to an early stage of the sayings tradition. At the same time, Zöckler's work adds to our growing understanding of the meaning of these teachings.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004439870
9789004114456
For the Children, Perfect Instruction : Studies in Honor of Hans-Martin Schenke on the Occasion of the Berliner Arbeitskreis für koptisch-gnostische Schriften's Thirtieth Year /
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Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin Schenke, internationally renowned New Testament scholar and pioneer researcher in Gnosticism as it became brilliantly illuminated by the publication of the Nag Hammadi Codices, organized a small group of students and colleagues in "East Berlin" in the early 1970s to investigate the difficult new primary sources from the "Coptic Gnostic Library" discovered in Upper Egypt in 1945. This group, the "Berliner Arbeitskreis für Koptisch-Gnostische Schriften," published its first results in 1972, and Prof. Schenke and the Arbeitskreis have been at the forefront of Nag Hammadi studies ever since. The present volume is a collection of twenty-seven studies by colleagues, students, and friends of Prof. Schenke in honor of his many contributions to the study of Gnosticism and related religious phenomena in Antiquity, Coptic language and literature, and the New Testament. The book also includes an extensive bibliography of Prof. Schenke's own publications, whose breadth and insightfulness are appropriately mirrored in the variety of contributions to this rich volume.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004439924
9789004126725
Nag Hammadi Codex VIII /
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Codex VIII from Nag Hammadi contains two tractates, Zostrianos and The Letter of Peter to Philip . This volume presents a critical edition of those texts, and includes regarding each separate text a transcription with notes, an introduction, and a translation. In addition it includes an introduction to the Codex itself, and several sets of indices. The tractate Zostrianos recounts a heavenly journey of a gnostic mystic who gains and brings back with him the saving gnosis. That gnosis is most closely related to Middle Platonism and the document intends to be part of that tradition. As such it was refuted by Plotinus and his pupil Amelius. Much of the manuscript is poorly preserved. The Letter of Peter to Philip is a gnostic revelatory discourse in letter form with Peter as its hero. The Risen Christ reveals a gnostic view of the universe and of human existence.
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English translation with Coptic text, translated from a lost Greek original, of Zostrianos and the Letter of Peter to Philip. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004438965
9789004094772
Der Same Seths : Hans-Martin Schenkes kleine Schriften zu Gnosis, Koptologie und Neuem Testament /
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During a lifetime of scholarship and teaching, Hans-Martin Schenke produced a large number of publications in the fields of New Testament, Gnosticism, and Coptology. This collection of his essays and book reviews bears witness to his love for the linguistic aspects of Coptology and illustrates his wide-ranging interest in the development of early Christianity. His insights and deep understanding of Gnostic beliefs and systems as a background for interpreting the New Testament make his contributions to this discipline very rewarding and indispensable reading. Im Laufe seines langen wissenschaftlichen Lebens hat Hans-Martin Schenke eine Fülle von Veröffentlichungen in den Bereichen Neues Testament, Gnosisforschung und Koptologie hervorgebracht. Die hier vorliegende Sammlung seiner Aufsätze und Rezensionen bekundet den Reichtum seines Schaffens. Sie zeugt von seiner Liebe zur koptischen Linguistik und veranschaulicht die Spannweite seines Interesses an der Entwicklung des frühen Christentums. Seine tiefe Kenntnis gnostischer Vorstellungen und Systeme als Hintergrund für das Verständnis des Neuen Testaments lässt seine Beiträge zu einer unentbehrlichen Fundgrube und seine Einsichten zu einem lohnenden Lesevergnügen werden.
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"Er muss wachsen, ich aber muss abnehmen." Der Konflikt zwischen Jesusjüngern und Täufergemeinde im Spiegel des Johannesevangeliums. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004226241 :
0929-2470 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Images of rebirt h cognitive poetics and transformational soteriology in the Gospel of Philip and the Exegesis on the Soul /
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This book offers fresh readings of the Gospel of Philip (NHC II.3) and the Exegesis on the Soul (NHC II.6) from new theoretical and historical perspectives. Eschewing the category of "Gnosticism" and challenging common categorisations, the book analyses the preserved Coptic texts as coherent Christian compositions contemporary with the production and use of the Nag Hammadi Codices. A methodological framework based on Cognitive Poetics is outlined and applied to illuminate how the texts present a soteriology of transformation through religious rituals and practices using complex conceptual and intertextual blends with important polemical and paraenetic functions. The analysis highlights the use of metaphors and allusions in (re-)interpretations of authoritative Scripture, ritual and dogma. Complete Coptic texts and translations are included.
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Appendix contains the texts of the Exegesis on the Soul and the Gospel of Philip in Coptic, with English translations on facing pages.
Revised version of the author's thesis (doctoral)--University of Bergen, 2007. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (pages 541-576) and index. :
9789004216501 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Nag Hammadi Codices III, 3-4 and V,1 with Papyrus Berolinensis 8502,3 and Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1081: Eugnostos and the Sophia of Jesus Christ /
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Eugnostos and The Sophia of Jesus Christ (SJC) are two closely related tractates from the Nag Hammadi Coptic Gnostic Library and Papyrus Berolinensis 8502 (only SJC ). Here they are presented parallel with each other because they are literarily related, i.e. most of Eugnostos is also found in SJC . Eugnostos is printed in its two Coptic copies (too close to be versions), plus the fragmentary remains of a Greek copy (all with translations). This the first publication of the edited text of Eugnostos from Nag Hammadi Codex V and the first time that all these texts have been presented in one volume. Eugnostos is a non-Christian speculative cosmogony that begins with the primal invisible One, moves on to the structuring of the invisible and visible aeons and concludes at the point where the creation of this world would occur. SJC is a revelation discourse of Christ with his disciples which makes use of the bulk of Eugnostos , and adds new emphases: e.g. the special role of Christ as revealer and savior, the imprisonment of the divine element in flesh, opposition in sexual intercourse, and the commissioning of the disciples. While Eugnostos lacks essential elements of the gnostic world-view, SJC is unquestionably gnostic. If one assumes the priority of Eugnostos , these tractates provide the clearest textual evidence available of a non-gnostic and non-Christian speculative system being transformed into a system that is both gnostic and Christian. An introduction, textual notes and indices are included.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004438941
9789004083660
The Gospel of Thomas and Christian origins : essays on the Fifth Gospel /
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The essays collected in The Gospel of Thomas and Christian Origins offer a series new chapters in the history of Christianity's first century. Stephen J. Patterson, whose work on the Gospel of Thomas has circulated widely for more than two decades, argues that taking this new source seriously will require rethinking a number of basic issues, including the assumed apocalyptic origins of early Christian faith, the supposed centrality of Jesus' death and resurrection, and the role of Platonism in formulation of both orthodox and heterodox Christian theology.
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A collection of previously published essays; dates of original publication range from 1991 to 2013. :
1 online resource (xiv, 311 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004256217 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Pilgrimage and holy space in late antique Egypt /
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This volume deals with the origins and rise of Christian pilgrimage cults in late antique Egypt. Part One covers the major theoretical issues in the study of Coptic pilgrimage, such as sacred landscape and shrines' catchment areas, while Part Two examines native Egyptian and Egyptian Jewish pilgrimage practices. Part Three investigates six major shrines, from Philae's diverse non-Christian devotees to the great pilgrim center of Abu Mina and a Thecla shrine on its route. Part Four looks at such diverse pilgrims' rites as oracles, chant, and stational liturgy, while Part Five brings in Athanasius's and an anonymous hagiographer's perspectives on pilgrimage in Egypt. The volume includes illustrations of the Abu Mina site, pilgrims' ampules from the Thecla shrine, as well as several maps.
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Some illustrations folded. :
1 online resource (xiv, 516 pages) : illustrations, maps. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004298064 :
0927-7633 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Magic and ritual in the ancient world /
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This volume contains a series of provocative essays that explore expressions of magic and ritual power in the ancient world. The essays are authored by leading scholars in the fields of Egyptology, ancient Near Eastern studies, the Hebrew Bible, Judaica, classical Greek and Roman studies, early Christianity and patristics, and Coptic and Islamic Egypt. The strength of the present volume lies in the breadth of scholarly approaches represented. The book begins with several papyrological studies presenting important new texts in Greek and Coptic, continuing with essays focusing on taxonomy and definition. The concluding essays apply contemporary theories to analyses of specific test cases in a broad variety of ancient Mediterranean cultures.
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1 online resource (xvii, 468 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047400400 :
0927-7633 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Light and the Darkness : Studies in Manichaeism and its World /
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This is the second volume of scholarly studies in Manichaeism which were originally presented before the Manichaean Studies Group of the Society of Biblical Literature from 1997 through 1999. Like its predecessor, Emerging from Darkness: Studies in the Recovery of Manichaean Sources (Brill, 1997), this volume presents the latest international scholarship from leading researchers in the growing field of Manichaean studies. Here the researchers move from the continuing foundational work of recovering Manichaean sources to the necessary task of understanding the relationship of Manichaeans to the larger world in which they lived. That relationship took several distinct forms, and the contributions in this book analyze those forms, examining the relationship of Manichaeism with diverse cultural, social and religious traditions.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004439900
9789004116733