Poetics of the Gnostic universe : narrative and cosmology in the Apocryphon of John /
:
This volume is both an essay in Gnostic poetics and a study in the history of early Christian appropriation of ancient philosophy. The object of study is the cosmological model of the Apocryphon of John , a first-hand and fully narrated version of the Gnostic myth. The author examines his target text against a complex background of religious and philosophical systems, literary theories, and rhetorical techniques of the period, and argues that the world model of the Apocryphon of John is inseparable from the epistemological, theological, and aesthetic debates within contemporary Platonism. Poetics of the Gnostic Universe also discusses the composition and narrative logic of the Apocryphon of John , explores its revisionist attitude towards various literary models (Plato's Timaeus , Wisdom literature, Genesis), and analyzes its peculiar discursive strategy of conjoining seemingly disconnected symbolic 'codes' while describing the derivation of a multi-layered universe from a single transcendent source.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [276]-302) and indexes. :
9789047404026 :
0929-2470 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Plotinus in dialogue with the Gnostics /
:
The point of view put forth in the following pages differs greatly from the common perspective according to which the treatises 30 to 33 constitute a single work, a Großschrift , and this single work, Plotinus' essential response to the Gnostics. Our perspective is that of an ongoing discussions with his "Gnostic"-yet Platonizing-friends, which started early in his writings (at least treatise 6), developed into what we could call a Großzyklus (treatises 27 to 39), and went on in later treatises as well (e. g. 47-48, 51). The prospect of an ongoing discussion with the Gnostics bears an additional virtue, that of allowing for a truly dynamic understanding of the Plotinian corpus.
:
1 online resource (viii, 152 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004216396 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Paradise reconsidered in Gnostic mythmaking : rethinking Sethianism in light of the Ophite evidence /
:
This book offers a new understanding of Sethianism and the origins of Gnosticism by examining the mythology in and social reality behind a group of texts to which certain leaders of the early church occasionally attached the label 'Ophite.' In the unique Ophite mythology, which rewrites the Genesis paradise story and is attested, for example, in Irenaeus' Adversus haereses 1.30, The Apocryphon of John and On the Origin of the World , the snake's advice to eat of the tree of knowledge is considered positive, the creator and his angels are turned into demonic beasts and the true Godhead is presented as an androgynous heavenly projection of Adam and Eve. It is argued that Hans-Martin Schenke's influential model of the 'Sethian system' only reveals part of a larger whole to which the Ophite material belongs as an important and organic component.
:
Revision of the author's thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Helsinki and Université Laval, 2006. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [295]-312) and indexes. :
9789047426707 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Studies in Gnosticism and Alexandrian Christianity /
:
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.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004439689
9789004106543
The secret books of the Egyptian Gnostics : an introduction to he Gnostic Coptic manuscripts discovered Chenoboskion /
:
Translation of : Livres secrets des gnostiques d'Égypte.
"The Gospel according to Thomas ... rendered into English from the French by the Rev. Leonard Johnston." :
xvii, 445 pages : illustrations, portraits, facsimiles ; 23 cm. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
Sara.lib
Before Valentinus: The Gnostics of Irenaeus /
:
This book offers the first detailed commentary on the Gnostic treatises reported by Irenaeus in Adversus Haereses 1.29-30. It is argued that these texts represent the earliest tangible layer of the Gnostic literary tradition and served as sources for the Apocryphon of John and other later works. They also formed the starting point for Valentinus and his followers, who sought to reconcile the ideas of the Gnostics with apostolic Christianity. The book also shows that Irenaeus and later heresiologists referred to "the Gnostics" as a specific group among the great mass of heretics.
:
1 online resource (210 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004677890
Studies in Gnosticism and Hellenistic religions : presented to Gilles Quispel on the occasion of his 65th birthday /
:
Text in English, French, and German. :
1 online resource (xiv, 622 pages) : portrait. :
"List of Professor Quispel's publications": pages 1-12.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004295698 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.