The Gnostic Gosples

Elaine Pagels

Well, after reading The Da Vinci Code and watching the special on TV a couple weeks ago, I naturally went out and bought more books - at least, that is natural for me, anyway. The result is not quite a review, more like thinking out loud.

Many times it has been said that history is written by the winners. One of the books recently finished, and used by Brown (and possibly also Perdue) is Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels. What a thought provoking work. In this case, the 'winner' was a unified church. How to summarize what happened? The book itself is only 151 pages - but the intro prior to the main thesis of the book is over 35 pages. The intro lays out the basis for the 151 pages that follows.

As the church was forming, there was an organized group that became the orthodoxy of the 'only holy apostolic and catholic church' (I think that is the wording, I'm not a Catholic). The church was organized along strict hierachical lines. But the 'losers' in the early development were a group that felt that each individual had the knowledge (gnosis?) to determine what the right spiritual search/meaning/path was for them - therefore very loosely organized at best.

Much of the work used for this philosophy was saved down by monks near Cairo and hidden when the church determince that history should be written by the winners, er, wait, when they decided that anything outside the agreement enforced by Constantine was heretical and must be destroyed. The dating on these texts is concurrent or prior to the texts used in the New Testament - ranging from about 60 to 120 AD if my memory is right. These monks hid the scrolls & parchments in large pottery, which was discovered about 60 years ago after 1000 years in hiding.

One of the things Pagels does well is to point to existing books of the Bible that largely support some of the non-orthodox books. She also indicates that the one book which almost didn't make it and has a large 'gnostic' flavor to it is John - and its focus on self awareness and an individual approach to God.

The missing books give a totally different perspective on the development of the church, and I'm sure I'll be exploring more in this area.

Also interesting, though largely unstated in the book, that Luther et al, prodded (in part) by the technology or the press, actually pointed back to the time of the gnostics - where rather than the Bible being 'dispensed' by the local parish priest, should be read by all for a more personal meaning. There was a relatively minor reference in this regard, due, I'm sure, to space considerations.

Very, very interesting stuff, folks.