Marvin W. Meyer

James M. Robinson

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.

The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts Complete in One Volume

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures

This revised, expanded, and updated edition of The Nag Hammadi Library is the only complete, one-volume, modern language version of the renowned library of fourth-century manuscripts discovered in Egypt in 1945. First published in 1978, The Nag Hammadi Library launched modern Gnostic studies and exposed a movement whose teachings are in many ways as relevant today as they were sixteen centuries ago. James M. Robinson's updated introduction reflects ten years of additional research and editorial and critical work. An afterword by Richard Smith discusses the modern relevance of Gnosticism and its influence on such writers as Voltaire, Blake, Melville, Yeats, Kerouac, and Philip K. Dick. Acclaimed by scholars and general readers alike, The Nag Hammadi Library is a work of major importance to everyone interested in the evolution of Christianity, the Bible, archaeology, and the story of Western civilization.

Revised Edition

The Nag Hammadi Library in English

The discovery of a previously lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot has electrified the Christian community. What Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell us about Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, is inconsistent and biased. Therefore, the revelation of an ancient gospel that portrays this despised man as someone who saw his role in the Passion of Christ as integral to a larger plan—a divine plan—brings new clarity to the old story. If Judas had not betrayed Jesus, Jesus would not have been handed over to the authorities, crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. Could it be that without Judas, the Easter miracle would never have happened? In The Secrets of Judas, James M. Robinson, an expert historian of early Christianity, examines the Bible and other ancient texts and reveals what we can and cannot know about the life of the historical Judas, his role in Jesus's crucifixion, and whether the Christian church should reevaluate his intentions and possible innocence. Robinson tells the sensational story of the discovery of a gospel attributed to Judas, and shows how this affects Judas's newfound meaning for history and for the Christian faith.

The Story of the Misunderstood Disciple and His Lost Gospel

The Secrets of Judas

We all know the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but what was the gospel of Jesus? That is, what was the original "good news" the first disciples heard from Jesus? What did Jesus really say that started the dramatic movement in Galilee that grew to become the largest religion in the world? Jesus's original gospel has been lost from sight, hidden behind the version preferred by the church. We have put him on a pedestal, rather than walked in his footsteps. In The Gospel of Jesus, James M. Robinson, the preeminent expert on the earliest sources of information about Jesus, provides the primary texts in all their unvarnished honesty to get to the true historical message of Jesus -- what Robinson calls "a brittle, upsetting, comforting, challenging gospel." The Gospel of Jesusdraws on a combination of the most ancient and authentic texts to reveal what Jesus really said and to illuminate what he may still have to say to us today. Robinson addresses such provocative questions as: What can we know about Jesus's childhood and youth? What was his family like? What sort of education did he receive? How observant a Jew was he? What do we know about his sex life? What do we know about his relation to Mary Magdalene? What was John the Baptist's impact on him? What message did Jesus really preach? What do we know about his crucifixion? Why did his followers believe so fervently in his resurrection? Drawing on the earliest Gospel, Mark, plus the source for Matthew and Luke, known as "Q," as well as from Jewish sources such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the ancient extra-biblical Gnostic texts discovered at Nag Hammadi, Robinson not only reconstructs the good news Jesus preached and practiced two thousand years ago, but shows how relevant his message still is -- and how we can apply it to our lives today. The Gospel of Jesus offers one of the most authentic and stirring accounts ever written of the message preached by the figure whose followers today number more than two billion.

A Historical Search for the Original Good News

The Gospel of Jesus

The facsimile edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices. [12]. Cartonnage

The facsimile edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices. 1. Codex I

Hans-Gebhard Bethge

Stephen J. Patterson

In December 1945, at the base of cliffs that run along the Nile River near the modern-day town of Nag Hammadi, an Egyptian farmer discovered a sealed jar containing thirteen ancient Coptic codices. This discovery represented arguably the most significant manuscript discovery of the twentieth century for the study of the New Testament and Christian origins. Of all the texts found none has been more important than the Gospel of Thomas for our understanding of early Christianity. This classic book presents the best text and the best translation of Thomas in user-friendly form. Additional chapters provide a general introduction to the Gospel of Thomas and tell the fascinating story of that discovery itself by one who was directly involved in bringing this new Gospel to light. An annotated list "for further reading" completes the volume. This new edition features updated material which takes account of recent research on the gospel of Thomas. The translation has been refined at points, and the bibliographical material updated.

The Gospel of Thomas Comes of Age

The Fifth Gospel (New Edition)

Codex II

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 Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices

Ten Thousand Miles of Russia Through the Eyes of an American Observer

Americanski Journalist

James M. Robinson, together with John B. Cobb, published a series of three volumes entitled New Frontiers in Theology: The Later Heidegger and Theology (1963), The New Hermeneutic (1964), and Theology as History (1967). Here they introduced the new directions that Continental theology was taking after the break caused by the Nazi period and World War II. In each volume it was Robinson's assignment to write an extensive introduction of the new direction: The German Discussion of the Later Heidegger, Hermeneutic since Barth, and Revelation as Word and as History. Then others contributed essays. These three seminar introductions are here brought together in a single volume, which thus is the basic tool for getting into the Continental theology of the second half of the twentieth century.

Theology after Barth and Bultmann

Language, Hermeneutic, and History

The Coptic Gnostic Library

Changing Faces - America's Wealth AdvisorsThe Place for Aspiring and Young Financial Services Professionals i.e. "Young" In Business"

America's Wealth Advisors

Changing Faces

The Nag Hammadi Story 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 attempts to monopolize, until finally their publication in 1977.

From the Discovery to the Publication

The Nag Hammadi Story (2 vols.)

"The seven Manichaean papyrus codices of the fourth or fifth century were discovered in illicit excavation in 1929 in the Egyptian desert. They were acquired in about equal halves by A. Chester Beatty for his library and by Carl Schmidt for the papyrus collection of the Staatliche Museen of Berlin. Having had access to the inventories, correspondence, and files in Berlin, Robinson provides translations of the German and French documents to increase access to information previously unavailable to the scholarly community. He narrates the slow and problem-ridden path of the acquisition, conservation, and editing of these important works, including their movements between dealers, collectors, scholars, and the military in Egypt, London, Dublin, Berlin, Schondorf, Gsttingen, Warsaw, Leningrad, Los Angeles, Claremont, and Copenhagen."

James M. Robinson

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