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

"A very balanced selection of sources for the study of the ancient so-called mystery religions, starting with Eleusis and ending with mysteries in Judaism and Christianity. . . . No other modern sourcebook exists in this field."—Kurt Rudolph

A Sourcebook of Sacred Texts

The Ancient Mysteries

For all those readers curious to read the actual texts of the Gnostic Gospels, here is the definitive collection of all the Gnostic Gospels and Gospel–like texts. o Marvin Meyer, premier scholar of Gnostic and other Christian literature outside the New Testament, presents every Gnostic Gospel and Jesus text with a brilliant overall introduction, introductions to each text, and notes that explain everything the reader needs to know to understand the text. He includes his latest translations of not only the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Mary, but other texts such as the Secret Book of John, which some scholars regard as the second part of the New Testament Gospel of John. The material is largely from the discovery at Nag Hammadi, freshly translated and introduced, but also includes texts found elsewhere. The texts, especially taken together, present an image of Jesus as the ultimate wisdom teacher, a kind of mysterious Jewish Zen master, who scandalized listeners by his radical egalitarianism (regarding women, slaves, the poor, the marginalized as of equal status, or more, with establishment male believers) and his insistence on living the message, spiritual experience, vs. outer observance only. o For those wanting to learn more after reading The Da Vinci Code. This book provides the definitive next book for those looking for expert presentation of the alternative Gnostic stream of Christianity, in which there is no talk of crucifixion and Mary Magdalene is presented as the disciple that Jesus loved best. "Marv is one of the original secret gospels scholars who has done an enormous amount of work to bring these texts to light. All of his research on the Nag Hammadi texts is having an incredible impact on our knowledge of early Christian history––it is virtually redefining it." ––Dr. Elaine Pagels, Princeton University

The Definitive Collection of Mystical Gospels and Secret Books about Jesus of Nazareth

The Gnostic Gospels of Jesus

Willis Barnstone

This expanded edition of The Gnostic Bible includes the Gospel of Judas'the recently discovered and translated gnostic text that was an instant best seller on its original appearance in 2006-in its most accessible translation yet. Also included are such important and topical texts as the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Thomas. Religious thinkers engaged in the quest for wisdom and knowledge, the gnostics proclaimed that salvation could be found through mystical knowledge and intuition. Dating from the first to the thirteenth centuries, the texts in The Gnostic Bible represent Jewish, Christian, Hermetic, Mandaean, Manichaean, Islamic, and Cathar forms of gnostic spirituality, and they derive from Egypt, the Greco-Roman world, the Middle East, Syria, Iraq, China, France, and elsewhere.

The Gnostic Bible

Gathers selections from Greek and Roman history, plays, and poetry that refer to the mystery religions, and briefly explains what is known about how these religions got their start

A Sourcebook : Sacred Texts of the Mystery Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean World

THE GNOSTIC BIBLE is by far the most comprehensive compilation of gnostic texts ever published - and the first aimed at rendering the texts in poetic, readable prose. The gnostics were religious thinkers engaged in the quest for wisdom and knowledge, and they proclaimed a salvation to be found through mystical knoweldge and intuition. As the Gospel of Thomas puts it, "Know whatis in front of your face and what is hidden from you will be disclosed. There is nothing hidden from you that will not be revealed." Dating from the first to the thirteen centuries, these gnostic texts represent Jewish, Chritian, Hemetic, Mandaean, Manichaean, Islamic and Cathar forms of gnostic spirituality, and they derive from Egypt, the Greco-Roman world, the Middle East, Syria, Iraq, China, France and elsewhere. These texts show that gnosticism was a world religion that sought truths in a wide variety of religious traditions and expressed those truths in powerful and provocative mystical poetry and prose. The impact of gnosticism upon other religions of the world was considerable, and the influence of gnosticism continues to the present day. This volume represents the first time that such a diverse collection of gnostic texts is published in a single volume and some of the texts are translated into English for the first time here. The texts are accompanied bu introductions and notes and additional study aids describe gnosticism, elucidate gnostic terms and suggest further readings.

Gregor Wurst

Rodolphe Kasser

Un antiguo manuscrito en copto devela hoy, casi dos mil años después de su escritura, una visión muy diferente de Judas Iscariote. Una imagen que le aleja de ser un traidor para convertirle en discípulo predilecto de Cristo. National Geographic presenta los resultados del estudio del manuscrito. El antiguo manuscrito hallado en Egipto y que data de los siglos III y IV contiene la única copia conocida de El Evangelio de Judas. El documento ha sido restaurado, autentificado y traducido por un equipo de especialistas después de haber estado perdido durante 1.700 años. Este evangelio afirma que Judas, al entregar a Jesús a las autoridades, estaba cumpliendo los deseos de su maestro.

del Códice Tchacos

El Evangelio de Judas

(P. Heid. Inv. Kopt. 685) : Text, Translation and Commentary

The Magical Book of Mary and the Angels

James MacConkey Robinson

The Nag Hammadi Library in English

Paul Allan Mirecki

This volume contains a series of provocative essays that explore expressions of magic and ritual power in the ancient world. 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 focussing on taxonomy and definition. The concluding essays apply contemporary theories to analyses of specific test cases in a broad variety of ancient Mediterranean cultures. Paul Mirecki, Th.D. (1986) in Religious Studies, Harvard Divinity School, is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas. Marvin Meyer, Ph.D. (1979) in Religion, Claremont Graduate School, is Professor of Religion at Chapman University, Orange, California, and Director of the Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity.

Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World

Esther A. De Boer

Mary Magdalene, Jesus's Closest Disciple Marvin Meyer, one of the foremost scholars of the Gnostic Gospels: translates and introduces the Gnostic and New Testament texts that together reveal the story and importance of Mary Magdalene includes new translations of the Gospels of Mary, Thomas, Philip, and related texts about Mary Magdalene discloses, with Esther A. De Boer, the long-suppressed story of Mary's vital role in the life of Jesus and in the formative period after his crucifixion presents as authentically as possible the real Mary Magdalene

The Secret Tradition of Mary Magdalene, the Companion of Jesus

The Gospels of Mary

Jón Ma. Ásgeirsson

J. M. Asgeirsson

Kristin De Troyer

On June 30th 1999, James M. Robinson formally retired from his position as Arthur Letts Jr. Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University. At this juncture in his life Peeters Publishers is proud to be the publisher of a festschrift, From Quest to Q, dedicated to Robinson, and his monumental contributions to the field of Q studies or the Sayings Gospel Q. The Festschrift is divided into four sections following an introduction written by Asgeirsson. The first section of the Festschrift entitled "From Source to Document" opens with a tribute to the jubilee whose very work within the International Q Project has, indeed transformed the hypothetical source into a document using a papyrological model. It is followed by two essays: one on the genre of the document Q and the other on the impact of Old Testament citations or allusions in Q or more specifically the Temptation Story in Q. The second section on "Founder and Fashion" visits in three essays the questions of the character of Jesus. Whom may he be likened to, what factors in the social environment of the followers of Jesus colored his manners and view of life? In a third section "Topos and Topics", four essays deal with diverse theological motifs in Q. From the breaking up of traditional family relationships to the question of the poor, this section also includes the motif of Son of man and the geographical topos, Nazara. The last section, "Q in Redaction" deals with several aspects of the redaction of Q in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Finally, in this section, two essays deal with parallel motifs in Q, the Gospel of Thomas, the Synoptic Gospels, as well as the Gospel of John. The contributors, from Europe and the United States, have all worked within the field of Q Studies and together comprise some of the most prominent names among junior and senior scholars in the field.

Festschrift James M. Robinson

From Quest to Q

This volume contains a series of provocative essays, written by leading scholars who study the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds, on magic and ritual power. The essays address how ancient magic might be defined and how it came into expression in a wide variety of cultural contexts. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

Ancient Magic and Ritual Power

Rossi's "Gnostic" Tractate

This thought-provoking collection of magical texts from ancient Egypt shows the exotic rituals, esoteric healing practices, and incantatory and supernatural dimensions that flowered in early Christianity. These remarkable Christian magical texts include curses, spells of protection from "headless powers" and evil spirits, spells invoking thunderous powers, descriptions of fire baptism, and even recipes from a magical "cookbook." Virtually all the texts are by Coptic Christians, and they date from about the 1st-12th centuries of the common era, with the majority from late antiquity. By placing these rarely seen texts in historical context and discussing their significance, the authors explore the place of healing, prayer, miracles, and magic in the early Christian experience, and expand our understanding of Christianity and Gnosticism as a vital folk religion.

Marvin W. Meyer

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