The Gnostic Discoveries
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The Meaning of the Nag Hammadi, now in paperback opens the with the thrilling adventure story of the discovery of the ancient Papyrii at Nag Hammadi. Muhammad Ali, the fellahin, discovered the sealed jar, he feared that it might contain a jinni, or spirit, but also had heard of hidden treasures in such jars. Greed overcame his fears and when he smashed open the jar, gold seemed to float into the air. To his disappointment, it was papyrus fragmenst, not gold, but for scholars around the world, it was invaluable.Meyer then discusses the pre–Christian forms of wisdom that went onto influence what Christians believe today. In addition, some Nag Hammadi texts are attributed to Valentinus, a man who almost became Pope, and whose rejection changed the church in significant ways. Text by text, Meyer traces the history and impact of this great find on the Church, right up to our current beliefs and popular cultural fascination with this officially suppressed secret knowledge about Jesus and his followers.
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Gnosticism is a school of thought within ancient Christianity that rejected the centrality of Jesus' crucifiction and the authority of the Catholic Church, instead focusing on the importance of direct mystical experience with God and the cultivation of the Christ-figure within the individual. As such, the ancient Church declared the Gnostics heretics, and rounded up most of the Gnostic holy texts (including the Gospels of Thomas, Mary, and Judas), and destroyed them. In 1945 a group of ancient Gnostic texts were found outside the town of Nag Hammadi in central Egypt; this book is an overview of those texts and their contents.
I find Gnosticism to be an absolutely fascinating strain within Christianity; while still being ‘Christian', it's radically different from what we usually think of when we think of that religion, preaching the importance of individual experience over divine central authority, and arguing in favour of gender equality at a time when it was virtually unknown. The world would be a much different place, I think, if the Gnostics were not suppressed in ancient times.
In terms of this book, it's a fairly comprehensive introduction to not only the history of Gnosticism movements within Christianity, but to also the different strains of thought that occured within the movement. If you're already familiar with Gnosticism there isn't much here that's new, but as an introduction it's the best one I've reead.
