OK, as some of you know I’m highly interested in religious studies and find studying theology, philosophy, and mysticism from both Catholicism and other religions fascinating. Recently I’ve been facing the reality that I don’t know much about Ancient Gnosticism, which I find odd because IMO it’s one of the most interesting religions out there. I’m familiar with Neo-Gnosticism to an extent, I know about Carl Jung and Ecclesia Gnostica and “Christian” reincarnation and such, but I don’t know much about the ancient one.
So I guess my question is, what’s a nice book or other piece of reading to get me introduced into the wonderful world of (pre) 1st-13th century Gnosticism? Not just Christian Gnosticism but other types, like Indian and merged religions, too. And of course I understand it refers to many sects, but I would be happy with some reading about any or better yet multiple sects.
I don’t want anything by Eline Pagels, JD Crossan, Bart Ehrman, Stephan Hoeller (but I’m OK reading texts translated by the Gnosis Society he started), or anybody else promoting the texts as “the real Christianity” or with an otherwise obvious pro-Gnostic/Liberal agenda, I would really like it to be non-biased or pro-Conservative Christianity like some of the NT and Islam books I have.
I’m sorry if this seems to rub off as arrogant or greedy, but I would greatly appreciate a beginner’s or student’s introduction to the topic. Thanks ahead of time.
Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1987). Rudolph helps the newcomer sort through the often bewildering complex of gnostic documents and gnostic ideas. A clear introduction to a vast topic.
Jason David BeDuhn, The Manichaean Body: In Discipline and Ritual (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000).
Jason David BeDuhn, ed., New Light on Manichaeism, series: Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies (Boston / Leiden: Brill, 2009) hardcover, $154. NEW.
J. Kevin Coyle, Manichaeism and Its Legacy, Nag Hammadi & Manichaean Studies (Leiden / Boston: Brill, 2009) hardcover, $179. NEW.
April D. DeConick, Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas: A History of the Gospel and Its Growth, Library of New Testament Studies (London / New York: T&T Clark, 2005).
Giovanni Filoramo, A History of Gnosticism (Cambridge: Blackwell, 1991).
James E. Goehring, “The Provenance of the Nag Hammadi Codices once more,” Studia Patristica 35 (2001) 234-256. Surveys debate whether the library belonged to Pachomian monks.
A. H. B. Logan, “Gnosticism,” in The Early Christian World, ed. P. F. Esler (New York: Routledge, 2000), 2:907-928.
Samuel N.C. Lieu, Manichaeism in Mesopotamia and the Roman East, Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, Vol 118 (Leiden: Brill, 1997).
Samuel N.C. Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China: A Historical Survey, 2nd ed. (Tübingen: Mohr, 1992).
Samuel N.C. Lieu, “Manichaeism,” in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, ed. Susan Ashbrook Harvey and David G. Hunter (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 221-236.
A.H.B. Logan, The Gnostics: Identifying an Ancient Christian Cult (New York: T&T Clark, 2006).
Majella Franzmann, Jesus in the Manichean Writings (London: T&T Clark, 2003).
Paul Mirecki & Jason BeDuhn, ed., Emerging from Darkness: Studies in the Recovery of Manichaean Sources, Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 43 (Leiden: Brill, 1997).
Birger A. Pearson, ed., Gnosticism, Judaism, and Egyptian Christianity, Studies in Antiquity and Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990).
Birger A. Pearson, Gnosticism and Christianity in Roman and Coptic Egypt, Studies in Antiquity & Christianity (T&T Clark, 2004).
Birger A. Pearson, Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions and Literature (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007).
Nicholas Perrin, Thomas, The Other Gospel (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2007).
Simone Pétremont, A Separate God: The Origin and Teachings of Gnosticism (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1990).
David M. Scholer, ed., Gnosticism in Early Christianity, Studies in Early Christianity 5 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993).
Michel Tardieu, Manichaeism, trans. Malcolm DeBevoise (University of Illinois Press, 2009) paperback, $40. NEW.
John D. Turner & Anne McGuire, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library After Fifty Years: Proceedings of the 1995 Society of Biblical Literature Commemoration, Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 44 (Leiden: Brill, 1997).
Richard Valantasis, The Gospel of Thomas, New Testament Readings (New York: Routledge, 1997).
Johannes Van Oort, Otto Wermelinger & Gregor Wurst, eds., Augustine and Manichaeism in the Latin West: Proceedings of the Fribourg-Utrecht Symposium of the International Association of Manichaean Studies (IAMS), Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies (Leiden: Brill, 2001).
Michael Allen Williams, Rethinking ‘Gnosticism’: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996). An important revisionist argument.
This bibliography has lots of good resources
moses.creighton.edu/harmless/bibliographies_for_theology/Index.htm