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LIB-0313ReligionStub

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts Complete in One Volume

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Concepts:
Gnosis

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts Complete in One Volume

Author: (editor/translator) Year: — Publisher: —

Summary

The standard one-volume English translation of the Nag Hammadi library: fifty-two texts discovered in Upper Egypt in 1945, mostly Gnostic, dating from the second through fourth centuries CE. The collection includes gospels (Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Truth), apocalypses, cosmological treatises, and wisdom literature. Meyer's revised edition updates the Robinson translation (1977) with improved scholarship and new introductions.

The texts represent diverse Gnostic schools: Valentinian, Sethian, Hermetic, and others. They share a common structure: the material world is the product of a flawed or malevolent creator (demiurge), the human soul contains a divine spark trapped in matter, and gnosis (CON-0009) is the recognition of one's true origin in the divine realm above the created cosmos.

Relevance to Project

Primary source collection for the project's treatment of Gnosticism. The Gospel of Thomas provides a non-canonical Jesus who speaks in koans rather than parables. The Valentinian texts (Gospel of Truth, Gospel of Philip) present the most philosophically developed Gnostic systems. The project treats Gnosticism as a radical variant of the initiatory pattern: where Eleusis integrates the initiate into the cosmos, Gnosticism teaches escape from it.

Cross-references: CON-0009 (gnosis), Series 7 (Gnostic and Kabbalistic Traditions).

Key Arguments

  • The material world is the product of ignorance or malice, not divine creation
  • The human soul is a divine spark imprisoned in matter; salvation is recognition of true origin
  • Gnosis is experiential knowledge of one's divine nature, not belief in doctrines
  • The creator god of Genesis (the demiurge) is distinct from the true God above the cosmos
  • The serpent in Eden and other "villains" of orthodox scripture are sometimes recast as liberators

Key Passages

"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." — Gospel of Thomas, saying 70

Agent Research Notes

[AGENT: claude-code | DATE: 2026-03-22] Populated body sections. The Gospel of Thomas is the most frequently cited text from this collection. The project should distinguish between the various Gnostic schools rather than treating "Gnosticism" as a monolith.

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