Origins of the Christian Faith ~ Or 'Why Weren't The Gnostics Included?'

"Most of the writings use Christian terminology, unmistakable related to a Jewish heritage. Many claim to offer traditions about Jesus that are secret, hidden from "the many" who constitute what, in the second century, came to be called the "catholic church." These Christians are now called gnostics, from the Greek word gnosis, usually translated as "knowledge." ...As the gnostics use the term, we could translate it as "insight," for gnosis involves an intuitive process of knowing oneself. And to know oneself, they claimed, is to know human nature and human destiny."

These diverse texts include secret gospels, myths & poems, yes, but they also include magic and instructions for mystical practice. Perhaps even more frightening to orthodox Christians, is the inclusion of the female.

As pagels writes, "Indeed, the absence of feminine symbolism for God marks Judaism, Christianity & Islam in striking contrast to the world's other religions..." but here, in these writings, She is seen.

She is included as part of God. She is included in legend, myth or however you wish to classify the origins of the world.

"The Thunder, Perfect Mind" has this wonderful poem in the voice of a feminine divine power:

For I am the first and the last. I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin....
I am the barren one, and many are her sons....
I am the silence that is incomprehensible....
I am the utterance of my name.

(Meredith Brooks, eat your heart out!)

Not only do these long missing gnostic Gospels include the female in the mythos, but they also include women in the structure, the teachings & the workings of the church. Scandalous for a time & place where patriarchy was again reaching quite heights. Women were not to speak in church, let alone have any roles.

As one orthodox Christian at the time, Tertullian, comments on this hersey:

"These heretical women- how audacious they are! They have no modesty; they are bold enough to teach, to engage in argument, to enact exorcisms, to undertake cures, and it may be, even baptize!"

And so, with the might of patriarchy, these gnostic texts seemed to have been condemned to exile. As the orthodox had the power to sweep these text aside, & persecute the followers, orthodox Christianity has survived to become what we call today 'Christianity.' It is this power struggle which Pagels tries to unravel & clarify, as best she can, as she looks back:

"Why were these texts buried-and why have they remained virtually unknown for nearly 2,000 years? Their suppression as banned documents, and their burial on the cliff at Nag Hammadi, it turns out, were both part of a struggle critical for the formation of early Christianity. The Nag Hammadi texts, and others like them, which circulated at the beginning of the Christian era, were denounced as heresy by orthodox Christians in the middle of the second century. We have long known that many early followers of Christ were condemned by other Christians as heretics, but nearly all we knew about them came from what their opponents wrote attacking them."

While the reader does get an excellent overview of what the Nag Hammadi texts are all about, which does include quotes & translations, what Pagels does best to capture this reader's attention, is to get to the bottom of why these points of view of those of the Christian faith have been declared blasphemy & thus removed from the faith altogether.

"Traditionally, historians have told us that the orthodox objected to gnostic views for religious & philosophic reasons. Certainly they did: yet investigation of the newly discovered gnostic sources suggests another dimension of the controversy. It suggests that these religious debates - questions of the nature of God, or of Christ- simultaneously bear social & political implications that are crucial to the development of Christianity as an institutional religion."

Pagels does illuminate a time in history & present religious theory, but The Gnostic Gospels doesn't read like an academic text book. Instead, the reader feels more like they are reading an historic mystery novel. The facts are presented, documented with footnotes, but the reader is easily swept up into the meat of the book, which is to discover why these texts & beliefs were not included in what we now call Christianity.

I do not wish to mislead any readers here; this book is not solely about female symbolism or women's roles in Christianity ~ there is but one chapter devoted to this subject. However, it is important to note that each chapter deals with a specific issue, tracing the power & politics of the time, showing a pattern of perhaps how & why orthodox Christians 'won' the battle for the definition of Christianity.

This overall pattern illuminates the relationship between politics & religion.

Religion can now be seen as but a construct of humanity to organize spirituality, even to control individual people in the name of God as it befits the culture & government of that time & place. Ironically, once this is seen, the reader herself transcends.

As gnostic Valentinus teaches: "no longer believe from human testimony but from the Truth itself." Believing in Truth transcends the soul, the spirit, but one also then transcends the control of the church's authority & judgment.

It's as Jeasus said (as quoted in the Gospel of Thomas): "I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become drunk from the bubbling stream which I have measured out.... He who will drink from my mouth will become as I am: I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him."

For more information on the Nag Hammadi Library & Gnostic and Related Materials, you can read at THE GNOSTIC SOCIETY LIBRARY. However, not only is Pagels' book a great primer, but it is 'the source' for a look at the historical questions of 'why' & 'how' the texts had been 'lost' to Christianity. The website listed is for more information on the old texts (translations), as well as Gnostic principles.