THE EGYPTIAN FOUNDATIONS OF GNOSTIC THOUGHT

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The other Gnostic texts that we have are heterodox, or simply unclassifiable in their makeup, neither emanationist, nor convincingly Christian, and are in any case embody a small minority of extant manuscript as held up against the above. The point to be made here is that Gnostic Studies is four times more likely to draw upon the “Christian” tractates (groups 3 and 4 above) as opposed to the “non-Christian” texts (categories 1 & 2). In addition, a small core group of the above texts generates a preponderance of the discussion while the rest receive drastically less attention. Appendix A presents a full demonstration of this dynamic. To the extant Gnostic texts we can add the Patristic evidence on various teachers and groups, in particular Valentinus and Basileides in Alexandria. The Nag Hammadi corpus was buried towards the end of the fourth century and is thus a latephase collection of various texts, containing elements that are far older, and with only one-quarter or so convincingly christocentric in their conception, numerous others demonstrate what has to be seen as no more than Christian glosses. This is in accord with patristic sources: in detailing the Ophite Gnostics (as described by Irenaeus), Werner Foerster ends by noting, “is Jesus Christ not here superfluous?” 19 . The Ophite system is rather typical in its depiction of Jesus: “As Christ descended into this world, he first put on his sister Sophia, and they both rejoiced as they refreshed each other. That is what they designate as bridegroom and bride”. 20 Karen L. King 21 concludes that Christ “is superfluous” in the Apocryphon of John (NHC II,1 and IV,1) following S. Arai. 22 , and Hans-Martin Schenke 23 . Seth “put on” Jesus in The Gospel of the Egyptians (NHC III 64.1-3) 24 ; in The Trimorphic Protennoia the chief female aeon in the work proclaims, “I put on Jesus. I brought him forth from the cursed cross and I established him in the dwelling places of his Parent” (NHC XIII,1 5.12) 25 ; Christ as Logos in the Tripartite Tractate (NHC I,5) is an obvious fusion with the traditional Valentinian Sophia, and the function of the Logos throughout this large text is seen to operate on the grand super-cosmic level in keeping with its philosophical 19 Werner Foerster, Gnosis:A Selection of Gnostic texts, vol. 1, The Patristic Evidence (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972), 86. 20 Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. I , 30.12. Trans. Werner Foerster, Gnosis:A Selection of Gnostic texts, vol. 1, 92. 21 Karen L. King, “Sophia and Christ in the Apocryphon of John,”in Images of the Feminine in Gnosticism, 168. 22 Sasagu Arai, “Zur Christologie des Apokryphons des Johannes,” NTS 15 (1968-69): 302-18. 23 Hans-Martin Schenke, “The Phenomenon and Significance of Gnostic Sethianism,”in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism, vol.2, Sethian Gnosticism, ed. Bentley Layton (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981), 588-616. 24 Coptic transcription from NHS, vol. IV: Nag Hammadi Codices III,2 and IV,2, ed. Alexander Böhlig and Frederick Wisse (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975), 146. 25 Coptic transcription from NHS, vol. XXVIII: Nag Hammadi Codices XI, XII, XIII, ed. Charles W. Hedrick (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1990), 432. 16
originations 26 ; finally, the Pistis Sophia presents a characterisation of Jesus that is less developed than Mary, his most prized disciple. More important than this upstaging of roles however,a main feature of the middle groups with Christian glosses is in fact an emphasis upon the cosmogonic with a sparse super-addition of Jesus into the preexisting framework. The pre-Christian Gnostic work Eugnostos and its redaction into The Sophia of Jesus Christ points up the main rhetorical relationship between group one and two in this sense. The conclusion advanced herein is that the Christian influence upon Gnostic thought was at best one of many – on par, by the time the Nag Hammadi find was buried, with the influences of Persian and Jewish thought in many examples. In the centuries leading up to this terminus ad quem, the Christian message is more obviously contained within a diffracted constellation of apocalyptic Jesus sects set amongst a host of deeply arcane and ancient systems currently flourishing in Alexandria from the first century B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E.. A far stronger case, textually and socio-historically, can be made for the religious importance of Jesus in Egypt being carried within a Gnostic milieu in these centuries than holds true in reverse. Emanationist systems were expounded and refined for millennia before the first appearance of Jesus sects in Egypt, and there is little or no evidence that Christian thought was a prevalent force in Egypt prior to the third and fourth centuries; indeed, the very notion of “Christianity” in this era is an obvious polemical proposition, as are the usual facile discussions about “Gnosticism”. 27 Christianity simply cannot be called a system at all in the first two centuries (there was no orthos doxa which is precisely why the Gnostic temperament readily assimilated certain aspects of it), but was likely a succession of charismatics arriving from the north, in the usual manner of teachers journeying to Egypt to teach and be taught, many of whom were rather dualistically inclined themselves if Paul and John are any indication. It is the legitimate task of Christian Origins to come to terms with Gnostic influence upon Christian thought, and theirs is a valid contribution to Gnostic Studies; however, these concerns have been allowed to dominate the field and the result has been a biased view of the Gnostic phenomenon, an optic that peripheralises most of 26 The wit of Celsus, often driven to excess, satirises the Christian conception of Christ as Logos in this regard: “The Christians put forth this Jesus not only as the son of God but as the very Logos – not the pure and holy Logos known to the philosophers, mind you, but a new kind of Logos: a man who managed to get himself arrested and executed in the most humiliating of circumstances”, R. Joseph Hoffmann, trans., Celsus, On the True Doctrine: A Discourse Against the Christians (Oxford University Press, 1987), 64. 27 The proper question to raise for this time period is the far more pervasive influence of a loosely-defined “Gnostic” thought upon the self-professed “Christian.” Clement of Alexandria is particularly instructive in his manifestation of Middle Platonic and Gnostic affinities. See S.R.C. Lilla, Clement of Alexandria: A Study in Christian Platonism and Gnosticism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971). Also Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971), 53: “Thus in Egypt at the beginning of the second century--how long before that we cannot say--there were gentile Christians alongside Jewish Christians, with both movements resting on syncretistic-gnostic foundations... We first catch sight of something like ‘ecclesiastical’ Christianity in Demetrius, the bishop of Alexandria from 189 to 231. Certainly there had already been orthodox believers there prior to that time, and their community possessed a leader. But we can see how small their number must have been from the fact that when Demetrius assumed his office he was the only Egyptian ‘bishop’.” 17
Page 1 and 2: THE EGYPTIAN FOUNDATIONS OF GNOSTIC
Page 3 and 4: VC Vigiliae Christianae ZÄS Zeitsc
Page 5 and 6: Part I - Problems of Interpretation
Page 7 and 8: underworld demonic forces. A fragme
Page 9 and 10: Gnosis, in its most advanced Hellen
Page 11 and 12: ackground of those scholars who tur
Page 13 and 14: ased textual exclusivity for the Na
Page 15: lown Christian-Gnostic text make, a
Page 19 and 20: esentment against pernicious Fate a
Page 21 and 22: which supply the earliest examples
Page 23 and 24: etween a temporal and spatial Sourc
Page 25 and 26: creator-god Atum can be seen as the
Page 27 and 28: Let us note the remarkable link bet
Page 29 and 30: dualism in outlook, one which resul
Page 31 and 32: this positioning of intelligence, a
Page 33 and 34: in the Heliopolitan version, is the
Page 35 and 36: disruptive act which has major theo
Page 37 and 38: of an event”. 66 This distinction
Page 39 and 40: projects, who are king’s sons”.
Page 41 and 42: evolution, a priori or posteriori a
Page 43 and 44: sparked by the unruly impulse of fr
Page 45 and 46: The Egyptian netherworld is filled
Page 47 and 48: Chapter Three: Dualism in pre-Alexa
Page 49 and 50: 1) The physical realm is inferior t
Page 51 and 52: equates the notion of “evil Demiu
Page 53 and 54: views were aired amongst the litera
Page 55 and 56: were intermarrying with Egyptian wo
Page 57 and 58: imperial unity. This, in part, was
Page 59 and 60: individual involved the “discover
Page 61 and 62: the regime was committed to support
Page 63 and 64: third century B.C.E. Alexandria, 46
Page 65 and 66: focus upon the library of Alexandri
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Plutarch, writing around 118 C.E.,
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This was accomplished at ground lev
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Alexandria before the Syrian garris
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in the ancient world supplied the
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Chapter Five: The Magical Papyri In
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Janet Johnson, in her accompanying
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We note that the idea of the theogo
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Name”and “The Archangelic (Book
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I list out the skills or qualities
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This is the knowledge of the living
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Hear me, my Father, thou father of
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all, also separating himself from t
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alteration of name-endings. 82 The
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What liberates is the knowledge of
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Chapter Six: The Development of Cop
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Egyptians in the language of Egypt
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“Early Coptic”, and as a workin
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must constantly bear in mind, howev
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I turn now to examine very briefly
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In Coptic we have the spoken langua
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environment of Alexandria, and her
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Christians eventually chose Coptic
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and mysterious texts of Egypt must
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It is an interesting feature of Mid
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Ammonius Saccas (c. 210 C.E.) of Eg
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formlessness and disorder”. 22 Th
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The picture here is in accord with
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House of Glory agreed with her word
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the Didaskalikos (Guide to the Doct
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Father, thereby receiving the Forms
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doctrines in Egypt. The fact that h
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different philosophical positions,
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Atum is depicted as lying inert in
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of countable aspects of time”. 91
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tradition, arises from the percepti
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Other examples follow: Then when sh
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wished to make a world. I say ‘he
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The Books of Jeu, whose mind revels
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disciples is flattened by the ideat
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12 syzygies (pairs of aeons) The la
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descends to earth. Once on earth, H
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pre-date Mani - likely a part of a
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ineffable one, the invisible one, t
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And in what way did the unbegotten
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etween priesthood and laity in cult
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this while professing “perfect in
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of the temples. 72 This socio-econo
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Chapter Nine: Egyptian Manichaeism
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There has also been a strong tenden
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I have not been deaf to the words o
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suppressed other divinities (and co
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(Keph. 65 161.12) 33 ...it shows al
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Ho all living upon the earth, and t
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hath worshipped the sun or any of t
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is a level beneath the Treasury of
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is used twice in association with t
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south, a more “worldly” stance
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Part III - The Egyptian Foundations
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The King was fashioned by Nu at his
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existent. In essence, the whole iss
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The appearance of the female creati
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informed those who live in the Abys
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But Kalyptos is a single aeon; he h
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Ennead: Parent=Deep=NUN Demiurge/Pa
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Such stories of the heavens you wou
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Chapter Eleven: The Heliopolitan Th
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abble - shall I say, of criminals o
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It is revealing, to say the least,
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formation of human syzygies, or “
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so arbitrary to Irenaeus is also on
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manuscripts we shall be examining d
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Egypt” and who claims that “I a
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Pleroma, not without leaving her da
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There does not yet exist in English
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The core myth is not substantially
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NHC II,1 20.14-28 41 And he sent, b
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without male involvement: “I have
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Chapter Thirteen: The Seth Principl
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Egyptian word khenenu “confusion
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tractate reveals a solid Heliopolit
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The “Seth-principle” also perta
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continued status as creator god, hi
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inquiry into these matters can be f
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of course it attains a distinct res
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partial Demotic version dating to t
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... I restored the Eye after it had
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nowhere, it can be present as a mot
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I am the name of the sound and the
Page 244 and 245:
If we defined “theology” as “
Page 246 and 247:
aura of power about the philologist
Page 248 and 249:
used in different ways, even if it
Page 250 and 251:
transforming process and how the pr
Page 252 and 253:
The nhh/dt split shows up in Hermet
Page 254 and 255:
shall destroy itself [........] The
Page 256 and 257:
Plotinus’ philosophical explorati
Page 258 and 259:
used in different ways, even if it
Page 260 and 261:
transforming process and how the pr
Page 262 and 263:
The nhh/dt split shows up in Hermet
Page 264 and 265:
shall destroy itself [........] The
Page 266 and 267:
Plotinus’ philosophical explorati
Page 268 and 269:
Greek syncretistic endeavours in Eg
Page 270 and 271:
the patristic writers for having an
Page 272 and 273:
of political texts, and it either t
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Christianity (this due to the fact
Page 276 and 277:
virtual Bakunins of the time whose
Page 278 and 279:
language itself. It is clear that t
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alienness in this sense, as well, p
Page 282 and 283:
Book of Thom. the Contender [7] 9 0
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well-preserved original manuscript,
Page 286 and 287:
Appendix B A Genealogy of Egyptian
Page 288 and 289:
6. Speusippus ( ca. 407-339 B.C.E.)
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9. Plutarch ( ca. 85 C.E.) MONAD IN
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12. The Valentinian Theogony Accord
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Ennead: Parent=Deep=NUN Demiurge/Pa
Page 296 and 297:
NHS, vol.XXXI: Nag Hammadi Codices
Page 298 and 299:
Arthur, Rose Horman. The Wisdom God
Page 300 and 301:
Betz, Hans Dieter. “The Formulati
Page 302 and 303:
Brown, Peter. “The Diffusion of M
Page 304 and 305:
de Buck, Adriaan, De Godsdienstige
Page 306 and 307:
Fairman, H.W. The Triumph of Horus.
Page 308 and 309:
Griffith, F. Ll and Herbert Thompso
Page 310 and 311:
Johnson, Janet H. The Demotic Verba
Page 312 and 313:
Lesko, Leonard H. The Ancient Egypt
Page 314 and 315:
Meyer, Marvin W. The Ancient Myster
Page 316 and 317:
__________ Mythological Papyri: Tex
Page 318 and 319:
Robinson, James M., ed. The Nag Ham
Page 320 and 321:
Sethe, Kurt. “Das Verhältnis zwi
Page 322 and 323:
Till, Walter C. and Hans-Martin Sch
Page 324:
Yamauchi, Edwin M. Pre-Christian Gn
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THE EGYPTIAN FOUNDATIONS OF GNOSTIC THOUGHT

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