THE EGYPTIAN FOUNDATIONS OF GNOSTIC THOUGHT

The overall propensity to refer to Categories 3 & 4 in defining Gnostic thought – i.e.
the “Gnostic-Christian texts” – is therefore adjusted to 4 to 1 with the number of
original pages of Gnostic manuscripts taken into consideration.
In addition to this, five tractates are drawn upon inordinately in relation to all
others shown. Prioritised according to their popularity, with numbers of references
given in square brackets, they are as follows:
1. The Apocryphon of John [278]
2. The Hypostasis of the Archons [191]
3. The Gospel of Truth [164]
4. The Gospel of Thomas [133]
5. The Gospel of Philip [117]
All other tractates on the chart above have a “score” (number of references) of less
than 100. 7
Total references to the top 5 = 883
Total references to the remaining 26 tractates on chart = 914
There is also a disparity in the number of pages of original manuscript that generate
the above results:
Total number of pages of original manuscript in “top 5” = 124
Total number of pages of original manuscript in remaining 26 = 1228
Factoring in both ratios the overall conclusion can be expressed as follows: on a page
by page basis, the “top 5” Gnostic texts are 9.4 times more likely to be used in textual
exegesis than the remaining 26 tractates herein examined. 8
In being presented with a
case for Gnostic thought in general, the first statistical result above also suggests that
in your average “overview” Gnostic Studies work on “Gnosticism”, the Gnostic-
Christian textual citations will outnumber the non- or slightly Gnostic-Christian
(according to the distinctions developed here) 4 to 1. I am not aware of a hermeneutic
study that has yet drawn attention to this phenomenon of “canonicity” and Christian
Origins-directed interpretative bias at play in Gnostic Studies.
The lack of interest in Group 1 is especially instructive, as are the paucity of
references to the Untitled Text (the fact that no concerted attempt to give the text a
descriptive name is itself an indication of its marginalised status). This work, and the
Tripartite Tractate, itself receiving scant coverage, together number 200 pages of
7
The next five are as follows: The Apocalypse of Adam [97]; The Trimorphic Protennoia
[96]; The Gospel of the Egyptians [79]; On the Origin of the World [70]; Zostrianos [66]
8
My own experience bears this out. In the first years that I studied Coptic I worked with a
Gnostic Studies scholar. The Gnostic texts we worked on were The Gospel of Thomas, The
Gospel of Truth, and The Gospel of Philip.