THE EGYPTIAN FOUNDATIONS OF GNOSTIC THOUGHT

well-preserved original manuscript, and of a philosophical quality head and shoulders
above all other extant Gnostic texts. With the Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia
added we have a total of over 722 pages in four texts that Layton and Yamauchi for
example do not mention, even in passing. In the present study I have found all of the
above to be of critical import.
Layton’s book The Gnostic Scriptures turns an astonishing blind eye to this
array; indeed, for a book broadly entitled “The Gnostic Scriptures”, this study is
remarkable for its lack of heterodoxy in the selection of Gnostic texts. From the outset
Layton does not adequately explain the reasoning behind his selection process with
respect to the various Gnostic works which might be considered Valentinian for one
(this itself understood to be a major interpretative problem by most scholars in the
field) or, on the other hand, those Gnostic writings which are decidedly non-Christian
(a much easier task). Far from elucidating why such texts have been selected or
omitted, the non-specialist reader is not advised that such excluded texts even exist. In
the preface Layton mentions that, “a number of works sometimes labelled ‘gnostic,’
though only in a vague and looser sense, have been deliberately omitted” 9
, and he
explains the selection of Valentinian texts as follows: “It is not feasible in a book such
as this to make a complete survey of the Valentinian school in its Eastern and Western
branches, since much of the evidence consists of fragments or excerpts whose
significance is best conveyed by a detailed discussion of the original Greek”. 10
However, the exclusion and lack of mention of the Tripartite Tractate, for instance, is
most peculiar as it exists in Coptic not Greek, and is neither a fragment (it is the
longest tractate in the Nag Hammadi corpus), nor can it conceivably be called
“vaguely” or “loosely” gnostic. A basic point to keep in mind with Layton’s model is
that his theories are based upon only four out of twelve possible Valentinian
tractates 11
; his larger conclusions about Gnostic thought in general are based upon
9
The Gnostic Scriptures, xi.
10
The Gnostic Scriptures, xv.
11
The following eight tractates display the strongest Valentinian presence, while the final
four are somewhat less defensible. The Roman numeral references are to the codex number
in the Nag Hammadi library and the asterisked citations are those used by Layton:
The Prayer of the Apostle Paul (I,1)*
The Gospel of Truth ((I,3/XIII,2)*
The Treatise of the Resurrection (I,4)*
The Tripartite Tractate (I,5)
The Gospel of Philip (II,3)*
The Interpretation of Knowledge (XI,1)
A Valentinian Exposition (XI,2)
The Untitled Text (Bruce Codex)
The First and Second Apocalypse of James (V,3-4)