Karen King collection - Nag Hammadi scholar
Amazon blurb:
Among the Gnostic treasures uncovered at Nag Hammadi in 1945 is this extraordinary spiritual narrative. In it, a third-century narrator known as Allogenes--the Foreigner--recounts a series of visions and divine revelations. He describes his spiritual progress: how he overcomes fear and ignorance and ascends into the divine realm as he experiences the transcendent Unknowable God. Karen King, a contributor to The Nag Hammadi Library in English, provides a new English translation of this work, along with complete original-language Coptic text, introduction, and extensive notes.
Presents a new translation of the Gospel of Mary, discusses its presentation of the teachings of Jesus, and compares it to other early Christian writings in the context of early Church teachings.
The recently unearthed Gospel of Judas is a source of fascination for biblical scholars and lay Christians alike. Now two leading experts on the Gnostic gospels tackle the important questions posed by its discovery, including: How could any Christian imagine Judas to be Jesus' favorite? And what kind of vision of God does the author offer? Working from Karen L. King's brilliant new translation, Elaine Pagels and King provide the context necessary for considering its meaning. Reading Judas plunges into the heart of Christianity itself and will stand as the definitive look at the gospel for years to come.
A distinctive Christian heresy? A competitor of burgeoning Christianity? A pre-Christian folk religion traceable to "Oriental syncretism"? How do we account for the disparate ideas, writings, and practices that have been placed under the Gnostic rubric? To do so, Karen King says, we must first disentangle modern historiography from the Christian discourse of orthodoxy and heresy that has pervaded--and distorted--the story.
Exciting discoveries of previously unknown ancient writings--especially the forty-six texts found at Nag Hammadi in 1945--are challenging historians of religion to rethink not only what we mean by Gnosticism but also the standard account of Christian origins. The Gospel of Mary and The Secret Book of John, for example, illustrate the variety of early Christianities and are witness to the struggle of Christians to craft an identity in the midst of the culturally pluralistic Roman Empire. King shows how historians have been misled by ancient Christian polemicists who attacked Gnostic beliefs as a "dark double" against which the new faith could define itself. Having identified past distortions, she is able to offer a new and clarifying definition of Gnosticism. Her book is thus both a thorough and innovative introduction to the twentieth-century study of Gnosticism and a revealing exploration of the concept of heresy as a tool in forming religious identity.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
Comments
-
A collection by Karen King would be good. I'm still impressed, any discussion of gnosticism (including the word) devolves into basically 'who knows' … essentially some desert writings, some heretics, and little certainty to say 'how'? Or to recognize similarities.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
0
