Gnostic Writing in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri

The image is P.Oxy 2061

I had been claiming that there were no Gnostic writings found in the Oxyrhynchus papyri, apart from the Gospel of Thomas fragments, which are arguably Gnostic, but then I decided to check. To my surprise I came up with the following, some of which are debatably Gnostic. (The Oxford University Oxyrhynchus Online site has photographs of most of the fragments and transcriptions and translations of many.) Ox pOxy 1, 654, 655 These are the Greek Gospel of Thomas fragments

P.Oxy.L 3525
Gospel of Mary

P.Oxy 924
P.Oxy.XVI 2061
P.Oxy.XVI 2063
P.Oxy.XVI 2062
The above are "Gnostic Charms"

P.Oxy 1060
Gnostic Amulet

These magical charms and amulet are sometimes considered Gnostic by virtue of the gods mentioned in the texts.

 P.Oxy 1081
A fragment of The Sophia of Jesus Christ.

P.Oxy 2074
A.S. hunt thought that this was a fifth century "Apostrophe to Wisdom" by Melito of Sardes. 
But David Brons claimed it as A Hymn to Sophia, an anonymous Valentinian writing, although I don't know what the grounds were for this.
Also, according to an indexed Google extract from a subscription only article, there are "striking similarities between Melito and a corrupt text preserved in a fifth century papyrus from Oxyrhynchus (P. Oxy. 2074)"

"The Homily on the Passion" by Melito Bishop of Sardis and Some Fragments of the Apocryphal Ezekiel by Campbell Bonner, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Mar., 1941),  pp. 81-88

The Forbidden Gospels Blog: What does the Gospel of Judas REALLY say?

The Forbidden Gospels Blog: What does the Gospel of Judas REALLY say?

April deConick, who who is a Gospel of Thomas expert, has started a blog. She too is convinced that the published interpretation of the gospel of Judas is mistaken:-

"My examination of the Coptic transcription has led me to think that certain translational errors and one mistaken reconstruction of a Coptic line led the team to the erroneous conclusion that Judas is a saint destined to join the holy generation of the Gnostics. The result is that certain claims have been made by National Geographic that the Gospel of Judas says things it just does NOT say: Judas is the perfect enlightened Gnostic; Judas ascends to the holy generation; Jesus wants Judas to betray him; Jesus wants to escape the material world; Judas performs a righteous act, serving Jesus by “betraying” him; Judas will be able to enter the divine realm as symbolized by his vision of the great house; as the thirteenth, Judas surpasses the twelve disciple, and is lucky and blessed by this number."

Karen King's Gospel of Mary Site

More link blogging:-

Karen King's Gospel of Mary Site

Including a fragment of the Gospel of Mary from Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 3525.

Another Fake Gospel

I came across this at thepearl.org, The Sayings of Jesus. It's a fake gospel modelled on the Gospel of Thomas.

4. Jesus said, "Unless you become like little children, you cannot know the meaning of Life, for your minds must be cleared of the falsehoods of this realm if you are to be taught Eternal Truth."
5. Jesus said, "I am the door; the person who enters by me will find Eternal bliss. I am the bed; the person who lies on me will enter perpetual rest. I am the Light; the person who sees by me will view all things."

"I am the bed" is rather comical.

Gnostic Lexicon

I don't think that I have ever blogged Karl Nygren's lexicon of Gnostic terms. It is brief but accurate (although there are spelling mistakes in English and Greek) and focuses particularly on the Greek terms in Gnosticism,
Karl Nygren's Gnostic Lexicon

The lexicon is also reproduced on other pages, often without acknowledgment. Karl has a penetrating mind and co-moderates the gnosticism2 group at yahoo, which is a scholarly discussion list that focuses on ancient Gnosticism.

The Gospel of Judas: An Interview with Professor Charles W. Hedrick - Bible Resource Center

The Gospel of Judas: An Interview with Professor Charles W. Hedrick - Bible Resource Center

BRC: The text makes reference to a number of interesting figures—Barbelo, Sophia, Adamas, the enlightened divine Self-Generated, Seth, Nebro, Yaldabaoth, Saklas, the stars, the twelve aeons, and the rulers. Could you tell us something about the most important of these characters?

HEDRICK: In Gnostic texts there is a bewildering array of mythical figures that inhabit the heavenly realm. Their role frequently differs from text to text, so it is not possible to define their overall significance with definitive specificity. Gnostic texts do not describe things logically. That said, the roles played in the Gospel of Judas by the figures you named are as follows: Barbelo is the name of the highest realm of divinity where dwells the Ineffable One. Sophia, mentioned in a fragmentary section as “corruptible Sophia,” is “Wisdom.” In some Gnostic texts she commits error in the heavenly realm that results in the formation of matter, which becomes the cosmos (the created world). This cosmos is a prison for the sparks that have broken off from the divine realm and that remain trapped in the cosmos.

Adamas is the first human being (Adam) of Genesis and also the paradigm for all human beings in the heavenly realm. Autogenes, (the Self-Generated One) in this text, is the first angel of the heavenly realm, who creates himself and gives birth to other denizens of the heavenly realm. Seth is the son of Adam, but in this text he is part of the heavenly realm where he is the progenitor for the race of Seth in the world, an enlightened generation of Gnostics. Nebro, Yaldaboath, and Saklas are names given to the wicked demiurge, who is the creator God of Jewish and Christian faith. He creates a whole series of creatures like himself who lord it over the cosmos.

BRC: What does the text mean when it says that God ordered Michael to “loan” people their spirits? How does this relate to Jesus’ promise to Judas that he would “exceed” the others on account of “sacrificing” the man that “clothes” Jesus?

HEDRICK: At this point in the text (page 53) there is a contrast between the kingless generation and the rest of the generations of the world. To the kingless generation is granted (given as a gift) both soul and spirit; to everyone else the spirit is “loaned.” The significance is that the souls of the kingless generation will survive death; when the spirit leaves them their souls survive and they will be taken up. The souls of everyone else will die (p. 43). Why that is, I have no idea. This text is only at the beginning of its study. It will have to be analyzed in contrast with other similar Sethian texts for proper understanding. By betraying the man who “clothes” the heavenly Christ, Judas is performing a service to the Ineffable One (perhaps the Great Invisible Spirit) that far exceeds the service of all others (see page 45 where people are loaned spirit in order to perform service). The idea of being clothed by a body is a traditional Docetic concept (that is: “Jesus” is not human he only appears to be human). The essential essence of the figure who Jesus (the human) being clothes does not belong to the earthly realm, the cosmos, but comes from the immortal realm of Barbelo. With Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, the spiritual essence of this immortal figure is free to return from whence he came. What Judas does for Jesus is the greatest service possible in this text, one for which Judas will be rewarded with a star that leads all the rest. In this text everyone has a “star,” perhaps the spiritual essence of each individual.

The Lost Sayings of Jesus on Coffee Cigarettes and Gnosis

Once again, I'm being interviewed by Miguel Conner again on Coffee, Cigarettes & Gnosis this Sunday, January 21, 2007. If you miss the program it will probably be repeated at some point, or downloads are available for a small fee. The subject is my most recent book, The Lost Sayings of Jesus. Our discussion covers many aspects of the sayings tradition in many religions and cultures. The book itself is available from Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594731721/thegospeoftho-20
and as far as I'm concerned it's the most comprehensive and informative collection of the sayings of Jesus not in the New Testament or the Gospel of Thomas.

André Gagné

André Gagné is a Canadian scholar who has been questioning the interpretation of the Gospel of Judas. He has a post on this at his blog
He also has an online recorded lecture on Judas, which I haven't listened to yet, so I can't describe the thrust of it. Beware, the lecture started playing immediately when I opened the page.

Gnostic Writings on the Soul: Annotated & Explained

My next book, Gnostic Writings on the Soul: Annotated & Explained is already available for pre-order on Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594732205/thegospeoftho-20

Here's the blurb:-

Book Description
Just what is a soul, exactly? Where did the idea come from? How do we experience our souls? Two ancient Gnostic texts--The Exegesis on the Soul and The Hymn of the Pearl, both presented here in all-new translations--hold important clues to the development of the soul as a concept and reveal inspiring ways your own soul can remember and return to its unique, divine purpose.

The Exegesis on the Soul depicts the soul as a feminine figure who has fallen into the corrupted world and must find her way back to the Divine. It is the story of the soul's struggle and redemption that will embolden your own spiritual pilgrimage. The Hymn of the Pearl is an allegorical story about a prince sent to retrieve a precious pearl but who soon forgets his purpose and falls asleep. It is a moving tale of the importance of remembering your soul's identity and calling--and knowing that only you can fulfill your destiny.

Accessible facing-page commentary explains the Gnostic writings for you even if you have no previous knowledge of Gnosticism or early Christianity. Additional material draws on ancient religions, Platonism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and modern philosophical and psychological notions of the soul to place the Gnostic teachings in a clear historical context, trace the development of this concept through time, and to help you perceive--and respond to--the divine spark found in your own soul.

About the Author
Andrew Phillip Smith has been investigating early Christianity and Gnosticism for over a decade, sharing the results in presentations and writings. He is the author of The Lost Sayings of Jesus: Annotated and Explained, The Gospel of Philip: Annotated and Explained (both SkyLight Paths) and The Gospel of Thomas: A New Version Based on Its Inner Meaning.

Bardic Press Website

As you can see, the Bardic Press website and all bardic-press.com email addresses are back up. Our web host went down, and as of writing is still down, so I've moved everything over to Godaddy. The domain registration transfer hasn't completed yet, so the site may be unavailable again for a short period in the near future. All this reminds me that the site is desperately in need of a redesign and reorganization.

I've just noticed that some of the links don't work. It seems that the previous host didn't distinguish between upper and lower case in folders and filenames, but godaddy does.

The Lost Sayings of Jesus on Coffee, Cigarettes and Gnosis

I'm being interviewed by Miguel Conner again on Coffee, Cigarettes & Gnosis this Sunday, January 21, 2007. The subject is my most recent book, The Lost Sayings of Jesus. I ramble on about various very specific aspects of the book...

[Edited to correct the date.]

Theology Today - Vol 15, No. 1 - April 1958 - BOOK REVIEW - The Jung Codex, A Newly Recovered Gnostic Papyrus; Three Studies & Evangelium Veritatis; C

Theology Today - Vol 15, No. 1 - April 1958 - BOOK REVIEW - The Jung Codex, A Newly Recovered Gnostic Papyrus; Three Studies & Evangelium Veritatis; Codex Jung

A 1958 review of The Jung Codex, A Newly Recovered Papyrus.

Genesis Now

Genesis Now

Midrashic Views of Bereshit Mysticism in Thomas and John

Neil Douglas-Klotz

Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning, Edinburgh, Scotland

More on the Gospel of Judas Translation

From Jim Davila's PaleoJudaica

[All text below is from Jim Davila's blog]

[Professor André] Gagné, both an expert on ancient Christian writings and the Coptic language, offered his interpretation of the controversial Gnostic text written in ancient Coptic.

Armed with a laser pointer, he highlighted the Coptic text projected on the screen, “This line says ‘…for you (Judas) will sacrifice the man that bears me.’ It’s saying Judas already had in his mind to sacrifice Jesus, and Jesus is aware of this. He (Jesus) is just prophesizing what Judas is going to do and had already stated. This reflects the Gnostic view of Christianity.”

National Geographic, which has rights to publish the gospel, has reported the Judas gospel says Jesus asked Judas to betray him.

Gagné disputes this and maintains this is not a matter of semantics but one of grammar.

“They’ve mistranslated the tense. It was done too quickly. It lacks the accuracy necessary for interpretation in my opinion.”

APRIL DECONICK responds to my bleg for Coptologists's comments on the supposed mistranslation of the Gospel of Judas. She writes that someone

showed me your posting this morning, about a Canadian professor who was quoted saying that the line from the Gospel of Judas "you will sacrifice the man that clothes me" is wrong because of an incorrect future tense. I checked the Coptic transcription and I'm not sure what the professor was referring to, or maybe the reporter got it wrong. The line in Coptic is very straightforward with a simple future. The word that Kasser-Meyer translate "clothes" is a Greek idiom (phoreo), which means "to bear" or "carry" or "wear." So as it is transliterated, it can be read very woodenly: "For the man who carries (or: clothes) me, you will sacrifice him."

Now I haven't been able to check the photographs (none of us have), so the transliteration has not been confirmed. It should be noted that we do not have a critical edition yet, nor has the critical edition been reviewed. Just from my cursory reading of the translation compared to the transcription, there are interpretative problems. Does Judas really have a "spirit" (as Kasser-Meyer translate it) or a "demon" (as I would translate line 44:21, "daimon")?

I guess what I'm saying is that until the photographs are released, none of us can confirm the transliteration and offer alternative translations and solutions to the problems. It is a frustrating position to be in because the popular book is being treated by the media as academically definitive, when in fact this couldn't be further from the truth.

The media's lack of perspective in such matters is a challenge we frequently face.

***********
NO MISTRANSLATION AFTER ALL and, in fact, nobody said there was:

I am the Canadian professor who supposedly said that the Gospel of Judas was mistranslated!!! This reporter got it all wrong! All I said was that I disagreed with the idea that Jesus asked Judas to betray him, or to help him get rid of his mortal body. The phrase: "But you will exceed them all, for you will sacrifice the man that bears me" is a Future I (one) and should not be understood or interpreted as an imperative. Jesus is in fact prophesying and knows that Judas will do this. I think that the phrase was interpreted in a sensationalistic way. But I would never dare say that it was mistranslated. I want to thank Dr. DeConick for her careful comments. It is true that the media sometimes get things wrong.

Cordially,

André Gagné

Philip A. Harland: Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean » Judas Iscariot may be evil after all: Louis Painchaud’s critique of common interpretations

Philip A. Harland: Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean » Judas Iscariot may be evil after all: Louis Painchaud’s critique of common interpretations of the Coptic Gospel of Judas

“A close reading of the Gospel of Judas reveals a totally different picture. Judas is guilty of sacrificing the man who wore Jesus, he is a demon, misled by his star, and he will never make it to the place reserved for the Holy Generation. He is both demonized, in the same way as he is demonized in the Gospel of John, and assimilated to Juda the patriarch eponym of Judaism through the question “What advantage…? (GosJud 46:16; Gen 37:26).” (cited from Painchaud’s summary).

John Turner on the Gospel of Judas, Pre-publication

This is an older article that references John Turner's concern about the translation and publication of the Gospel of Judas.
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2006/04/29/values/doc44528037c7821701104532.text

Judas Gospel has different view of God

By BOB REEVES / Lincoln Journal Star

Saturday, Apr 29, 2006 - 12:07:22 am CDT

The long-lost Gospel of Judas, published earlier this month by the National Geographic Society, gives a180-degree different view of Judas Iscariot than is found in the New Testament.

It also has a totally different view of God than that of orthodox Christianity or Judaism.

The Gospel of Judas, which may date from as early as 180 A.D., is one of some 15 works of Sethian Gnosticism that have been discovered and translated in recent decades.

And, like other Sethian writings, it draws a stark contrast between an ultimate deity that is infinite, eternal and perfect versus a lesser god, evil and corrupt, who created the material world in which we live.

John Turner, professor of classics and religion at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is an expert on Sethian Gnosticism. He translated several ancient books that are part of the Nag Hamadi scriptures, a cache of once-forbidden books found hidden in a jar in Egypt in 1945.

When information about the Gospel of Judas began to circulate among scholars, Turner realized that its significance went far beyond the basic story line, in which Jesus identifies Judas as a favored disciple and in effect asks Judas to turn him over to the Roman authorities to be executed.

That view of Judas is totally opposite the New Testament view of Judas as a traitor, who was led by the devil to betray Christ.

“It (the Judas Gospel) may shock some people, but to me it just adds to the Sethian corpus,” Turner said.

He summarized some of the basic beliefs of the Sethians in this way: According the book of Genesis, the first man, Adam, had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel, and he and his descendants were marked for that crime. But two passages (Genesis 4:25 and 5:3) state that Adam had a third son “in his own likeness,” who was named Seth. The Sethians believed that while the material world was created by an ignorant, angry and jealous god, Adam himself had a spark of divinity that came from the true God, the Father who exists in the realm of pure spirit.

“Adam is actually smarter and more perceptive than the creator being,” Turner said. The god of this world attempts to deprive Adam and Eve of their immortality, driving them from the Garden of Eden after they eat from the tree of knowledge. But Seth inherits the spark of divinity and a soul that returns to the spiritual realm after death.

Seth is also called the Allogenes, meaning “of a different seed or race,” a term that also was applied to Jesus. “Revealers from the divine world appear from time to time, culminating with the heavenly Seth appearing in the guise of Jesus,” Turner explained.

In the Gospel of Judas, Jesus imparts esoteric teachings to Judas that he does not reveal to the other disciples. In fact, Jesus laughs at the other disciples because they pray to the false god of this world rather than worshipping the true eternal Father, whom Jesus identifies as a “great invisible spirit.”

In a commentary included in the Gospel of Judas volume, Gnostic scholar Marvin Meyer quotes from an essay by Turner describing the “supreme triad” (trinity) of Sethian Gnosticism: Father, Mother and Child. The Father is the infinite, invisible spirit that “seems to transcend even the realm of being itself.” The Mother, also called Barbelo, is “the projected self-reflection” of the Father. The Child, also called autogenes, meaning “self-generated,” is produced from Barbelo “either spontaneously or from a spark of the Father’s light.” The autogenes creates other beings known as luminaries and aeons. Sophia, a personification of divine wisdom, produces a “misshapen” offspring who goes on to create the material world, with the goal of “keeping the divine light of Sophia imprisoned within mortal bodies,” Meyer writes.

In the Gospel of Judas, Judas acknowledges that Jesus is “from the immortal realm of Barbelo” and Jesus takes him aside to impart special wisdom. He tells Judas that by turning him over to be executed, he is actually helping to free Jesus from the physical world so his soul can return to the eternal spiritual realm.

Near the end of the gospel, Judas himself enters a “luminous cloud” linking him with the realm of light.

Publication of the Gospel of Judas gives further evidence of the beliefs of the Sethian Gnostics, who were labeled as heretics by many of the early church fathers. The Gospel of Judas was mentioned by Irenaeus of Lyon, a bishop in the second century, but its existence wasn’t proven until the manuscript (called Codex Tchacos) was accidentally uncovered in a limestone box in a cave in Egypt in 1971. The document was sold in Cairo’s antiquities market and eventually ended up in a safety deposit box in Long Island, N.Y., where it sat disintegrating in the humidity for 16 years.

In 2000 art dealer Frieda Tchacos Nussberger purchased the codex for several hundred thousand dollars, and eventually sold it to another collector, Bruce Ferrini, who damaged it further by placing it in a freezer (which caused the moisture-damaged pages to dry and crumble). Finally, the ancient Coptic manuscript was acquired for $1.5 million by the Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art, which in turn sold the rights to exhibit and publish the manuscript to the National Geographic Society for $1 million.

“Most of the damage to a codex happens in the antiquities market, not while it’s buried,” Turner said.

The entire Codex Tchacos is 66 pages, including the 26-page Gospel of Judas, plus a version of the letter of Philip which appears in the New Testament, a text entitled “James” which appears to be a version of another Gnostic Gospel from Nag Hamadi, and a text provisionally called “The Book of Allogenes” which appears to be another Sethian work that has not been previously translated.

The major significance of the codex, Turner said, is that it contains two works which were previously unknown. “It doesn’t really alter what we know about the basic ideas of Sethianism, but it does give us an alternate expression of them,” he said.

Sethianism was one of many expressions of early Christianity, Turner noted. “It’s good to be able to compare this gospel with other Sethian documents and try to fit it into the history and development of Sethian thought.”

Reach Bob Reeves at 473-7212 or at breeves@journalstar.com.

The End of Gnosticism?

http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i35/35a01801.htm

A well-informed article on the issue of Gnosticism as an academic category. "

Mr. Ehrman, of North Carolina, also believes the term is useful. "We talk about 'Christianity,' 'Judaism,' and 'apocalypticism,'" he points out, "even though there are many varieties of each."

While he does not agree with Mr. Williams's critique of the term, Mr. Ehrman does share his colleague's desire to plot out what links these texts together. "One of the things historians do in trying to understand the past is to try to find and understand commonalities," says Mr. Ehrman. "Religious historians group things together based on shared beliefs and practices. When we say 'Jew,' we mean something by it. ... A lot of these terms are slippery, but when there are enough similarities, they are shared enough that you can label them."

Doing away with "Gnosticism" entirely, he concludes, "would be to fragment our knowledge to such an extent that we can't know what we're talking about.""

Plus the transcript of a discussion with Karen King on the same subject,
http://chronicle.com/colloquy/2006/05/gnostic/
" Docetism (the view that Jesus only seemed to have a body but never really suffered or died) represents a charge of heresy that would apply to some of these new texts (notably the Apocalypse of Peter) but not others. Rather than start from the heresiologists' definition of what the central issue is, I am suggesting that we ask what was at stake in such issues. Here we see 1) different deployments of body symbolism to do different kinds of theological work (for example in the Secret Revelation of John); 2) the question about Jesus' body was fundamentally a question about what it means to be human: Are we soul and spirit-infused flesh? Or are we immortal spirit-infused souls whose fleshly bodies will decay at death? The question of genre arises because of the fluidity of early Christian literary experimentation."

Was it virtue or betrayal? - Los Angeles Times

Was it virtue or betrayal? - Los Angeles Times
An article on the argument between Marvin Meyer and James Robinson over the publication of the Gospel of Judas. Translation issues are brought up again by John Turner:-

"But some others, including Gnostic scholar John D. Turner, have come to believe that "the prospects of increasing his fame and notoriety got the best of Marvin."

Turner also says he has discovered numerous errors in National Geographic's English translation of the Judas Gospel. He argues the mistakes could have been avoided if the translation team had included a wider variety of experts."

Gospel of Philip Interview on Sunday January 7

My interview with Miguel Conner for Coffee, Cigarettes and Gnosis is being repeated on Sunday. Go to http://thegodabovegod.com Miguel's blurb for it follows

Our rebroadcast this Sunday at 12 PM PST/2 PM CST/3 PM PST is `Coffee,
Cigarettes & Gnosis #18—Me, Myself & Irenaeus'. It's a comprehensive
view on the Gospel of Philip and the Valentinians who compiled it.
Our guest was Andrew Phillip Smith, author of 'The Gospel of Philip,
Annotated & Explained' & 'The Gospel of Thomas: A New Translation
Based on the Inner Meaning'.

Topics discussed:

--The origins, theology and secret meanings of The Gospel of Philip.
--The reality behind the depiction of the close and intimate
relationship between Mary Magdalene and The Logos.
--The Gnostic Pauline and Johannine influences that permeate the
Gospel of Philip.
--The history and philosophy of Valentinus, the great Gnostic Master,
whose influence formed this Gospel, as well as many others in The Nag
Hammadi Library. His movement was considered the most sophisticated,
intellectual and moral of the Classic Gnostics, which made it the
biggest menace to the nascent Catholic Church. In fact, Valentinus
almost became the Pope of The Catholic Church, which would have
changed history if not for an eleventh hour shift in fortune. If
only...if only...
--We learn how to read this symbolical and abstract work that, in
essence, will help us understand all other Christian texts in the
right context.
--Deciphering the battles between Bishop Irenaeus and the Valentinians.
--The Gospel of Philip has been called the Sacramental Gospel, being
the first Christian work introducing a full catalogue of holy rituals.
Is it possible that the Gnostics first conceived certain mystery rites
that were later usurped by the Orthodox Church?

Like The Gospel of Philip says, 'Truth did not come into the world
naked. It came in type and images. The world would not receive truth
in any other way.' Learn to see beyond the words, ideas and images
that limit our spiritual transformation so that the truth will set us
and the world free from the Angelic Mafia.