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A History of Gnosticism PDF

291 Pages·1993·17.547 MB·English
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G A HISTORY OF NOSTICISM Giovanni Filoramo Translated by Anthony Alcock Basil Blackwell A History of Gnosticism English translation copyright © Basil Blackwell 1990 First published in Italian as L'attesa della fine. Storia della gnosi © Gius. Laterza & Figli First published 1990 Basil Blackwell Ltd 108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JF, UK Basil Blackwell, Inc. 3 Cambridge Center Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Filoramo, Giovanni. [Attesa della fine. English] A History of Gnosticism I Giovanni Filoramo ; translated by Anthony Alcock. p. cm. Translation of: L'attesa della fine. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0631-15756-5 1. Gnosticism. I. Title. BT1390.F5513 1990 89-27. 299'.932-dc20 Typeset in 10 on 12 pt Sabon by Photo·graphics, Honiton, Devon Printed in Great Britain by TJ Press Ltd., Padstow Contents Abbreviations viii Introduction xiii Gnosis and modern culture Xlll The rediscovery of Gnosticism XVlll 1 Fragments of a Lost Faith 1 Discovery 1 The Gnostics and their mask: the problem of the heresiological sources 2 In search of a theme: Gnosticism and its interpretations 7 A voice from the desert: the Nag Hammadi library 13 2 Between Demons and Gods: an Age of Revelation 20 A two-headed Janus: the century of the Antonines 20 New religious horizons 22 Ways of salvation 27 Ecstasy and revelation 31 In search of a new identity 34 3 The Gnostic Imagination 38 The nature of Gnostic knowledge 38 Myth, thought and society 46 The nature of Gnostic myth 51 4 In the World of the Pleroma 54 Gnostic dualism 54 Prologue in Heaven 56 The mystery of the archetypal Androgyne 59 Vl Contents Divine hierarchies: the structure of the pleromatic family 63 The sin of Sophia 67 '5~1\ The Arrogance of the Demiurge and the Creation of the -.../ World 73 Sophia's disruptive behaviour 73 'Woman born of woman': the birth of the Demiurge 77 Sethian and Valentinian cosmogonies 81 Gnostic variations on cosmogonic themes 83 ""--~'! 6: And God Said, 'Let Us Make Man in Our Image and I, -' Likeness' 87 Introduction 87 The creation of Adam and Eve 88 The unwavering race: Seth and his descendants 94 The anthropogony of the Valentinian School 98 " 7 ) Mysterium Coniunctionis: The Gnostic Saviour 101 .// The data 101 The case of Poimandres 107 Seth the Saviour 110 The Valentinian Jesus 116 Other Gnostic Christ%gies 124 8 Waiting for the End 128 The nature of Gnostic eschatology 128 The time of the Church 134 Gnostic accounts of the Ascent of the Soul 137 9 Simon Magus and the Origins of Gnosticism 142 Gnosis and Gnosticism 142 Contents Vll In search of the origins: Simon Magus and the myth of He/en 147 10 Visionaries, Prophets and Divines: Towards a History of Gnosticism 153 Ecstasy, possession and revelation 153 Second-century Gnostic doctors 157 Resistance and surrender 169 11 Ascetics and Libertines 173 Towards a sociology of Gnosticism 173 Ritual processes 178 Ascetics or libertines? The dilemma of Gnostic ethics 185 Notes 190 Select Bibliography and Further Reading 246 Index 259 Abbreviations NHC Nag Hammadi Corpus Individual treatises in NHC 1.1 OrPi Prayer of the Apostle Paul (+ colophon) I.2 EpJac Apocryphon of James 1.3 EvVer Gospel of Truth 104 Rheg To Reginus, on Resurrection 1.5 TracTrip Tripartite Treatise 11.1 AJ Apocryphon of John 11.2 EvTh Gospel of Thomas II.3 EvPh Gospel of Philip 1104 HA Hypostasis of the Archons 11.5 OrigMund On the Origin of the World II.6 ExAn Exegesis on the Soul II.7 LibTh Book of Thomas the Contender (+ colophon) Ill. I AJ Apocryphon of John 1Il.2 EvAeg Gospel of the Egyptians IlI.3 Eugn Eugnostos the Blessed lIlA SJCh The Sophia of Jesus Christ 1Il.5 Dial Dialogue of the Saviour IV.I AJ Apocryphon of John IV.2 EvAeg Gospel of the Egyptians V.I Eugn Eugnostos the Blessed V.2 ApcPI Apocalypse of Paul V.3 I ApcJac First Apocalypse of James VA 2 ApcJac Second Apocalypse of James V.5 ApcAd Apocalypse of Adam VI.1 ActPt Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles Vl.2 Bront The Thunder, Perfect Mind Abbreviations IX VI.3 AuthLog Authoritative Teaching VIA Noema The Concept of Our Great Power VI.5 Plat. Rep. Plato, Republic 588 b--589 b VI. 6 OgdEnn Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth VI. 7 Or Prayer of Thanksgiving (+ scribal note) VI. 8 Ascl Asclepius 21-9 VII.1 ParSem Paraphrase of Shem VIl.2 2 LogSeth Second Treatise of the Great Seth VII.3 ApcPt Apocalypse of Peter VilA Silv Teaching of Silvanus (+ colophon) VII.5 StelSeth Three Steles of Seth VIII. 1 20str 2ostrianos VIl1.2 ApPt Letter of Peter to Philip IX.1 Melch Melchizedek IX.2 Nor Thought of Norea IX.3 TestVer Testimony of Truth X Mars Marsanes Xl.1 Inter Interpretation of Knowledge XI. 2 ExpVal Valentinian Exposition XI.3 Allog Allogenes XI. 4 Hyps Hypsiphrone XII. 1 SSex Sentences of Sextus XII. 2 EvVer Gospel of Truth XII.3 Frgm Fragments XIII. 1 Prot Trimorphic Protennoia XIII.2 OrigMund On the Origin of the World BG Berlin Gnostic Codex 8502 Individual treatises in BG SjCH The Sophia of jesus Christ 1 Lj First Book of jeu 2 Lj Second Book of jeu EvMar Gospel of Mark General ARW Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft Aug Augustinianum x Abbreviations BCNH Bibliotheque copte de Nag Hammadi, ed. J.E Menard (Quebec, 1977-) Bibl Biblica CG (Papyrus) Cairensis Gnosticus CH Corpus Hermeticum DBSup Dictionnaire de la Bible: Supplements, L. Pirok et al. (eds) (Paris, 1928-) ERj Eranos jahrbuch GCS Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte (Leipzig-Berlin, 1897-) Greg Gregorianum HR History of Religions HThR Harvard Theological Review JAC jahrburch fur Antike und Christentum Mus Museum NHS Nag Hammadi Studies (Leiden, 1971-) NT Novum Testamentum NTS New Testament Studies Num Numen OLZ Orientalische Literaturzeitung PCol Papyrus Coloniensis POxy Papyri Oxyrhynchi PW A. Pauly and G. Wissowa, Real-Encyclopddie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft (1893-) QS Qumran Scrolls RAC Reallexikon fur Antike und Christentum (Stuttgart, 1941-) RevHR Revue d'histoire des religions RevSR Revue des sciences religieuses RevThPh Revue de thiologie et de philosophie RGG Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart\ ed. J. c. B. Mohr (Tiibingen, 1958) RHE Revue d'histoire ecclisiastique RSLR Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa RSPhTh Revue de sciences philosophiques et thiologiques RSR Recherches de sciences religieuses SMSR Studi e materiali di storia delle religione ThRu Theologische Rundschau TLZ Theologische Literaturzeitung (Leipzig, 1876-) TW Theologisches Worterbuch zum Neuen Testament (Stuttgart, 1933-) TZ Theologische Zeitschrift

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