A History of Gnosticism

291 Pages·1993·17.547 MB·English

by  Giovanni Filoramo

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
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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