Cosmology and Fate in Gnosticism and Graeco-Roman Antiquity: Under Pitiless Skies PDF
Preview Cosmology and Fate in Gnosticism and Graeco-Roman Antiquity: Under Pitiless Skies
Cosmology and Fate in Gnosticism and Graeco-Roman Antiquity Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies Editors JohannesvanOort&EinarThomassen EditorialBoard j.d.beduhn–a.d.deconick–w.-p.funk i.gardner–s.n.c.lieu–a.marjanen p.nagel–l.painchaud–b.a.pearson n.a.pedersen–s.g.richter–j.m.robinson m.scopello–j.d.turner–g.wurst VOLUME81 Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/nhms Cosmology and Fate in Gnosticism and Graeco-Roman Antiquity Under Pitiless Skies By NicolaDenzeyLewis LEIDEN•BOSTON 2013 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Lewis,NicolaDenzey,1966- CosmologyandfateingnosticismandGraeco-Romanantiquity:underpitilessskies/byNicola DenzeyLewis. pagecm.–(NagHammadiandManichaeanstudies,ISSN0929-2470;81) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-90-04-24548-8(hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-24576-1(e-book)1. Gnosticism.2.Cosmology.3.Fateandfatalism.I.Title. BT1390.L492013 299'.932–dc23 2012048689 Thispublicationhasbeentypesetinthemultilingual“Brill”typeface.Withover5,100characters coveringLatin,IPA,Greek,andCyrillic,thistypefaceisespeciallysuitableforuseinthehumanities. Formoreinformation,pleaseseewww.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN0929-2470 ISBN978-90-04-24548-8(hardback) ISBN978-90-04-24576-1(e-book) Copyright2013byKoninklijkeBrillNV,Leiden,TheNetherlands. KoninklijkeBrillNVincorporatestheimprintsBrill,GlobalOriental,HoteiPublishing, IDCPublishersandMartinusNijhoffPublishers. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,translated,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopying,recordingorotherwise,withoutpriorwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher. AuthorizationtophotocopyitemsforinternalorpersonaluseisgrantedbyKoninklijkeBrillNV providedthattheappropriatefeesarepaiddirectlytoTheCopyrightClearanceCenter, 222RosewoodDrive,Suite910,Danvers,MA01923,USA. Feesaresubjecttochange. Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper. Formygirls,LolaandIsobel Nequaquamnobisdivinitusesseparatam. Naturamrerum;tantastatpraeditaculpa. “HadGoddesignedtheworld,itwouldnotbe Aworldsofrailandfaultyaswesee.” —Lucretius,Dererumnatura,5.198–199 CONTENTS Acknowledgements..................................................... ix Abbreviations........................................................... xi Introduction............................................................ 1 1. WeretheGnosticsCosmicPessimists? ............................. 13 2. NagHammadiandtheProvidentialCosmos ....................... 29 3. ‘ThisBodyofDeath’:CosmicMalevolenceandEnslavementto SininPaulineExegesis ............................................. 53 4. HeimarmeneatNagHammadi:TheApocryphonofJohnandOn theOriginoftheWorld .............................................. 85 5. MiddlePlatonism,Heimarmene,andtheCorpusHermeticum...... 103 6. WaysOutI:InterventionsoftheSaviorGod........................ 127 7. WaysOutII:BaptismandCosmicFreedom:ANewGenesis ....... 145 8. Astral‘Determinism’intheGospelofJudas......................... 165 9. Conclusions,andaNewWayForward.............................. 181 SelectedBibliography................................................... 193 SubjectIndex ........................................................... 203 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thisbookbeganlong,longago,asmy1998doctoraldissertationatPrinceton University under the expert guidance of Elaine Pagels, John Gager, Ted ChamplinandPeterBrown.Thecombinedskills,breadthofknowledge,and sheerbrillianceofthesescholarsmadeforperhapsthemostintimidating dissertationcommitteeknowntohumanity,andIwasdailyhumbledbythe experience.AnysuccessesofthisbookIowetothem;itsshortcomings,on theotherhand,remainentirelymyown. The extraordinarily congenial and interdisciplinary environment of Princeton’s Program in the Ancient World also brought me into the orbit of three other outstanding Princeton scholars whom I must thank here. ThefirstisMarthaHimmelfarb,whoseexcellentworkonJewishpseudepi- graphicalandascenttextsundergirdswhatIlearnedaboutsecond-century Christian apocalyptic. Over the past decade in particular, I have been so gratefulforwhatIlearnedfromherasIreadearlyChristianmaterial.Bob Lambertondeservescreditforactuallysettingmeonthepathtothisbookby raisingthespecterof‘cosmicpessimism’asawhollyconstructedworldview, andbysettingasidetheconventionalclassicist’sbiasesaslimitedtoamore normativecanonoftextsandapproaches.GarthFowden’sexpertiseinthe HermeticaremindedmetolookbeyondChristianandJewishmaterialsto Graeco-Romanreligiousmaterials,providingmewithamuchwiderpalette oftextsandideasthanIwouldhavebeenawareofwithouthisinsights. Within the circles of those who work primarily on Gnosticism, I have found enduring support. Papers based on this book were presented, over the years, at the Society of Biblical Literature’s Nag Hammadi and Gnos- ticism section. Through that section, I have been fortunate to have been guided,corrected,andinspiredbyacoterieofoutstandingscholars.Chief amongthosewhomustbesingledoutareJohnTurner,MichaelWaldstein, Michael Williams, Birger Pearson, Hans-Martin Schenke, Frederik Wisse, Einar Thomassen, Louis Painchaud, and Paul-Hubert Poirier. I’ve turned oftentoAprilDeConick’sfabulousworkonascentandmysticisminGnos- ticism,andneverfailedtoberevivifiedbyherinsights.Herrecentcongress on the Judas Codex in Houston (2008)—masterfully executed—reignited mypassionforallthingscosmicinthesecondcentury.TuomasRasimus’s workontheOphitespushedmetoclarifymyownviewsonancientascent inwaysIappreciate.Finally,bothKarenKingandIsmoDunderberghave
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