The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: A Study of Gnostic Scriptures and Early Christian Thought

Contained in the fragments of this book is the explanation of Life, the human race, our place in existence and our creator. Its supremely difficult to comprehend but It answered every question i have ever had about the human race, our origins, our end, our religions, philosophy, death, life and why we exist and what will become of us when we die. Its incredibly deep in places, even for a philosopher or scholar.Its certainly not a simple read and i had to stop reading to reflect on many sentences and think deeply on their meaning before i could proceed to the next sentence or paragraph. I used to teach english for several years and yet i definitely found a big dictionary an essential companion to get through this book. its complex and challenging for almost anyone, big answers to lifes big questions don't come easy!Its probably way beyond most people to even begin to comprehend a fraction of it. I struggled many times to grasp it all. Any question i ever had about the concept or reality of what we call God is probably answered in the texts of these scriptures. I also felt after reading and studying The Bible and The Quran in depth that we truly already have all the answers to anything we wish to know, all the keys to happiness and ultimate knowledge but like these Nag Hammadi scriptures the ultimate truth has been literally hidden from us in a dark cave for centuries and not become a freely available part of our lives. It has been hidden, obscured and changed to suit the purposes of Rulers and Kings for centuries. For example; the highly dubious folk tale The Book of Esther is in The Bible but not one of the Nag Hammadi scriptures is. The question is.....why? To keep us obedient to the ruling elite and remain in ignorance of the true value and purpose of our lives so we can pay them taxes, consume, obey, and be a slave to transient material wealth for those whose conditioning, delusion and ego problems have made them actually think that they own the world and its life sustaining resources, not the truth of its creation, sustenance and ownership by a supreme eternal creator who holds everything. People are too ignorant to know any better....so enlighten yourself and try to read these amazing scriptures. Sadly, like us as humans, the Nag Hammadi texts are incomplete and you'll need to fill in a few gaps. Many notes are in the text to help its comprehension. But its a rare read and worth the time and effort. This book blew my mind actually. They should study this in schools globally.

I found this book excellent in the insight it gives us into all the books that didn't make it into the Bible. There is a lot of good cross-referencing with the appropriate Bible texts and helpful introductions to each of the Nag Hammadi Scriptures. I would suggest that it is required reading for anyone, particularly Theology students of any faith not just Christian, who wishes to know more about the whole story of Christ, and particularly about the significance of Mary of Magdala. The book is quite difficult to tackle but well worth while for those with an open mind and imagination to other points of view rather than simply those we are offered in the New Testament. Actually as a Catholic it has deepened my faith and I hope this will happen for others too.

Contrary to the sensationalism that many people love and want to buy into, these "gospels" are not lost. They are not gospels or inspired to begin with, even if they are named after known biblical characters, and you can tell when you start reading them and then comparing them to the actual gospels that are inspired (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).These are 2nd - 3rd century documents were fabricated as gospels by a heretical sect called the gnostics, who believed that God did not create the universe but that it was a demiurge who did, and that there was hidden knowledge that needed to be understood to gain enlightenment unto salvation. They also believed that the physical was evil and the spiritual was good, contrary to God's account of creation in Genesis when He called everything "good" (see Colossians 2:16-22 also). To try and validate their beliefs, they named their false gospels after known apostles and biblical characters.The Gospel of Thomas, for example, portrays Jesus as a speaker of secret sayings, and it teaches that we need to discover the hidden meaning of His words and "finding the light within". There is no focus on His death and resurrection, or any mention at all. Also, in 114, the Gospel of Thomas claims that Jesus said to Mary Magdalene that she had to become a male to enter the kingdom of Heaven. In gnosticism, it was believed that males symbolised fullness in spirituality while females symbolised materialism. This is a big problem. Again, no mention of God’s love through Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins.Furthermore, the tone of Jesus makes Him sound like a much different person in these gnostic texts, and they fall in comparison to the original gospels as historical accounts of Jesus' life. The writing is sloppy; the sequence between the texts is poor, and it is just easy to tell they are not historical narratives.Oddly, reading them strengthened my faith, not because there is any inherent good or divine inspiration behind them, but because of how easy it was to notice why they aren't included in scripture, especially after seeing so many sensationalist content claiming that they're lost books from the Bible. Truly, only the four synoptic gospels are inspired and faithful accounts of our Saviour's life.However, this book is excellent for studying those documents. If you want to understand them and complete a collection you've started, I highly recommend it.

Some of the texts are remarkably short, for instance the gospel of Mary Magdelin consists of a single conversation between Mary and the apostles after jesus’ death.Others are basically praise or prayers and reading these can be a little tedious.What is outstanding is the level of introduction and explanation of each book, where it stands, possibly where it was written etc.There is extensive reference to where quotes within the Bible have been used, pointing to the view that many of these have been copied from earlier texts, including the gospels themselves.In a lot of cases you can see why these texts were removed from the New Testament, there are some that are not consistent with the emergence of the new faith.All in all I do think that the reading of the book would strengthen faith rather than diminishing it. As an amateur scholar of early religion I find it quite fascinating, especially the copious footnotes, linking parts of the Bible and early texts.The level of academic research is very thorough and I can recommend this book to anyone interested in early Christianity.

Nice looking book, arrived in perfect condition. It will be an interesting read...

Not read much of it yet, but what I have I like. I can read this type of literature all day long, the bible and anything associated with it intrigues me immensely. Another good book to my collection.Much of the texts correlates to all the other scriptures and as individuals you get out of it what you will. It's not something you can or can't recommend really, I think it is personal. As far as how well it is written, as book, I would recommend it in that respect. I am finding it easy to read.There is an explanation (in some detail) at the beginning of each of the scriptures, which some may find helpful. It is a thick book and will take some time read and understand. My view? Excellent.

Very enlightening read, a piece of history that escaped being erased. Sensational read and a beautiful quality book.

if you believe that every thing happened by chance and that the human race crawled out of a thick soup millions of years ago and this planet just happened , and that we live for 3 scores and 10 , and that when we die There is no after life, and that their is nothing and the human body just turns to dust , then this is not for you , if you understand the human soul leaves heaven to live in the world and that it needs a body to use things on this level , and the soul as to experience love hate etc until the soul as reached perfection and never comes here again and that every human as physic powers that it can pick to use or not use and that their is more to life than we can ever think of and that every human on this planet as total free will to use as you wish for good or bad then this book is for you , ill tell you this god does not care if you believe in him or not its what he cares about is what you do if you see a homeless man or woman buy them a meal its called help each other then we would have a brilliant world remember nothing is with held from you , you need to ask for help also please read Emanuel sawedenborg his books are on these lines

Important scriptures that should be read by everyone who has an interest in theology or esotericism.

Excelente libro para quienes desean profundizar en el estudio de las escrituras apócrifas.

Fantastic

This isn't a book! It's actually a magic portal through which the reader tumbles from one dimension to another. Sometimes the results are unsettling, but one is always left believing that, however much new got found in the next dimension, a lot is still there waiting to be discovered.The blah cover of Nag Hammadi Scriptures makes it look like just another dry, boring now-let's-study-the-Bible type book. Instead it's a ticket for fascinating time travel out of the present and back to a murky, confusing past; from one civilization to another; from one rigid belief system to another; from one religion to another. You get bounced from reality to myth, and then all the way back again -- provided you still want to return.This ancient anthology is an impressive job of scholarship and clear translation, and it oozes with bunches of helpful footnotes, introductions and leads for further study. If it has a flaw, I think it is that, found here and there throughout the volume, are faint hints of traditional Christian ideas. Sometimes one senses the editors may be trying a little too hard to reconcile some orthodox Christian belief or other with what they assume the ancient authors were saying or thinking. And the book certainly wants to make you believe that everyone with a point of view needs to have earned a degree from some obscure school of theology or religion. But ignore all that. If you buy the book, you've got the right to make up your own mind about what it says. And if there ever was a topic about which everyone's entitled to their own slant, this must be it.As all readers will, I have a bias. I am a very devout Buddhist, steeped primarily in the religious traditions of Sri Lanka. The revelations I derived from the Nag Hammadi Scriptures were that passage, after passage, after passage is at least compatible with (and sometimes nearly identical to) Theravadan Buddhist teaching, and that both Gnostic ideas and Buddhism seem closer to one another than either one does to today's Christian practices.All of which suggests to me that, though the world doggedly perpetuates and exalts countless images of, names for and ideas about "gods", you don't have to be a great scholar or professional theologian to recognize that, in the end, there is after all only one. To me this book argues most eloquently that, whoever or whatever that god may be, a wise search for him/her starts by a dive deep within the human psyche.

The book is very interesting but, unfortunately, the print is small and will strain your eyes after a while.