Reddit reviews The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts Complete in One Volume

>I wonder how many similar text fragments and manuscripts were "lost" or intentionally destroyed by the Catholic church as they no longer collaborated [sic--you mean "corroborated"] the official message.

There's no reason to wonder; it was all very well documented.

We've recovered much of the work that was purged, because someone had the balls and foresight to put a bunch of the texts in a jar and bury them in modern-day Saudi Arabia. Some guy found it in his field in 1945, took it back to his house, and went back to work. When he came back home, he asked his mother where the papers he'd brought in were; she'd used some to light the fire! But we actually got the rest, and the jar is now known as the Nag Hammadi Library.

All of this material has been translated to English, and you can buy it here. If you're interested in the history of Christianity, it's a great read. Things that are taken as incontrovertible fact by Christians today were once the source of bitter debate, and many early Christians had a very different set of ideas. It's just that the Catholic hierarchical model was much better at consolidating power and resources, so they were able to crush the opposition.

It's fascinating stuff. Check it out.

• The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts Complete in One Volume
  
• The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English: Seventh Edition

as a good roman catholic i must tell you to stop delving into heresy immediately

as someone who loves reading gnostic texts, the gospel of phillip is pretty interesting as a valentinian catechesis

and the regular gospel of thomas is interesting in more ways than one, though it's a sayings gospel

also if you ever have spare cash, this collection is pretty nice, and not too steep either

https://www.amazon.com/Nag-Hammadi-Scriptures-Translation-Complete/dp/0061626007/ref=nodl_

Hello u/polythemepam9, it appears you tried to put a link in a title, since most users cant click these I have placed it here for you

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Having a copy of the Nag Hammadi Scriptures is a must.

I don't know a complete collection but This particluar version of the Nag Hammadi library is the best one I've found (I have like 4 different ones).

I also recommend looking for books by Jean-Yves Leloup as I find hte translations and notes very well done.

Another place to look is http://earlychristianwritings.com

Pick up the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Scriptures

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0061626007/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500175879&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=nag+hammadi&dpPl=1&dpID=51AWQnqkKKL&ref=plSrch

In a Gnostic-Christian capacity, the apocryphal books, which are collected in the Nag Hammadi scriptures (https://www.amazon.com/Nag-Hammadi-Scriptures-Translation-Complete/dp/0061626007/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543247818&sr=8-1&keywords=nag+hammadi+scriptures) talk about the demiurge to be the god of the Old Testament who represents a diety who is unconscious of the fact that he is NOT the supreme, all-creating godhead but rather something being sometimes malevolent, caught up and identified within himself and his so-called creation. Christ was sent here to liberate us from him or our own unconsciousness on a path of individuation towards the self in which Christ himself is a symbol of.

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So the joke is comparing a semi-conscious, ego-dominated being (us) to something truly whole and conscious which would be the symbol of the self.

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Knowledge of the demiurge predates Christianity too. So there are other sources for info on this "diety". I believe he is spoken of in Greek mythology as well.

> Enoch is Jewish, not Gnostic. I assume this means the Epistle of Jude is also Gnostic propaganda.

The Book of Enoch is a gnostic expansion on Genesis, it is not canon in judaism, it IS canon in Eritrean, Ethiopian, and Coptic Christianity which follows the monastic traditions of the desert fathers, St. Anthony being one of them. There was a large influence on the desert fathers from Alexandria that led to the gnostic texts of the Nag Hammadi library. You can read more about gnostic and coptic canon in this book: https://www.amazon.com/Nag-Hammadi-Scriptures-Translation-Complete/dp/0061626007/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520559631&sr=1-1&keywords=the+nag+hammadi+scriptures&dpID=51AWQnqkKKL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

> Alchemy is medieval, not Gnostic. Alchemy would require not being a Gnostic to perform since it's about matter and the whole thing about Gnosticism is escaping matter.

Alchemy is Egyptian in origin. The word Khem is an egyptian word that means "the fertile land of the Nile flood", the Arabs of the 7th century who developed the practice of alchemy that was brought back during the crusades added "Al" to the beginning of it which means "of the". So the word Alchemy specifically means "of the fertile land that the Nile floods", which is Egypt. Alchemy is an extremely ancient practice that taught us how to make beer in the fertile crescent and was developed spiritually through Egyptians. You can read more about it in this book: https://www.amazon.com/Kybalion-Hermetic-Philosophy-Ancient-Greece/dp/1603864784/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520559579&sr=1-1&keywords=the+kybalion&dpID=51iaHGQejVL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

> "Greek kabbalism" sounds like "dehydrated water." "Exclusively Jewish mysticism for goyim." This really gives your sheer ignorance away.

Greek kabbalism is the origin of Kabbalah, it specifically deals with the Pythagorean cults that developed during the origins of philosophy. The greek and hebrew alphabets developed from the pheonician alphabet, which was alphanumeric. The pythagoreans taught a system of writing that took into account the numeric values of each word to entrench writings in triadic symbolism. When rabinnic theologians discovered this in the late dark ages Kabbalism was born. You can read more about it in this book: https://www.amazon.com/Greek-Qabalah-Alphabetical-Mysticism-Numerology/dp/1578631106

I am not a gnostic though, and I'm not trying to upend Christianity. I don't know where you're getting that. I'm not saying anything terribly controversial. I'm presenting evidence and historical fact, you haven't presented anything other than attacks on my character.

Below is a response I received in PM from /u/Joseon1, who gave me permission to repost it here. (Joseon1 couldn't reply to me in /r/AskBibleScholars where he saw my question.) I figured I would post his helpful reply in case it helps others.

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Hi, I can't post on /r/AskBibleScholars but I can hopefully help you with your question.

About the translations you're looking at, I'd always recommend checking the publisher. If it's independently published (e.g. via CreateSpace) avoid it, this means there has been no quality control. Most independently published translations are just reprints of public-domain versions you can read for free, in fact all the 1 Enoch editions you linked to use the 1912 translation by R. H. Charles.

I wouldn't recommend Ken Johnson's translations either. Although he has a Doctorate in Theology he seems very uncritical, bordering on gullible. For example, he believes his "Book of Jasher" is the lost book mentioned in Joshua 10:13, but it's actually a medieval rabbinic document, Sefer haYashar (Yashar was misinterpreted as the name Jasher by early modern Christians).

Your list of gnostic books is good, they're all by legitimate scholars. I'd say the Meyer edition is the most bang for your buck, it has all the gnostic documents found at Nag Hammadi, not just the gnostic gospels. Plus it has extensive introductions and helpful footnotes.

So, recommendations. I'll recommend a free digital version and a paid physical version of what you're looking for.

1 Enoch

Free: R. H. Charles

Paid: G. Nickelsburg & J. Vanderkam

Jubilees and others

Free: The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha Vol 2

Paid: Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Vol 2

Gnostics

The Nag Hammadi documents were discovered in 1945, so most translations haven't passed into the public domain yet.

Free: Gnostic texts at sacred-texts.com

Paid: M. Meyer OR J. Robinson

Hey, folks.

I recently learned about the Nag Hammadi library and, in particular, the Teachings of Silvanus, from the Facebook group, Stoicism Group (Stoic Philosophy) (you can read about Stoicism's influence on the Nag Hammadi library here). The Nag Hammadi library seems cheap on Amazon (at least, cheaper than I expected).

I didn't pay Gnosticism much attention because I mistook its definition, and regretfully so, because it has a relationship with asceticism. Are any of you, /r/Asceticism, familiar with it? What do you think about it? And are there any texts from the Nag Hammadi library, in particular, that you recommend?

If it is just for you and your friends why not just compile it for them and give it freely through a pdf or buy the Nag Hammadi Library if you want the compilation in printed form?

https://www.amazon.com/Nag-Hammadi-Scriptures-Translation-Complete/dp/0061626007/ref=asc_df_0061626007/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312154640153&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1103748380697344035&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9011016&hvtargid=pla-433814904643&psc=1