What Is Gnosticism?

by King, Karen L.

• ISBN13: 9780674010710
• ISBN10: 067401071X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-06-30
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

A distinctive Christian heresy? A competitor of burgeoning Christianity? A pre-Christian folk religion traceable to "Oriental syncretism"? How do we account for the disparate ideas, writings, and practices that have been placed under the Gnostic rubric? To do so, Karen King says, we must first disentangle modern historiography from the Christian discourse of orthodoxy and heresy that has pervaded--and distorted--the story. Exciting discoveries of previously unknown ancient writings--especially the forty-six texts found at Nag Hammadi in 1945--are challenging historians of religion to rethink not only what we mean by Gnosticism but also the standard account of Christian origins. The Gospel of Mary and The Secret Book of John, for example, illustrate the variety of early Christianities and are witness to the struggle of Christians to craft an identity in the midst of the culturally pluralistic Roman Empire. King shows how historians have been misled by ancient Christian polemicists who attacked Gnostic beliefs as a "dark double" against which the new faith could define itself. Having identified past distortions, she is able to offer a new and clarifying definition of Gnosticism. Her book is thus both a thorough and innovative introduction to the twentieth-century study of Gnosticism and a revealing exploration of the concept of heresy as a tool in forming religious identity.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Abbreviations	xi
Introduction	1	(4)
Why Is Gnosticism So Hard to Define?	5	(15)
Gnosticism as Heresy	20	(35)
Adolf von Harnack and the Essence of Christianity	55	(16)
The History of Religions School	71	(39)
Gnosticism Reconsidered	110	(39)
After Nag Hammadi I: Categories and Origins	149	(42)
After Nag Hammadi II: Typology	191	(27)
The End of Gnosticism?	218	(21)
Note on Methodology	239	(10)
Bibliography	249	(28)
Notes	277	(64)
Index	341