Any Opinions on Elaine Pagels's Work?

[Khephra]

I just picked up her "The Gnostic Gospels" after having heard only great word-of-mouth for the past few months.

[NNadir]

1. Brilliant. Always Brilliant.

A good work to read in the age of Bush is the "Origin of Satan."

[Khephra]

2. That's next on my list

If I like this one. I was torn as to which one to buy first, to tell you the truth.

[seventhson]

3. Very Excellent work

The importance of Mary of Magdala is very significant and overlooked in this patriarchal Biblical tradition.

I have been to Magdala (near Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee). There is nothing there but some scant ruins, but it is near where the Sermon on the Mount is said to have been given and not far from Safed where the Kabala masters lived, taught and are buried.


The idea that we all have the ability to "Know God" is very important to me and is well represented in these gospels. Her newest book (name?) is supposed to be a great one too.

It's on my Christmas list.

[papau]

5. I like her point of view -Gnostic as underdog, forgotten because of losing

But I find the facts and logic weak. What is in the Nag Hammadi find as to JESUS'S LIFE is also in the book "Documents of the Early Church" available at the Virginia seminary.

Indeed the majority of Pagels's references are from early church fathers' sources or nongospel material.

The "wars" in Cario between Gnostic and traditional Christian was not related "origins of Christianity". She seems to forget that there was a 100 years after Jesus before those Gnostic's showed up, got followers, and we had the confrontations in Egypt.

Granted the fact that Nag Hammadi works provide no new facts on Jesus does NOT mean they are not worthwhile reading, I do find a problem in her putting so much emphasis on documents that appear to be only early church documents edited to fit the Gnostic creed that the Holy Ghost was not part of the "Trinity" - whatever it was that Jesus sent was not "co-equal" with Jesus and God the Father - and - by definition - the interpretation of the latest writer of their current spirtual place in life was a valid a reflection of truth as any other enlightened Gnostics writings or the original Gospels (Gnostic belief was that you became one with God - the same "level" as Jesus - when you achieve Gnostic enlightenment - it was made to fuse with Eastern thought by appropiate editing of earlier documents - so that that your rewrite of the Gnostic "facts" given you were equally valid compared to anyone elses rewrite - a variation of the Jewish tradition of everyone doing their own reading of the Torah and thinking thereon, or the Christian everyone a priest that became a major thought of thr protestant folks afer the Roman priest became more or less the sole authority - I kind of like the original idea of the Priest as someone in the Congregation that volunteer to do a little extra work via distributing what was collected for the poor).

In anycase I thought a great read. And we need a feminist angle on God! :-)

[arendt]

4. She is rock solid.

She is a very respected Biblical scholar. Her books make
the subject very accessible. Her expertise is in the Scriptures
that have been left out of the "official" New Testament.

Her style is conversational, but she knows what she's talking
about.

Her new book, Beyond Belief, summarizes the Gospel of Thomas
and its relationship to the four Synoptic Gospels.

You can't go wrong with Ms. Pagels. She is a rock solid scholar,
who is not afraid to point out that , while the culture of the early CE
was patriarchial, the actual texts are NOT patriarchal.

She has done a lot of work in the face of immense personal
tradgedy. Her husband, Heinz, a famous and widely published
physicist died in a mountain climbing accident (occupational
hazard of theoretical physicists, I can state from experience)
about fifteen years ago. Soon thereafter, their only(?) child
died of some childhood cancer. She has persevered. She
tells the truth.

arendt

[papau]

7. the actual texts are NOT patriarchal - agreed - and agree she is needed

A great read!

:-)

[Ilsa]

6. Hi Khephra.

You're Gnostic, yes?

I read Pagel's Gnostic Gospels for the second time this summer. My copy is about twenty years old, a yellowed paperback. She is a fabulous writer. Wonderful book. Very thought-provoking for me, raised in a Southern Baptist Church, but now in Presbyterian.

I'm waiting for her latest, Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas to come out in softcover (it'll still be $16-18). I also heard that Adam, Eve, & the Serpent, and Secret Teachings of Jesus: The Gospel of Thomas (co-authored) were great reads. She has some others out about Paul and the Pauline letters, Origins of Satan, etc.

I hope you enjoy the book.

[Khephra]

9. It's really hard to pin down my actual beliefs

A Gnostic Universalist maybe...with Quaker/Buddhist/Discordian/Thelemic leanings? ;-)

Thanks to you and everyone else for your opinions! It sounds like I'll really enjoy this book.

[supernova]

8. Looking forward

to reading her work. She's on my list along with Karen Armstrong's "A History of God" and "The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in the three Abramic Faiths" (I think that's how it's worded)

[toodles_oduff]

10. This stuff fascinates me.

I remember reading somewhere how in the early days of the Christian church, there was some kind of conference where they decided what books were to be included and excluded in the "official" Bible. There was a lot of material that was left out and I think a compilation of the excluded books was published a few years back. The title was "The Other Bible". Will have to look it up on Amazon.