The Gnostic Gospels

Q. What are they

A. The so-called Gnostic Gospels are writings from the early Christian era by Christians who also espoused the theological teachings of Gnosticism. Denounced as heretical, they are alternative versions of the orthodox versions of the life of Christ as contained in the New Testament.

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Q. Gnosticism

In short, Gnosticism is a blanket term covering the thought and practice of various cults of the late pre-Christian and early Christian centuries - largely based in north Africa and the Middle East - distinguished by the conviction that matter is evil and that spiritual emancipation comes through gnosis, Greek for 'knowledge'. The Gnostics - whose period of greatest influence was the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, though there has been a resurgence of interest since the mid-20th - believed that they were privy to a secret knowledge about the Divine, hence the name.

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Christian Gnostic teaching differentiates the evil god of this world from a higher more abstract God as revealed by Jesus Christ. The Gnostic version of Christianity regards this world as the creation of a series of evil powers who wish to keep the human soul trapped in an evil physical body.

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Q. How many of these Gospels are there

A. The four principal writings are the Gospel of Thomas, the Book of Thomas, the Secret Book of James and the Secret Book of John. However, other writings include the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Truth, the Ophite Diagrams and the Excerpts of Theodosus. All these are part of what is known as the Nag Hammadi Library.

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Q. The Nag Hammadi Library

A. In December 1945 an amazing discovery was made near the town of Nag Hammadi in Egypt. Two peasants digging for fertiliser in the Nile Valley came upon a sealed storage jar. Inside the jar was a collection of papyrus books containing some 52 texts, the majority of which were previously unknown. Most of these texts are essentially Gnostic and, with few exceptions, Christian, so they provided an extraordinary insight into the character of the early church and about the Gnostic Christians within the church during its first, formative centuries.

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Q. So, what about the four gospels in the New Testament

A. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - the four evangelists - were decreed to be the 'official' versions of the life and teachings of Jesus in the 2nd century AD. Since the late 18th century the first three have been called the Synoptic Gospels, because the texts, set side by side, show a similar treatment of the story. John, on the other hand, goes into more philosophical realms. There have always been other sources for the story - including the Gnostic writings - but these are not endorsed by the established churches.

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Q. What exactly does 'Gospel' mean

A. The word gospel is derived from the Anglo-Saxon term god spell, meaning 'good story'. It was used by the early translators of the Bible into English to render the Latin evangelium, from the Greek euangelion, which meant 'good news'.

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Q. Where can these writings be found online

A. Links to online texts of all the Gospels mentioned above - as well as information on printed editions - can be found at

http://members.aol.com/freewyngz/bible/gnostic.html

and

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/gnostics.html

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By Simon Smith