Part XII: The Nag Hammadi Primer

THE FIND #

In December 1945, near the cliffs of Jabal al-Tarif by the town of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt, a farmer named Muhammad Ali al-Samman was digging for sabakh, a nitrate-rich soil used as fertilizer. He struck a sealed earthenware jar. Inside were thirteen leather-bound papyrus books -- twelve codices plus loose leaves from a thirteenth -- containing 52 tractates in Coptic, the last stage of the ancient Egyptian language.

LEGEND vs RECORD: Muhammad Ali later told the scholar James M. Robinson that he feared the jar held a jinn, and that his mother burned some pages in the oven. These details come from his own retelling decades later. Take them as his story, not as verified history. What is verified: the books survived, mostly intact, and reached the Coptic Museum in Cairo, where they remain.

One codex was smuggled out of Egypt and bought in 1952 for the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich -- hence "the Jung Codex" (Codex I). It was returned to Cairo in stages. A complete photographic facsimile edition appeared under UNESCO auspices in 1972-1977, and the first full English translation, "The Nag Hammadi Library in English," edited by James M. Robinson, in 1977.

For the first time in 1,600 years, anyone could read the Gnostics in their own words.

WHAT IS IN THE LIBRARY -- HIGHLIGHTS BY CODEX #

   CODEX   KEY TRACTATES                              TRADITION
   ------  -----------------------------------------  ------------------
   I       Prayer of the Apostle Paul (I,1)           Valentinian
           Apocryphon of James (I,2)                  Christian, esoteric
           GOSPEL OF TRUTH (I,3)                      VALENTINIAN
           TREATISE ON THE RESURRECTION (I,4)         VALENTINIAN
           TRIPARTITE TRACTATE (I,5)                  VALENTINIAN
   II      Apocryphon of John (II,1)                  Sethian
           GOSPEL OF THOMAS (II,2)                    sayings of Jesus
           GOSPEL OF PHILIP (II,3)                    VALENTINIAN
           Hypostasis of the Archons (II,4)           Sethian
           On the Origin of the World (II,5)          Gnostic
           Exegesis on the Soul (II,6)                Gnostic
           Book of Thomas the Contender (II,7)        Thomasine
   III     Gospel of the Egyptians; Eugnostos;        Sethian / other
           Sophia of Jesus Christ; Dialogue of
           the Savior
   V       Apocalypses of Paul, James (two), Adam     various
   VI      Thunder, Perfect Mind (VI,2); a passage    various; Hermetic
           of Plato's Republic (VI,5); Hermetic
           texts incl. Asclepius (VI,8)
   VII     Second Treatise of the Great Seth;         various
           Apocalypse of Peter; Teachings of
           Silvanus; Three Steles of Seth
   VIII    Zostrianos; Letter of Peter to Philip      Sethian / Christian
   IX      Melchizedek; Thought of Norea;             various
           Testimony of Truth
   X       Marsanes                                   Sethian
   XI      INTERPRETATION OF KNOWLEDGE (XI,1)         VALENTINIAN
           A VALENTINIAN EXPOSITION (XI,2)            VALENTINIAN
           Allogenes (XI,3)                           Sethian
   XII     Sentences of Sextus; Gospel of Truth       various
           (fragments)
   XIII    Trimorphic Protennoia                      Sethian

Note what is there: Christian, Sethian, Hermetic -- even a piece of Plato. This was a library of seekers, not a single sect's rulebook.

THE VALENTINIAN TEXTS -- WHAT THEY SAY #

THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH (NHC I,3; FRAGMENTS ALSO IN XII,2) #

A meditation, not a narrative -- many scholars think it may be by Valentinus himself or his close circle. Irenaeus knew a Valentinian "Gospel of Truth" around 180 (Against Heresies 3.11.9).

"The gospel of truth is joy for those who have received from the Father of truth the grace of knowing him, through the power of the Word that came forth from the pleroma." -- I,3 16:31-35 (Robinson)

"Ignorance of the Father brought about anguish and terror. And the anguish grew solid like a fog, so that no one was able to see." -- I,3 17:10-16 (Robinson)

"Since the deficiency came into being because the Father was not known, therefore, when the Father is known, from that moment on the deficiency will no longer exist. As in the case of the ignorance of a person, when he comes to have knowledge, his ignorance vanishes of itself, as the darkness vanishes when light appears, so also the deficiency vanishes in the perfection." -- I,3 24:28-25:3 (Robinson)

It also contains a famous passage (I,3 28:32-30:14, PARAPHRASE) comparing life in ignorance to a nightmare -- fleeing, falling, being chased, striking and being struck -- until the dreamer wakes and sees that none of it was real. That is gnosis: waking up.

THE TREATISE ON THE RESURRECTION (NHC I,4) #

Also called the Letter to Rheginos. A Valentinian teacher explains to his student that the resurrection is already begun.

"Therefore, do not think in part, O Rheginos, nor live in conformity with this flesh for the sake of unanimity, but flee from the divisions and the fetters, and already you have the resurrection." -- I,4 49:9-16 (Robinson)

"It is the truth which stands firm. It is the revelation of what is, and the transformation of things, and a transition into newness." -- I,4 48:33-38 (Robinson)

THE TRIPARTITE TRACTATE (NHC I,5) #

The longest Valentinian work: a vast theological treatise in three parts -- the Father and the aeons; the fall and the creation; the Savior and the three kinds of humanity. It describes the Father as unbegotten and incomprehensible, the Son as his self-expression, and the Church as pre- existing with them (PARAPHRASE). It is notably generous: the psychic order -- ordinary believers -- receives salvation too. Einar Thomassen's "The Spiritual Seed" treats it as a key witness to the "Eastern" form of Valentinian theology.

THE GOSPEL OF PHILIP (NHC II,3) #

An anthology of Valentinian sayings on sacraments, names, resurrection and the bridal chamber.

"The Lord did everything in a mystery, a baptism and a chrism and a eucharist and a redemption and a bridal chamber." -- II,3 67:27-30 (Robinson)

"Those who say that the Lord died first and (then) rose up are in error, for he rose up first and (then) died." -- II,3 56:15-19 (Robinson)

"Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error. If they do not first receive the resurrection while they live, when they die they will receive nothing." -- II,3 73:1-5 (Robinson)

"You saw the Spirit, you became spirit. You saw Christ, you became Christ. You saw [the Father, you] shall become Father." -- II,3 61:29-32 (Robinson; brackets mark damaged text)

"...this person is no longer a Christian but a Christ." -- II,3 67:26-27 (Robinson)

And on Mary Magdalene -- the manuscript is damaged here; brackets are scholars' reconstructions:

"And the companion of the [...] Mary Magdalene. [... loved] her more than [all] the disciples [and used to] kiss her [often] on her [...]. The rest of [the disciples ...]. They said to him, 'Why do you love her more than all of us?' The Savior answered and said to them, 'Why do I not love you like her?'" -- II,3 63:32-64:5 (Robinson)

Be honest about the gaps: we do not know where he kissed her, and the text does not say she was his wife. It does say she was his companion and that he loved her more than the others. That is enough to explain why a male hierarchy did not want it read.

THE INTERPRETATION OF KNOWLEDGE (NHC XI,1) #

A sermon to a Valentinian congregation torn by jealousy over spiritual gifts. Using Paul's image of the Church as one body with Christ as the head (compare 1 Corinthians 12), it urges the members to stop envying each other's gifts and to treat every gift as belonging to the whole body (PARAPHRASE). It is the best evidence we have that Valentinians lived as real congregations with real quarrels -- and real love.

A VALENTINIAN EXPOSITION (NHC XI,2) #

A summary of Valentinian teaching on the Father, the aeons, Sophia and Horos, followed by short liturgical pieces on anointing, baptism and the eucharist (PARAPHRASE). It is a window into an actual Valentinian worship service.

TWO NON-VALENTINIAN TEXTS EVERYONE SHOULD READ #

THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS (NHC II,2) -- 114 sayings of Jesus, some close to the canonical Gospels, some startlingly new. Not Valentinian, but beloved by seekers of every kind.

"These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down. And he said, 'Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death.'" -- II,2 prologue and saying 1 (Lambdin, in Robinson)

"Jesus said, 'Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.'" -- saying 77 (Lambdin, in Robinson)

"It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying 'here it is' or 'there it is.' Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it." -- saying 113 (Lambdin, in Robinson)

THUNDER, PERFECT MIND (NHC VI,2) -- a divine feminine voice speaking in paradoxes:

"For I am the first and the last. I am the honored one and the scorned one. I am the whore and the holy one. I am the wife and the virgin." -- VI,2 13:16-19 (MacRae, in Robinson)

HOW TO GET THE TEXTS #

The Nag Hammadi texts are widely available in English. The two standard one- volume editions are "The Nag Hammadi Library in English" (James M. Robinson, ed., 3rd ed. 1988) and "The Nag Hammadi Scriptures" (Marvin Meyer, ed., 2007). Bentley Layton's "The Gnostic Scriptures" (1987) gathers the Valentinian fragments and texts with excellent introductions. Many public libraries carry all three.