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In: The Gospel of Judas in Context
In: Christian Teachers in Second-Century Rome
In: Valentinianism: New Studies
Editor:
The Coptic Gnostic Library Online is now available on our new platform, Scholarly Editions, in a completely new design, and with enhanced search options throughout the entire publication. Brill's Scholarly Editions is designed to provide an uninterrupted reading experience and to display parallel texts side by side. From 1 January 2022 onwards, the parallel run will end and the Coptic Gnostic Library Online will only be accessible on Brill's Scholarly Editions platform.

The Coptic Gnostic Library is the only authoritative edition of many of the Coptic writings of the Gnostics from the first centuries AD. It was originally published by Brill in fourteen hardback volumes as part of the Nag Hammadi (and Manichaean) Studies series between 1975 and 1995, under the general editorship of James M. Robinson.

The Coptic Gnostic Library contains all the texts of the Nag Hammadi codices, both in the original Coptic and in translation. Each text has its own introduction, and full indexes are provided. The Coptic Gnostic Library is the starting point for all research into ancient Gnosticism. It is the result of decades of dedicated research by the most distinguished international scholars in this field.

The Coptic Gnostic Library continues where the Dead Sea Scrolls left off. Our main sources of information for the Gnostic religion are the so-called Nag Hammadi codices, written in Coptic. These were unearthed in 1945 near the town of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt. The texts literally begin where the Dead Sea Scrolls end. Their discovery is considered equally significant as the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves, bringing to light a long-hidden wealth of information and insights into early Judaism and the roots of Christianity. Furthermore, these writings clearly show that the Gnostic religion was not only a force that interacted with early Christianity and Judaism in their formative periods, but also a significant religious movement in its own right.

Features and Benefits
- Online edition of the original 14 hardback Nag Hammadi Codices
- Complete and unabridged
- Facing Coptic texts and English translations, Introductions, Notes, and Indexes
- Instant and fully searchable access to the equivalent of more than 5,000 pages of print.
Author:

Abstract

“Gnosticism” was established as an important field of research in the History of Religions around the turn of the previous century. This happened largely due to the work of the so-called “Religionsgeschichtliche Schule,” which in its attempts to break free from the limiting perspectives of traditional Biblical exegesis, Church history and classical philology discovered “die Gnosis” as a wide area of investigation that allowed for the integration of evidence taken from many different religious contexts and inspired bold hypotheses about inter-religious contacts and influence. Scholars such as Wilhelm Bousset (1865–1920) and Richard Reitzenstein (1861–1931) were particularly prominent figures in this line of research. It is therefore hardly surprising that when Geo Widengren made his contribution at the famous conference on the origins of Gnosticism in Messina in 1966, it was precisely this tradition of scholarship he, as a self-conscious historian of religions, associated himself with and sought to defend.

In: The Legacy, Life and Work of Geo Widengren and the Study of the History of Religions after World War II
Author:
This book is a comprehensive study of “Valentinianism,” the most important Gnostic Christian movement in Antiquity. It is the first attempt to make full use of the Valentinian documents from Nag Hammadi as well as the reports of the Church Fathers.
The book discusses the difference between the Eastern and the Western branches of Valentinianism, and argues that individual sources must always be understood in the context of the historical development of Valentinian doctrines. It also analyses the ideas about the incarnation, protological theories, and initiation practice, as well as the dynamic relationship between these building-blocks of Valentinian doctrine. A final chapter studies anew the doctrine of Valentinus himself and outlines the history of the movement.
The book’s usefulness lies in its attempt to bring together for the first time all the sources so as to construct a coherent picture of Valentinian Christianity.
In: Practicing Gnosis
In: Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World