Expert: Jim Miller - 1/14/2007

Question
I am interested in learning more about Gnosticism but don’t know where to start.  I now almost nothing about it but the little I have heard sounds interesting.  I don’t know if you can help but can you get me started in the right direction?

Answer
   Gnosticism is a broad term used by early (orthodox) Christians for certain heretical groups.  Not all heresies were termed Gnostic, but many different groups were.  Modern scholars have found various types or families of ancient Gnosticism, such as Sethian, Orphic, Valentinian, etc.
   Probably the types of Gnosticism you have heard about are those represented in the Nag Hammadi Library discovered about 70 years ago in Egypt.  You can find a translation of these writings in the book The Nag Hammadi Library in English, J.M. Robinson, ed.  There is another collection containing some Nag Hammadi books and some other writings, The Gnostic Bible, W. Barnstone and M. Meyer, eds.  However, if you are just starting out, you may find these books a bit heavy.
   The Gnostic book you probably have heard the most about is the Gospel of Thomas.  The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of sayings of Jesus, some very similar to those in a standard Bible, some very Gnostic and unlike those in the Bible, and many somewhere in between.  The Gospel of Thomas is probably a good place to start.  It isn't a big, heavy collection, some if it is rather familiar, and some of it will definitely give you the flavor of ancient Gnosticism.  It is found in both books mentioned above as well as by itself, sometimes with commentary.  Edgar Goodspeed published a cheap paperback translation with notes over 40 years ago, so you might even find something in a used bookstore.  (This is not the Gospel of Thomas in The Lost Books of the Bible.  That is a different book.)  By the time you finish reading The Gospel of Thomas you will know if you are satisified with what you have found, or if your appetite has been whetted for more.  If you want more, just dive into one of the larger collections, or maybe look up some commentaries on The Gospel of Thomas.
   If you have a taste for hard-core scholarship, go to a seminary library and look up the journal Vigiliae Christianae.  They publish many articles on Orphic and Sethian Gnosticism.  But this is hard-core stuff.
   If you want to be a modern disciple, I can't help you.  I know there are some modern religious groups which call themselves Gnostic.  Some of them are authentic to the ancient forms, and some get their ideas from sources I know nothing about -- and seem thoroughly modern to me.  I am not a Gnostic, and I usually avoid advertising a particular sect or tradition.
   It's a start,
Jim Miller