study the Gnostic gospels

It’s obvious by this point that I’ll be spending a great deal of time figuring out what the gospels hold for me. I’m counting this as done, because from here onward, I believe my study changes from a purely academic one to a spiritual quest – which requires a different sort of study, and maybe a different goal to actualize it correctly.

So I attended a Bible study tonight over at my mother’s house. Hoo-hoo-hoo, boy.

I did feel at times like I was the only one present with my eyes open. Talk about “there are more things in heaven and earth…”

Not that I was going to say anything there. I’d prefer not to have my mother over at my house with an exorcist…and besides, I can still study the Bible and believe in it without necessarily believing it’s the only thing to mention God out there.

There’s starting to be an impact on my spiritual life from this study. It’s going in a direction…but I’m not certain which direction.

It isn’t a new translation – it’s a well-regarded older translation of the entire Nag Hammadi library by Robinson (obviously Pagels, King, Mueller, et. al. are represented). I also picked up The Beliefnet Guide to Gnosticism and Other Vanished Christianities by Richard Valantasis, with a preface by Marcus Borg, the famous Christian history writer and apologist.

I’m so far quite impressed with both books. The latter is a non-judgmental treatment of the gnostic works, written in an accessible style for those doing casual, non-academic Bible study (such as, say, me). Their website is here, and it’s quite good no matter your faith. And the library is a very complete work, extremely useful for reference.

These are very much what I was looking for, and will likely be keeping me busy for many days to come.

My lovely wife ordered me a copy of a new translation of the Nag Hammadi gospels and scrolls. I think I’ll be getting it in about a month.

I was reading What is Gnosticism? by Karen King, but I’ve decided to abandon that, except for reference – it’s far too dry and academic for my purposes. Fortunately, it has extensive endnotes and a large bibliography, and I believe I can get more of what I need by going back to the original sources.

I wished to bring to the attention of all the Internet Sacred Texts Archive. I’ve found this Website extremely handy (my copy of the Gospel of Thomas comes from here) and quite diverse, allowing for some comparative studies with other religious texts.

They have recently posted that their hosting costs are going up. I would accordingly, and without contacting them or making a deal with them of any kind beforehand, ask those interested to consider purchasing their CD-ROM or DVD-ROM of the entire Archive. It gives you offline access, and pays these folks for a wonderful community service.

Just received What is Gnosticism? by Karen L. King for Christmas. I’ve only read a bit so far, but it’s an interesting read. She’s a colleague of Elaine Pagels, IINM…I’ll add more on this later.

My goal is really two-fold: first, I’ll study them academically. Elaine Pagels’ books are very good for this. As I do, I’ll try to remain open to possible meanings for my life, and apply them spiritually. This is something that is already happening, really…some of the teachings I do not personally agree with, but some have a great deal of resonance in my religious experience.