Customer Reviews

The Discovery of the Nag Hammadi Texts: A Firsthand Account of the Expedition That Shook the Foundations of Christianity

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As someone who was very excited to understand the background to the Nag Hammadi find, I was disappointed that this account was fairly limited. It glosses over the period of translation and presents a dated view of the contents of the codices themselves. This perhaps was the greatest letdown of all - this is a reprint of a 1958 publication. If you are seeking new information and analysis on this topic then I would consider Elaine Pagel to be my reference of choice.

This is an extremely biased book, and if you don't believe me here is what the American poet and critic Kenneth Rexroth, who was normally a very mild-mannered man, had to say in a footnote to his Introduction to 'Fragments of a Faith Forgotten' by G. R. S. Mead (NY: University Books, 1960, p.xvii):

"Let the buyer beware! Doresse is a bigot who shares the hatred of Gnosticism of the Fathers of the Church, at this late date. One cannot but feel that his summaries of Gnostic doctrine - especially when he echoes the talk of the Gnostic's "abominations" - are no more to be trusted than those of the Church Fathers. Doresse's viciously prejudiced position becomes plain when he contrasts the Gnostic fragments with the "incomparable superiority" of the New Testament.... Is it not beneath contempt, this falsification of the Christian persecution of the Gnostics and the Church destruction of the Gnostic literature?"

See my Listmania list 'GNOSTICISM - Path of Inner Knowledge' for alternative and better books on the subject.