Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters [Paperback]

Elaine Pagels (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1992

In this highly original work, Elaine Pagels demonstrates how evidence from gnostic sources may challenge the assumption that Paul writes his letters to combat “gnostic opponents” and to repudiate their claims to secret wisdom. Drawing upon evidence from the gnostic exegesis of Paul, including several Nag Hammadi texts, the author examines how gnostic exegetes cite and interpret key passages in the letters they consider Pauline—1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Hebrews. Besides offering new insight into controversies over Paul in the second century, this analysis of gnostic exegesis suggests a new perspective for Pauline study, challenging students and scholars to recognize the presuppositions—hermenuetical and theological—involved in their own reading of Paul’s letters. Elaine H. Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. She is the author of The Gnostic Gospels, which won the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Johannie Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, and the best-selling Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Elaine H. Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. She is the author of The Gnostic Gospels, which won the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Johannie Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, and the best-selling Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Trinity Press Int'l (March 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563380390
• ISBN-13: 978-1563380396
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #470,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After receiving her doctorate from Harvard University in 1970, Elaine Pagels taught at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she chaired the department of religion. She is now the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. Professor Pagels is the author of several books on religious subjects and was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1981. She lives and teaches in Princeton, New Jersey.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An alternate opinion of Paul, April 4, 2004

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Seth Aaron Lowry (Olean, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters (Paperback)

After reading several other book written by Pagels concerning gnosticism and gnostic beliefs, I have to say that this offering is definitely her finest. First, Pagels doesn't polemicize the issue by claiming that Paul was a gnostic or that he was strictly orthodox, but instead shows how 2nd century exegetes, both gnostic and orthodox, understood Paul. Furthermore, one of the great strengths of this work resides in the fact that Pagels allows the gnostic followers to speak for themselves by citing frequently from newly discovered gnostic texts. Instead of telling us what she believes the gnostics considered true she permits the gnostics to tell us themselves.

The book itself is broken is broken up into seven chapters and each chapter deals with an individual Pauline epistle. Interestingly enough, the gnostics, like the orthodox, also accepted Colossians, Ephesians, and Hebrews as Pauline, but they did reject the pastorals epistles. The first two chapters deal with Romans and I Corinthians and are by far the best sections of the book. Instead of interpreting the book literally as their orthodox counterparts did, the gnostics read the epistle to the Romans allegorically. Therefore, what was perceived as a treatise commenting on Jewish/Gentile relations in the church by the orthodox, the gnostics believed the text spoke about pneumatic/psychic relations. They believed Paul used such terminology secretly and that only the initiated believers could understand the real meaning behind the text. Also, of great interest to the gnostics were passages stressing grace and faith in the life of the christian. The gnostics utilized chapters 4 and 9 to stress that they themselves were saved totally by grace and the will of the Father; There was nothing they could do to lose their status because they were children of the Father.

The other interesting chapter delves into I Corinthians and attempts to uncover the gnostic meaning of the text. I thought Pagels brought up some excellent points that really seemed to strengthen the gnostic case. First, chapter 2 was heavily valued by the gnostics because in it Paul talks about wisdom and knowledge and at times seems to buttress the gnostic case. Later in chapter 15, Paul speaks of several things that the gnostics believed were absolutely damning to the orthodox case. Paul says that flesh and blood and cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven, and that corruption cannot inherit incorruption. This verse was used to condemn the idea of a physical bodily resurrection since Paul frankly states flesh and blood cannot inherit heaven. Instead, the gnostics believed the resurrection consisted of an awakening from ignorance towards God. Moreover, the idea of baptism for the dead 15:29 is something that has plagued orthodox scholars for over 20 centuries. Yet, the gnostics easily handled this verse by saying that baptism for the dead meant gnostics being baptised in the place of psyhics for their eventual salvation. Since it was the psychics who were dead, ignorant towards God, a pneumatic could be baptized in their stead and effect their awakening and journey into gnosis. The rest of the chapters deal with the other epistles listed earlier, but most of what is discussed are themes that appear in these two chapters.

One thing I noted when reading this book was the striking similarity between some gnostic beliefs and the beliefs held by the Calvinist variety of Christianity. Both groups stress man's deadness towards God and their inability to move towards God, both believe in divine election and reprobation, both believe that God's will is supreme in deciding who will be saved and who will be lost, and both believe in God's absolute sovereingty over His creation. Moreover, both believed that since salvation was effected totally by God and was a result of His election, that a believer with a divine or new nature could not be lost. These two groups even stress the same chapters of Scripture in their debates with their opponents. Chapters such as Romans 9 and Ephesians 1 were favorites of the gnostics in their disputes with the orthodox, and they are not favorites of the Calvinist's in their current disputes with Arminians. I wish I would have read this book earlier when I myself was struggling with the very same issues.

103 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Presentation of Gnostic Exegesis, March 31, 2002

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Sauropod (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters (Paperback)

Pagels presents Gnostic Christians' interpretations of Paul's letters almost line by line. Not the easiest book to read, but extremely helpful in understanding the Gnostic elements of early Christianity. Some knowledge of Gnosticism is presupposed, and Gnostic terminology is not always defined. FYI, I've compiled a list of key terms below, with my (admittedly non-expert) definitions.

sarkic - earthly, hidebound, ignorant, uninitiated
hylic - similar to sarkic
psychic - "soulful," partially initiated
pneumatic - "spiritual," fully initiated
aion - one of various levels of reality
archon - one of various powers in the cosmos
pleroma - fulfillment, the higher reality of archetypes (related to Plato's realm of Ideas)
kenoma - the visible or manifest cosmos, "lower" than the pleroma
charisma - gift, or energy, bestowed by pneumatics through oral teaching and personal encounters
sophia - "wisdom," worldly understanding; personified as Lady Wisdom
logos - divine ordering principle of the cosmos; personified as Christ
hypostasis - emanation (appearance) of God, known to psychics
ousia - essence of God, known to pneumatics
gnosis - "knowledge," direct insight into God attained by pneumatics

If all this seems baffling, you might want to read "Jesus and the Lost Goddess," an excellent summary of Gnosticism by Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relentlessly Searching For The Truth, June 16, 2004

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Peter Kenney (Birmingham, Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters (Paperback)

In this book Elaine Pagels takes a systematic look at how certain Pauline letters were interpreted and cited by gnostic exegetes. These epistles are Romans, l Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Hebrews. Pagels uses several gnostic sources such as Valintinus and many gnostic opponents including Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons. One of the benefits of reading THE GNOSTIC PAUL is that we learn even more about the diversity that flourished in early Christianity during the first three centuries before Constantine. Pagels is very good at peeling away layer after layer in her study of this period in church history.

The author is an excellent writer and the format is easy to follow. The subject matter, however, requires some prior knowledge of Christian gnosticism and a familiarity with the Nag Hammadi documents. For supplementary reading I recommend especially two other books by Elaine Pagels. They are THE GNOSTIC GOSPELS and BEYOND BELIEF: THE SECRET GOSPEL OF THOMAS.