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Gnosticism and Christianity in Roman and Coptic Egypt (Studies In Antiquity & Christianity)

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This book is a collection of essays by the author of which only the first and longest one was not previously published. For everyone interested in the development of early Christianity or Gnosticism (which the author treats as a separate religion) in Egypt, this work is literally required reading. It is at its best as a primer into the various sources and how they fit into a mosaic of Christian and Gnostic development.

The essays deal with the following subjects, each in its own chapter:

(1) Current issues in the study of early Christianity in Egypt.

(2) Christian and Jews in First Century Alexandria.

(3) Ancient Alexandria in the "Acts of Mark."

(4) A Coptic Homily "On Riches" attributed to Saint Peter of Alexandria.

(5) Enoch in Egypt.

(6) A Coptic Enoch Apocryphon.

(7) Gnosticism as a religion.

(8) Gnostic Ritual and Iamblichus's treatise "On The Mysteries of Egypt."

(9) Gnostic iconography.

(10) The figure of Seth in Manichaean literature.

The author argues that early Christians were part and parcel of the Jewish community of Alexandria before Trajan's extirpation of the Jews of Alexandria, and that their development was distinct from Christianity's development in Rome, Syria and elsewhere. Coptic was developed as a language in translating the Christian and Old Testament books from Greek into a language for Egyptian use, and Christianity and Gnosticism (growing out of Jewish origins separately from Christianity) came closely together for a period (actually certain Christian leaders adopted some Gnostic mysticism in their development of Christianity) before separating permanently. He also argues that Gnosticism is indeed a religion and worthy of independent study.

Author Pearson brings together sources from the Old and New Testaments, the Apocrypha, Dead Sea Scrolls, Nag Hammadi codexes, Hellenistic Jewish writers, Patristic literature and various other letters, codexes and writings. The end notes are copious and form excellent avenues for further study by themselves.

As the author states, this work offers a window into the world of early Christianity and Gnosticism in Egypt, and provides an excellent primer for further study and research.

I highly recommend this work for everyone interested in the early development of Christianity.