Gnosticism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Gnosticism, a sect associated with early Christianity. The Gnostics divided the universe into two domains: the visible world and the spiritual one. They believed that a special sort of knowledge, or gnosis, would enable them to escape the evils of the physical world and allow them access to the higher spiritual realm. The Gnostics were regarded as heretics by many of the Church Fathers, but their influence was important in defining the course of early Christianity. A major archaeological discovery in Egypt in the 1940s, when a large cache of Gnostic texts were found buried in an earthenware jar, enabled scholars to learn considerably more about their beliefs.
Guests
- Martin Palmer
22 episodes
Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture - Caroline Humfress
4 episodes
Reader in History at Birkbeck College, University of London -
Alastair Logan No other episodes
Honorary University Fellow of the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter
Reading list
-
The Gnostic Bible: Gnostic Texts of Mystical Wisdom from the Ancient and Medieval Worlds
Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer (New Seeds Books, 2003) Google Books → -
The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual and Diversity in Early Christianity
David Brakke (Harvard University Press, 2010) Google Books → -
A History of Gnosticism
Giovanni Filoramo (Blackwell, 1992) -
Gnosis on the Silk Road
Hans-Joachim Klimkeit (HarperCollins, 1993) Google Books → -
The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with Annotations and Introductions
Bentley Layton (Doubleday, 1987) Google Books → -
The Gnostics: Identifying an Early Christian Cult
Alastair Logan (T&T Clark, 2006) Google Books → -
Gnosis: An Introduction
Christoph Markschies (T&T Clark, 2003) Google Books → -
The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts
Marvin Meyer and James M. Robinson (HarperOne, 2009) Google Books → -
The Gnostic Gospels
Elaine Pagels (Phoenix, 2006) Google Books → -
The Jesus Sutras: Rediscovering the Lost Scrolls of Taoist Christianity
Martin Palmer (Wellspring/Ballantine, 2001) Google Books → -
Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions and Literature
Birger A. Pearson (Fortress Press, 2007) Google Books → -
The Nag Hammadi Library
James M. Robinson (ed.) (HarperOne, 1990) Google Books → -
Jesus, Gnosis and Dogma
Riemer Roukema (T&T Clark, 2010) Google Books → -
Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism
Kurt Rudolph (HarperOne, 1987) Google Books → -
Rethinking "Gnosticism": An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category
Michael A. Williams (Princeton University Press, 1999) Google Books →
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Programme ID: b01s4rhz
Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s4rhz
Auto-category: 270.1 (Christian heresies and sects)