The Gnostic Gospels (31 page)

79.
Ibid.
, 4.26.2.

80.
Ibid.
, 4.26.2.

81.
Ibid.
, 1.27.4.

82.
Ibid.
, 5.31.1.

83.
Ibid.
, 5.35.2.

CHAPTER THREE

1.
Where the God of Israel is characterized as husband and lover in the Old Testament, his spouse is described as the community of Israel (e.g. Isaiah 50:1; 54:1–8; Jeremiah 2:2–3; 20–25; 3:1–20; Hosea 1–4, 14) or as the land of Israel (Isaiah 62:1–5).

2.
One may note several exceptions to this rule: Deuteronomy 32:11; Hosea 11:1; Isaiah 66:12 ff.; Numbers 11:12.

3.
Formerly, as Professor Morton Smith reminds me, theologians often used the masculinity of God to justify, by analogy, the roles of men as rulers of their societies and households (he cites, for example, Milton’s
Paradise Lost
IV.296 ff., 635 ff.).

4.
Gospel of Thomas
51.19–26, in
NHL
130.

5.
Hippolytus,
REF
5.6.

6.
Irenaeus,
AH
1.11.1.

7.
Ibid.
, 1.13.6.

8.
Ibid.
, 1.13.2.

9.
Ibid.
, 1.13.2.

10.
Ibid.
, 1.14.1.

11.
Hippolytus,
REF
6. 18.

12.
Ibid.
, 6.17.

13.
Irenaeus,
AH
1.11.5; Hippolytus,
REF
6.29.

14.
Apocryphon of John
1.31–2.9, in
NHL
99.

15.
Ibid.
, 2.9–14, in
NHL
99.

16.
Ibid.
, 4.34–5.7, in
NHL
101.

17.
Gospel to the Hebrews
, cited in Origen,
COMM. JO.
2.12.

18.
Gospel of Thomas
49.32–50.1, in
NHL
128–129.

19.
Gospel of Philip
52.24, in
NHL
132.

20.
Ibid.
, 59.35–60.1, in
NHL
136.

21.
Hippolytus,
REF
6.14.

22.
Ibid.
, 5.19.

23.
Irenaeus,
AH
1.14.7–8.

24.
Gospel of Philip
71.3–5, in
NHL
143.

25.
Ibid.
, 71.16–19, in NHL 143.

26.
Ibid.
, 55.25–26, in
NHL
134.

27.
Hippolytus,
REF
6.38.

28.
Apocalypse of Adam
81.2–9, in
NHL
262. See note #42 for references.

29.
Irenaeus,
AH
1.2.2–3.

30.
Ibid.
, 1.4.1.-1.5.4.

31.
Ibid.
, 1.5.1–3. For discussion of the figure of Sophia, see the excellent articles of G. C. Stead, “The Valentinian Myth of Sophia,” in
Journal of Theological Studies
20 (1969), 75–104; and G. W. MacRae,
“The Jewish Background of the Gnostic Sophia Myth,” in
Novum Testamentum
12.

32.
Clemens Alexandrinus,
EXCERPTA
47.1.

33.
Irenaeus,
AH
1.13.1–6.

34.
Ibid.
, 1.30.9.

35.
Ibid., 1
.30.10.

36.
Trimorphic Protennoia
35.1–24, in
NHL
461–462.

37.
Ibid.
, 36.12–16, in
NHL
462.

38.
Ibid.
, 42.4–26, in
NHL
465–466.

39.
Ibid.
, 45.2–10, in
NHL
467.

40.
Thunder, Perfect Mind
13.16–16.25, in
NHL
271–274.

41.
Hippolytus,
REF
6.18.

42.
Genesis Rabba
8.1, cited in an excellent discussion of androgyny by W. A. Meeks, “The Image of the Androgyne: Some Uses of a Symbol in Earliest Christianity,” in
History of Religions
13.3 (February 1974), 165–208. For a discussion of androgyny in gnostic sources, see Pagels, “The Gnostic Vision,” in
Parabola
3.4 (November 1978), 6–9.

43.
Irenaeus,
AH
1.18.2.

44.
Clemens Alexandrinus,
EXERPTA
21.1.

45.
Hippolytus,
REF
6.33.

46.
Irenaeus,
AH
1.5.4; Hippolytus,
REF
6.33.

47.
Ibid.
, 1.29.4.

48.
Apocryphon of John
13.8–14, in
NHL
106.

49.
Irenaeus,
AH
1.30.6.

Note the collection of passages cited by N. A. Dahl in “The Gnostic Response: The Ignorant Creator,” prepared for the Nag Hammadi Section of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, 1976.

50.
Hypostasis of the Archons
04.21–95.7, in
NHL
158.

51.
Hippolytus,
REF
6.32.

52.
Irenaeus,
AH
1.13.5.

53.
Ibid.
, 1.13.3.

54.
Ibid.
, 1.13.4.

55.
Ibid.
, 1.13.3.

56.
Hippolytus,
REF
6.35; Irenaeus,
AH
1.13.1–2.

57.
Tertullian,
DE PRAESCR.
41.

58.
Tertullian,
De Baptismo
1.

59.
Tertullian,
De Virginibus Velandis
9. Emphasis added.

60.
Irenaeus,
AH
1.25.6.

61.
This general observation is not, however, universally applicable. At least two circles where women acted on an equal basis with men—the Marcionites and the Montanists—retained a traditional doctrine of God. I know of no evidence to suggest that they included feminine imagery in their theological formulations. For discussion and references, see J. Leipoldt,
Die Frau in der antiken Welt und im Urchristentum
(Leipzig,
1955), 187 ff.; E. S. Fiorenza, “Word, Spirit, and Power: Women in Early Christian Communities,” in
Women of Spirit
, ed. R. Reuther and E. McLaughlin (New York, 1979), 39 ff.

62.
Luke 10:38–42.

Cf. Romans 16:1–2; Colossians 4:15; Acts 2:25; 21:9; Romans 16:6; 16:12; Philippians 4:2–3.

63.
See W. Meeks, “The Image of the Androgyne,” 180 f. Most scholars agree with Meeks that in Galatians 3:28, Paul quotes a saying that itself belongs to pre-Pauline tradition.

64.
Romans 16:7.

This was first pointed out to me by Cyril C. Richardson, and confirmed by recent research of B. Brooten, “Junia … Outstanding Among the Apostles,” in
Women Priests
, ed. L. and A. Swidler (New York, 1977),141–144.

65.
I Corinthians 11:7–9.

For discussion of I Corinthians 11:7–9, see R. Scroggs, “Paul and the Eschatological Woman,” in
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
40 (1972), 283–303, and the critique by Pagels, “Paul and Women: A Response to Recent Discussion,” in
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
42 (1974), 538–549. Also see references in Fiorenza, “Word, Spirit, and Power,” 62, n. 24 and 25.

66.
See Leipoldt,
Die Frau;
also C. Schneider,
Kulturgeschichte des Hellenismus
(Munich, 1967), I, 78 ff.; S. A. Pomeroy,
Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves
(New York, 1975).

67.
Cf. C. Vatin,
Recherches sur le mariage et la condition de la femme mariée à Vépoque hellénistique
(Paris, 1970).

68.
J. Carcopino,
Daily Life in Ancient Rome
, trans, by E. O. Lorimer (New Haven, 1951), 95–100.

69.
Ibid.
, 90–95.

70.
L. Swidler, “Greco-Roman Feminism and the Reception of the Gospel,” in
Traditio—Krisis—Renovatio
, ed. B. Jaspert (Marburg, 1976), 41–55; see also J. Balsdon,
Roman Women, Their History and Habits
(London, 1962); L. Friedländer,
Roman Life and Manners Under the Early Empire
(Oxford, 1928); B. Förtsch,
Die politische Rolle der Frau in der römischen Republik
(Stuttgart, 1935). On women in Christian communities, see Fiorenza, “Word, Spirit, and Power”; R. Gryson,
The Ministry of Women in the Early Church
(Minnesota, 1976); K. Thraede, “Frau,”
Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum
VIII (Stuttgart, 1973), 197–269.

71.
Leipoldt,
Die Frau
, 72 ff.; R. H. Kennet,
Ancient Hebrew Social Life and Custom
(London, 1933); G. F. Moore,
Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era
(Cambridge, 1932).

72.
I Timothy 2:11–12.

73.
Ephesians 5:24; Colossians 3:18.

74.
I Clement
1.3.

75.
Leipoldt,
Die Frau
, 192;
Hippolytus of Rome
, 43.1, ed. Paul de Lagarder
(Aegyptiaca
, 1883), 253.

76.
Leipoldt,
Die Freu
, 193. Emphasis added.

77.
Gospel of Philip
63.32–64.5, in
NHL
138.

78.
Dialogue of the Savior
139.12–13, in
NHL
235.

79.
Gospel of Mary
17.18–18.15, in
NHL
473.

80.
Pistis Sophia
36.71.

81.
I Timothy 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9.

82.
Apostolic Tradition
18.3.

83.
Book of Thomas the Contender
144.8–10, in
NHL
193.

84.
Paraphrase of Shem
27.2–6; in
NHL
320.

85.
Dialogue of the Savior
144.16–20, in
NHL
237.

86.
Ibid.
, 139.12–13, in
NHL
235.

87.
Gospel of Thomas
51.23–26, in
NHL
130.

88.
Ibid.
, 37.20–35, in
NHL
121; 43.25–35, in
NHL
124–125.

89.
Gospel of Mary
9.20, in
NHL
472. Emphasis added.

90.
Clemens Alexandrinus,
Paidagogos
1.6.

91.
Ibid.
, 1.4.

92.
Ibid.
, 1.19.

93.
Tertullian,
DE VIRG. VEL.
9.

CHAPTER FOUR

For a more technical discussion of this topic, see E. Pagels, “Gnostic and Orthodox Views of Christ’s Passion: Paradigms for the Christian’s Response to Persecution?” in
The Rediscovery of Gnosticism
, ed. B. Layton (Leiden, 1979), I.

1.
Tacitus,
Annals
15.44.2–8. Emphasis added.

2.
Josephus,
Antiquities of the Jews
18.63.

3.
Mark 14:43–50.

4.
Ibid.
, 15:1–15.

5.
Ibid.
, 15:37.

6.
Luke 23:34–46; John 19:17–30.

7.
Mark 15:10.

8.
John 11:45–53.

9.
Josephus,
The Jewish War
2.223–233.

10.
John 11:47–48.

11.
Ibid.
, 11:49–50.