Books I Read in July
The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters
Elaine Pagels
The Gnostic Paul examines gnostic interpretation of the Pauline epistles, particularly on those of the Valentinians. If I had not already done some beginner's level reading on gnosticism, I would not have been able to understand this book, because it uses a lot of gnostic terminology with no explanation (e.g. pneumatic, pleroma, demiurge). As it is, it was not an easy read. kokeshikitten was intrigued by the phrase "fornicators of the cosmos," but it's not as exciting as it sounds.
The gnostic teacher Valentinus (100-160CE) was a student of Theudeus, who claimed to be a student of Paul himself and to have received the secret teachings of Gnosis from him. But according to the orthodox church of the time, Paul was vehemently anti-gnostic. Unlike the orthodox church, the Valentinians did not accept all of the letter attributed to Paul as authentic, the pastorals (the epistles considered of dubious authenticity by modern scholars), and it should come as no surprise that all of Paul's anti-gnostic sentiment is found in those rejected letters. Whether the Valentinians rejected them because they knew they were inauthentic or simply because they disagreed with their theology however, we may never know.
Some of the gnostic interpretations seemed to be a bit of a stretch (occasionally a big stretch). Sometimes I would think "Y'know, maybe Paul just meant what he said there." (Gnostics are all about finding hidden and non-literal meanings) But as much as half the time, the gnostic interpretation felt dead on, so much so that it is difficult to believe that it could mean anything else. Pagels rightly warns against drawing any definite conclusions about whether Paul was actually a gnostic or orthodox, partly because those categories refer to 2nd and 3rd century sects and do not apply to Paul's time. In the end, The Gnostic Paul gives us a new (in a sense) and fascinating view of Paul's writings to consider.
From Literal to Literary: The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Metaphors
James R. Adams and Hannah Bonner
This isn't the kind of book that's meant to be read cover to cover, but that's exactly what I did, because I'm a freak. Basically, it's an encyclopedic reference of biblical terminology (terms like sin, kingdom, son of man, etc.). Each entry includes the original Greek and/or Hebrew words/phrases from which the English term is translated, several examples of the term being used in the bible, and an explanation of what the term originally meant. In many cases, it's drastically different than how we use the term today. For example, the terms we translate as "repent" really just mean "to change one's mind." And the term "born again" has a double meaning that would have been apparent to the original Greek-speaking audience but is completely lost in translation. The ward "again" in Greek is also the word for "above," (and it's used in both senses elsewhere in the scriptures) so "born again" also means "born above."
Because so much of the text involves explaining the Hebrew and Greek, Literal to Literary could have been rightly called The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Language. But the theme of metaphors features consistently throughout. In some cases, the metaphors are overt, like in Jesus' parables for example. In other cases, the authors present metaphorical interpretations of passages and themes that are presented literally. This approach seems to be aimed toward agnostics and non-fundamentalist Christians, who do not believe the bible is literally true or inerrant, but don't discount it outright either.
My only reservation about this book is that the authors interject too much of their own opinions and bias into the text. Although their biases are very much like my own, I prefer a reference book to be more neutral in tone, and I think the interjection of opinion will keep this work from being embraced by some of the people who would get the most out of it. On the whole though, I highly recommend From Literal to Literary to anyone interested in the bible, whether religiously or historically.
Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
Elaine Pagels
The title of this book is somewhat misleading. I was expecting a history and exploration of the theology/philosophy of the Gospel of Thomas but what I got was a history and exploration of the theology/philosophy of the Gospel of John (a.k.a. Gospel of the Beloved Disciple), and a history of church father Irenaeus' fight for a unified cannon. with brief references to Thomas. It was well written and interesting, but if you're looking to learn about the Gospel of Thomas, this isn't the book.
Elaine Pagels
The Gnostic Paul examines gnostic interpretation of the Pauline epistles, particularly on those of the Valentinians. If I had not already done some beginner's level reading on gnosticism, I would not have been able to understand this book, because it uses a lot of gnostic terminology with no explanation (e.g. pneumatic, pleroma, demiurge). As it is, it was not an easy read. kokeshikitten was intrigued by the phrase "fornicators of the cosmos," but it's not as exciting as it sounds.
The gnostic teacher Valentinus (100-160CE) was a student of Theudeus, who claimed to be a student of Paul himself and to have received the secret teachings of Gnosis from him. But according to the orthodox church of the time, Paul was vehemently anti-gnostic. Unlike the orthodox church, the Valentinians did not accept all of the letter attributed to Paul as authentic, the pastorals (the epistles considered of dubious authenticity by modern scholars), and it should come as no surprise that all of Paul's anti-gnostic sentiment is found in those rejected letters. Whether the Valentinians rejected them because they knew they were inauthentic or simply because they disagreed with their theology however, we may never know.
Some of the gnostic interpretations seemed to be a bit of a stretch (occasionally a big stretch). Sometimes I would think "Y'know, maybe Paul just meant what he said there." (Gnostics are all about finding hidden and non-literal meanings) But as much as half the time, the gnostic interpretation felt dead on, so much so that it is difficult to believe that it could mean anything else. Pagels rightly warns against drawing any definite conclusions about whether Paul was actually a gnostic or orthodox, partly because those categories refer to 2nd and 3rd century sects and do not apply to Paul's time. In the end, The Gnostic Paul gives us a new (in a sense) and fascinating view of Paul's writings to consider.
From Literal to Literary: The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Metaphors
James R. Adams and Hannah Bonner
This isn't the kind of book that's meant to be read cover to cover, but that's exactly what I did, because I'm a freak. Basically, it's an encyclopedic reference of biblical terminology (terms like sin, kingdom, son of man, etc.). Each entry includes the original Greek and/or Hebrew words/phrases from which the English term is translated, several examples of the term being used in the bible, and an explanation of what the term originally meant. In many cases, it's drastically different than how we use the term today. For example, the terms we translate as "repent" really just mean "to change one's mind." And the term "born again" has a double meaning that would have been apparent to the original Greek-speaking audience but is completely lost in translation. The ward "again" in Greek is also the word for "above," (and it's used in both senses elsewhere in the scriptures) so "born again" also means "born above."
Because so much of the text involves explaining the Hebrew and Greek, Literal to Literary could have been rightly called The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Language. But the theme of metaphors features consistently throughout. In some cases, the metaphors are overt, like in Jesus' parables for example. In other cases, the authors present metaphorical interpretations of passages and themes that are presented literally. This approach seems to be aimed toward agnostics and non-fundamentalist Christians, who do not believe the bible is literally true or inerrant, but don't discount it outright either.
My only reservation about this book is that the authors interject too much of their own opinions and bias into the text. Although their biases are very much like my own, I prefer a reference book to be more neutral in tone, and I think the interjection of opinion will keep this work from being embraced by some of the people who would get the most out of it. On the whole though, I highly recommend From Literal to Literary to anyone interested in the bible, whether religiously or historically.
Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
Elaine Pagels
The title of this book is somewhat misleading. I was expecting a history and exploration of the theology/philosophy of the Gospel of Thomas but what I got was a history and exploration of the theology/philosophy of the Gospel of John (a.k.a. Gospel of the Beloved Disciple), and a history of church father Irenaeus' fight for a unified cannon. with brief references to Thomas. It was well written and interesting, but if you're looking to learn about the Gospel of Thomas, this isn't the book.