R. van den Broek

GNOSIS IN OUDHEID NAG HAMMADI IN CONTEXT

De handschriftenvondst van Nag Hammadi (Egyptu, 1945) heoft het traditionelé beeld
van het christendom van de cerste eeuwen cdrastisch veranderd en onze kennis van
het religieuze landschap van die periodlo verrijkt. Do vondst bevatte veel originele
documenten van de gnostische geestesstroming. Daarin ligi het açcent op een specifieke
kennis (gnosis) van God en mens, dlie nict berust op geloof of rationcel denken, maar op
innerlijke verlichting
In dit boek worden de handschriften van Nag Hammadi goplaatst in de bredere
historische en religieuze context waarin zij thuis horen. Het eeste deel biedt o.m. cen
overzicht van de gehele thans bekende gnostische literatuur van de Oudheld en een
bespreking van de (vaak mythische) voorstellingen waarín zich de gnostische ervaring
heeft uitgedlrukt, Daarnbij worct ook aandacht geschonken aan de opvattingen van de
christelijke gnostici over Jezus en de verlossing
Het tweede cleel bevat de vertaling van vijf teksten uit Nag Hammadi: het Apocryphon
van lohannes, het Wezen van de wereldheersers, de Oorsprong van de wereld, Eugnostus
de Gelukzalige, en de Donder -Volmaakte Geest. De teksten zijn voorzien van
inleidingen en toelichtingen die de historische en religieuze context verduidelijken.
Roelof van den Broek is een internatiounal erkend specialist qp het gebled van de antieke
gnosis. Hij is emeritus hoogleraar Geschiedehis van het christendom (Universiteit Utrechl)
en lid van de Konisklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Watenschappen. Voor zijn werk
oniving hij een eredoctoraat aan de Sorbonne.… (mais)

Gnostic Religion in Antiquity

Gnostic religion is the expression of a religious worldview which
is dominated by the concept of Gnosis, an esoteric knowledge
of Godand the human being which grants salvation to those
who possess it. Roelof van den Broek presents here a fresh
approach to the gnosticcurrent of Late Antiquity within its
historical and religious context, based on sources in Greck, Latin
and Coptic, including discussions of the individual works of
preserved gnosticliterature. Van den Broek explores the various
gnostic interpretations of the Christian faith that were currernt
in the second and third centuries, whilst showing that despitoe
its influence on early Christianity, gnostic religion was not a
typically Christian phenomenon. This book will be of interest
to theologians, historians of religion, students and scholars of
the history of Late Antiquity and early Christianity, as well as
specialists in ancient gnostic and hermetic traditions.… (mais)

FROM POIMANDRES TO JACOB BOHME.

INTRODUCTION

The studies collected in this volume deal with ancient, medieval and early
modern forms of Gnosis the inner experience of ultimate reality
and the diverse expressions of their myths, rites, ideas and expectations
They have been written with empathy for the gnostic and Hermetic tradi-
tion in western culture but in a strictly historical and critical vein.
The studies on Hermetism and Gnosticism in Antiquity unmistakably
show the paradigm shifts caused by the discovery of the Nag Hammadi
Library in 1945. In the middle of the 2oth century, the monumental work
on ancient Hermetism by A.-]. Festugière seemed to have settled most of
the questions raised by the then known Hermetic literature. According to
this great French scholar, the Hermetic view of God, world and man was
no more than a compilation of popular Greek philosophical ideas, there
was no connection at all with ancient Egyptian beliefs and practices and
the alleged mysteries of Hermes did not exist in reality but only in the
minds of the authors. The discovery of three Hermetic texts in Codex vi
of Nag Hammadi, especially the previously unknown On the Ogdoad and
the Ennead, and also the publication of the Armenian Hermetic Definitions
have given a new impetus to the study of Hermetism. This has resulted in
a new understanding of the genesis of the Hermetic treatises, a better
appreciation of the esoteric meaning of these seemingly superficial philo-
sophical writings, a more positive evaluation of the Egyptian background
of Hermetism, and strong arguments in favour of the real existence of
Hermetic groups in which initiation into the mysteries of Hermes, prayers,
hymns, and vegetarian meals played a central part.

With respect to Gnosticism and its relation to early Christianity it has
become increasingly clear that the gnostic movement of the first three
centuries of our era was much more variegated than the polemics of the...… (mais)