Before Valentinus: The Gnostics of Irenaeus

Erscheinungsjahr 2023
ISBN: 978-90-04-67788-3
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 106, 202 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 482 g

Reihe: Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies

This book offers the first detailed commentary on the Gnostic treatises reported by Irenaeus in Adversus Haereses 1.29–30. It is argued that these texts represent the earliest tangible layer of the Gnostic literary tradition and served as sources for the Apocryphon of John and other later works. They also formed the starting point for Valentinus and his followers, who sought to reconcile the ideas of the Gnostics with apostolic Christianity. The book also shows that Irenaeus and later heresiologists referred to “the Gnostics” as a specific group among the great mass of heretics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Thomassen, Einar

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

1 The “Gnostics” of the Heresiologists

The Pre-history of Valentinianism According to Irenaeus

The Valentinians’ “Gnostic” Predecessors

Irenaeus’ “Gnostics” and the Later Heresiological Tradition

2 The Gnostic Treatise of Iren. Haer. 1.30

The Protology

The Separation of Sophia Prounikos

Sophia’s Body

Sophia’s Son and His Offspring

The Boast, the Rebuke, and the Creation of the Human

The Creation of the Woman and the Eating from the Tree

The Expulsion from the Garden

Adam, Eve, and Their Family after Their Expulsion

The Flood, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the Prophets

The Birth of Jesus and the Sending of Christ

The Failure of the Disciples to Understand Who Jesus Was

The Redemption of the Sprinkling of Light

3 The Gnostic Treatise of Haer. 1.29

The Father and Barbelo

The Birth of Christ, the Light

The Generation of Autogenes and His Four Attendant Luminaries

The Generation of Adamas

Sophia Gives Birth to the Archon

The Archon Creates the Heavens and Makes an Arrogant Boast

4 Trajectories in the Early History of Gnostic Ideas

Relative Chronologies

Gnostics and Sethians

Origins

5 Valentinus, Valentinianism and the Gnostics

Sophia and Christ

The Primordial Anthropos

Valentinian Innovations

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Einar Thomassen, PhD (St Andrews 1983) was Professor of Religion at the University of Bergen until his retirement in 2021. He has published extensively on Valentinianism, including The Spiritual Seed (Brill, 2006), as well as on more general topics in the study of religion.