In december 1945, an arab peasant discovered the nag hammadi codices concealed in a jar in a cave in upper egypt, near thebes luxor, but it was not until june 1947 that a french scholar, jean doresse, recognized what the documents were. Gnostic community jean doresse, alastair logan, among others, or 2 to a. Nag hammadi, gnosticism and new testament interpretation. Several of the major texts in the nag hammadi collection have more than one translation listed. Jean d oresse, the discovery of the nag hammadi texts. With an english translation and critical evaluation of the gospel according to thomas. A vast collection of materials and audio lectures dealing with gnosis and gnosticism, both. The book is particularly relevant as french author doresse was literally one of the first westerners to actually see the original nag hammadi texts discovered in 1947. The nag hammadi codices and the dead sea scrolls 1947 nexus. A firsthand account of the expedition that shook the foundations of christianity. That year, twelve leatherbound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by a. Pdf nag hammai discoveries download read online free.
Nag hammadi, discovery, james robinson, jean doresse, the gnostics. Making careful inquiries from 19471950, jean doresse discovered that a peasant dug up the texts from a. Hugo lundhaug and lance jenott, codices the monastic. Bound into the same volume with it is the gospel of philip, which attributes to jesus acts and sayings quite different from those in the new testament. Why the collection isnt called the gebel ettarif library is anyones guess. Pdf download the discovery of the nag hammadi texts. Jabal al tarif, is about ten kilometers northeast of nag ham madi, the largest town in the area. The site includes the gnostic society library with the complete nag hammadi library and scriptures, and a large collection of other primary gnostic scriptures and documents. See more ideas about nag hammadi library, corpus hermeticum and dead sea scrolls. This volume presents a complete edition of the correspondence exchanged from 1947 to 1970 between jean doresse 19172007 and henricharles puech 19021986, drawing on. The monastic origins of the nag hammadi codices mohr siebeck.
In the 1970s, james robinson sought out the peasant in question, identifying him as muhammad ali alsamman. Keywords nag hammadi, discovery, james robinson, jean doresse, the gnostics the canonical nag hammadi story. Jean doresses book was originally published in 1958 as the first authoritative description of the now famous cache of egyptian gnostic writings known as the naghammadi library or, as doresse calls it, the chenoboskion library. Did jesus have a twin brother, as this text implies. Jean doresse, had identified the opening lines with fragments of a greek gospel of thomas discovered in the 1890s. Jean doresse, who had come to egypt in 1947 to study coptic. At the same time, however, i believe that all the elements used to substantiate.
Part of the the nag hammadi library nag hammadi scriptures collection. Le jeune historien des religions francais jean doresse, alors expert au musee. See jean doresse, sur les traces des papyrus gnostiques. The gnostic society library the nag hammadi library. Introduction to the gnostic coptic manuscripts discovered at chenoboskion american ed by doresse, jean isbn. This adds comments from the french team led by jean doresse, whose account is also available, and which questions some of robinsons story. This gnostic group believed themselves to have a sacred responsibility to preserve. Doresses narrative allows readers direct contact with an ancient form of christianity through the philosophical wealth of the textsranging from gnostic revelations and christian apocrypha to hermetic. This point of view is well reflected in the title of the first book on the subject of the nag hammadi codices, jean doresses the secret books of the egyptian gnostics. It may be safest to conclude that the earlier account of the discovery offered by jean doresse in 1958 is more reliable than the later. The religious terminology in the nag hammadi texts and in manichaean literature. For example, there is the sect that produced the channeled material known as books of ieou non nag hammadi, a patchy collection of teachings on the afterlife. Scholars first became aware of the nag hammadi library in 1946. There is a lot of gnostic history with only a couple of chapters dedicated to the texts and this is discovered more than 100 pages into the text.
Journal for the study of how reliable is the story of the. From this book, i take it that doresse was one of the first translators of the nag hammadi textsthough nag hammadi is a more regional name and doresse uses the name of a specific location. The nag hammadi codices were made by monks the faculty. The discovery of the nag hammadi texts is the original survey of the contents of these documents and their significance to the world at large. James robinsons narrative of how the nag hammadi codices were discovered is popular and compelling, a piece of.
Tripartitus aus nag hammadi codex i codex jung, tubingen 1998, 114120. Cited in jean doresse, the secret books of the egyptian gnostics. At any rate, they were found, and according to author doresse, the precious manuscripts came close to disappearing a. Making careful inquiries from 19471950, jean doresse discovered that a peasant dug up the texts from a graveyard in the desert, located near tombs from the sixth dynasty of egypt. A firsthand account of the expedition that shook the foundations of christianity 1960, reprint 2005.
The nag hammadi scriptures, edited by marvin meyer, is the most complete, uptodate, onevolume, englishlanguage edition of the renowned library of gnostic manuscripts discovered in egypt in 1945, which rivaled the dead sea scrolls find in significance. In that year, french scholar jean doresse identified the egyptian find at nag hammadi as a cache of rare gnostic texts. An introduction to the gnostic coptic manuscripts discovered at chenoboskion, author jean doresse and philip mairet, year1960. Jean doresse is a renowned historian and a scholar of egyptology and greek papyrology. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
Pdf nag hammadi texts and dead sea scrolls download. Rethinking the origins of the nag hammadi codices tony burke. Containing many of the writings of the gnostics since the time of christ, this was the work that launched modern gnostic studies and exposed a movement whose teachings are in may ways as relevant today as they were sixteen centuries ago. Jean doresse hat wohl als erster europaer im herbst 1947 einen dieser papyrusbande. The nag hammadi library is a collection of early christian and gnostic texts discovered near. Pdf finding early christian books at nag hammadi and beyond. En collaboration avec bernard barc regine charron jeanpierre mahe anne pasquier. Texts marked with had more than one coptic version. How reliable is the story of the nag hammadi discovery. It is the name of the largest town near the place of the discovery, some 370 miles south of cairo and 80 miles north of luxor, where the nile bends from west to east. Doresse s narrative allows readers direct contact with an ancient form of christianity through the philosophical wealth of the textsranging from gnostic revelations and christian apocrypha to hermetic.