The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts Complete in One Volume [ペーパーバック]

For the title of this review I chose an excerpt from "The Dialogue of the Savior" which belonged to NHC III,5. On my quest to better understanding 'gnosticism' I first read Andrew Phillip Smith's book titled, "The Gnostics". His brief treatise on the overall scope of what gnosticism is really all about provided me with a more concise understanding of this exhaustive, scholarly translation of the Nag Hammadi text.

This book is by far the most complete and in-depth translation to date and will probably never be equaled. Scholars such as Marvin Meyer, Elaine Pagels, Madeleine Scopello, Einar Thomassen and John D. Turner are just a few of the names involved with the translation of the Nag Hammadi scriptures. There is an array of backgrounds involved which ultimately provide very different interpretations of the text, but this diversity only helps the reader to draw his/her own conclusions as to interpretation.

One positive aspect to this book is decision NOT to guess what the translation might have been. Quite frankly, much of the text within certain tractates were severely damaged and/or missing. Instead of guessing or including what the text may have said, Meyer and others, merely let the reader know that much of the text itself is missing. This is, of course refreshing, as many modern translations of either other Gnostic or Essene texts, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, authors will simply insert modern lexicons assuming that it follows suit to what we have today. Meyer and company don't do this, instead they provide a well documented, heavily footnoted, scholarly work. On many occasions, they provide un-biased opinions of certain words and supply the several meanings to what the word could have meant, allowing for the reader themselves to feel as if they are partaking in the translation.

Many of the text can be deciphered as being either Sethian or Valentinian (the names of the two 'truly' gnostic Christian sects). In the beginning of each tractate, an in-depth analysis of the text is provided, supplying interpretation and the dating of the text as well as to the importance of each.

One such text that doesn't perceive to have an origin is the Gospel of Thomas. It has no markers of being either Sethian or Valentinian and as some scholars have suggested, could very well be the 'Q' source that the Synoptic Gospels themselves are based off of. This is by far a minority viewpoint, but nevertheless, an intriguing claim.

This is a must have treatise to any library and it is clear that the Gnostics were well ahead of their time concerning "gnosis," or knowledge, they had achieved with interpretation of the scriptures, something they felt no one else had.

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts - The International Edition. Edited by Marvin Meyer. New York: Harper Collins, 2008. Paperback, 844 pages. ISBN 9780061626005

The present work, as the most complete and up-to-date English-language edition of the Nag Hammadi Scriptures, is probably the finest available edition for the general reader today and should appeal to a wide range of readers with varying interests.

Judging by the reviews, most readers seem to come to these texts with a strong Biblical background and are surprised to see how strikingly different they can be to the Bible.

In my own case I come to them with a background in Asian thought and am amazed at how strikingly similar they can at times be to the sacred texts of the East.

This is understandable since, as Duncan Greenlees pointed out in his excellent anthologyThe Gospel of The Gnostics (page xxvi): "We have not yet worked out the actual influence of India upon the Western ... Gnostics; yet it is clear to the sympathetic, and therefore to the honest, student it must have been very great. At times we can almost recognize a direct quotation from some Indian scripture."

To realize that he is right we need only turn, for example, to logion 24 of the Gospel of Thomas where we find Jesus saying (page 143):

"There is light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world. If it does not shine, it is dark."

Turning next to the Astavakra Samhita II.8, which Dr. Satkari Mookerjee in his Introduction explains "is a very early and pure Advaitic text which gives us the essentials of the Advaita Vedanta position," we find King Janaka announcing to the sage Ashtavakra:

"Light is my very nature; I am no other than light. When the universe manifests itself, verily then it is I that shine."

The translator comments: "The nature of the Self is Effulgence itself. Whatever is manifested is nothing but the Self. The manifestation of the world really implies the manifestation of the Self."

We should note that in Vedanta this Light (Skt. prakasha) is a property, not of a God-man such as Jesus, but of ordinary men such as King Janaka, or you and me.

We are dealing here with something very deep, far too deep to go into here. Readers whose curiosity may have been aroused should check out my Listmania List: The Ashtavakra Gita - A Very Early and Pure Advaita Text. This will set them on the path to understanding what logion 24 is really all about, and possibly much else in The Nag Hammadi Scriptures.

The Gospel of Thomas is likely the best-known of the extra-biblical texts found at the Egyptian village of Nag Hammadi in 1945, as it offers evidence of the early compilation of sayings of Jesus which overlap (in part) and supplement (in other parts) New Testament writings. Numerous editions of the Gospel of Thomas in English translation have been published. Those seeking popular, non-techical translations of Thomas will do well with those by Marvin Meyer, Stevan Davies, Stephen Patterson and others. A more comprehensively annotated version of Thomas is that of April DeConick, who includes numerous ancient parallels to each saying attributed to Jesus (saying number 77 is given as the title to this review).

Those seeking to study Thomas in context with the rest of the Nag Hammadi texts may turn to Bentley Lion (Anchor Bible Reference Library), James Robinson (Nag Hammadi Library), and, now, Meyer's compilation (Nag Hammadi Scripture), the latter expanded to include the Gospels of Mary and Judas as well. Those seeking basic translations with brief introductions to many of these (and other) early Christian texts may turn to Bart Ehrman's "Lost Scriptures." Willis Barnstone's "Gnostic Bible" (now also available in briefer, excerpted form with accompanying CD) offers a more readable if less scholarly format which includes a selection of ancient "gnostic" texts beyond those found at Nag Hammadi. For a look at what "gnostic" means to begin with, and whether it is a useful category to place (confine?) texts in at all, Karen King provides a helpful overview.