The Gnostic Bible: Revised and Expanded Edition

Gnosticism was a wide-ranging religious movement of the first millennium CE—with earlier antecedents and later flourishings—whose adherents sought salvation through knowledge and personal religious experience. Gnostic writings offer striking perspectives on both early Christian and non-Christian thought. For example, some gnostic texts suggest that god should be celebrated as both mother and father, and that self-knowledge is the supreme path to the divine. Only in the past fifty years has it become clear how far the gnostic influence spread in ancient and medieval religions—and what a marvelous body of scriptures it produced.

The selections gathered here in poetic, readable translation represent Jewish, Christian, Hermetic, Mandaean, Manichaean, Islamic, and Cathar expressions of gnostic spirituality. Their regions of origin include Egypt, the Greco-Roman world, the Middle East, Syria, Iraq, China, and France. Also included are introductions, notes, an extensive glossary, and a wealth of suggestions for further reading.

This expanded edition of "The Gnostic Bible" includes the Gospel of Judas—the recently discovered and translated gnostic text—in its most accessible translation yet. Also included are such important and topical texts as the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Thomas.

CONTENTS:
Acknowledgements
Gnosticism, Gnostics, and the Gnostic Bible
Letting in the Light: Translating Holy Texts

PART ONE: EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
Introduction
1. The Gospel of Thomas 
2. The Gospel of John

PART TWO: LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Introduction
3. The Book of Baruch

SETHIAN LITERATURE
4. The Secret Book of John
5. The Reality of the Rulers
6. The Revelation of Adam
7. Three Forms of First Thought
8. The Three Steles of Seth
9. The Vision of the Foreigner
10. The Sermon of Zostrianos
11. The Baptismal Ceremony of the
Gospel of the Egyptians
12. Thunder
13. The Letter of Peter to Philip

VALENTINIAN LITERATURE
14. The Gospel of Truth
15. The Gospel of Philip
16. The Letter to Flora
17. Commentary on the Gospel of John
18. The Treatise on Resurrection.
19. The Prayer of the Messenger Paul
20. Valentinian Liturgical Readings
21. The Secret Book of James
22. The Round Dance of the Cross

THOMAS AND OTHER SYRIAN LITERATURE
23. The Songs of Solomon
24. The Song of the Pearl
25. The Book of Thomas

ADDITIONAL LITERATURE ON GNOSTIC WISDOM
26. The Exegesis of the Soul
27. The Origin of the World
28. The Paraphrase of Shem
29. The Second Treatise of the Great Seth
30. The Gospel of Mary
31. The Nassene Sermon

PART THREE: HERMETIC LITERATURE
Introduction
32. Poimandres
33. The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth
34. The Prayer of Thanksgiving

PART FOUR: MANDAEAN LITERATURE
Introduction
35. The Ginza
36. Hibil's Lament from the Book of John
37. Songs from the Mandaean Liturgy

PART FIVE: MANICHAEAN LITERATURE
Introduction
38. On the Origin of His Body
39. The Story of the Death of Mani
40. Kephalaia
41. The Coptic Manichaean Songbook
42. Parthian Songs
43. The Great Song to Mani

PART SIX: ISLAMIC MYSTICAL LITERATURE
Introduction
44. The Mother of Books

PART SEVEN: CATHAR LITERATURE
Introduction
45. The Gospel of the Secret Supper
46. The Book of the Two Principles
47. A Nun's Sermon

EPILOGUE: HISTORICAL MEDITATIONS ON THE 
INNER LIGHT OF GNOSIS
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
FURTHER READING
SOURCES CITED
INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

Willis Barnstone (1927-Present), was born in Lewiston, Maine, and educated at Bowdoin, Columbia, the Sorbonne, and Yale. He taught in Greece at the end of the civil war (1949-51), and in Buenos Aires during the Dirty War. During the Cultural Revolution he went to China where he was later a Fulbright Professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University (1984-85). Former O'Connor Professor of Greek at Colgate University, he is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and Spanish at Indiana University.

Marvin Meyer PhD (1948-2012), was Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California. His books include The Gospel of Thomas and, with James Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures.