The Gnostic Religion

The Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity

Ranked #6 in Gnosticism

The Gnostic Religion was the 1st decent introduction to gnosticism for the modern world & is still of value today. It includes both heresiological & original texts--Nag Hammadi only uncovered later. It holds useful material on Simon Magus, the Hermetic Poimandres (shown here to be equally a gnostic document), the Valentinians, Mandaeans, Manichaeans & the "Hymn of the Pearl". The existentialist bent--Jonas a student of Martin Heidegger--makes an interesting contrast to Pagel's more orthodox view of gnostic religion as theistic. This volume & the Nag Hammadi library will... more

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