Often confused in popular culture with the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi texts are a hot button topic in modern biblical scholarship. These texts include many non-canonical Gospels and texts about Christ and His disciples that were later disregarded and banned by the Early Church. While these gospels play minuscule roles in the Quest for Historical Jesus (since many of them do not have a narrative structure, and they all date after the canonical gospels), they can tell us a great deal about the early Church and its formation into the Church we recognize today.
The Story
The Story
The incredible story through which these controversial texts were found, is one that is described as "exciting as the contents itself". Two Egyptian brothers, while digging for fertilizer in December 1945, discovered large earthenware vessels which contained several papyri codices. Neither brother had initially reported the find, hoping that they would sell the manuscripts individually at intervals. Making matters worse, their mother burned several manuscripts because she was worried about "dangerous effects".
In the following year, the brothers were involved in a feud and left the texts to a Coptic priest. His brother-in-law then sold a codex to the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo. The Coptologist there, realizing the text's significance published the first reference to it in 1948. Over the years, the texts were passed to a Cypriot antiques dealer and later retained by the Department of Antiques, for fear of them leaving the country. After the revolution in 1952, these texts were handed to the Coptic Museum in Cairo and declared national property.
However, despite the director of the Coptic Museum's adamant desire to keep the texts within the country, one codex was sold to a Belgian antiques dealer, who later attempted to sell the codex in both New York and Paris. Eventually it was acquired by the Carl Gustav Jung Institute in 1951 as a birthday present to the famous psychologist. His death in 1961 resulted in a quarrel over the ownership of this text. In 1975, the text was finally given to the Coptic Museum in Cairo, after a first edition of the text had been published. The remains of the 1945 find- 11 complete books and 2 fragments in total, consisting of 1000 written pages- are preserved in the Museum today.
Their Significance
As I said earlier, these texts are a hot button topic. Most serious Christian scholars do not debate their lack of authority relative to the canonical Gospels, but this is certainly not a closed discussion. The Gospels of Nag Hammadi present variations in Christian belief that arose during the Second and Fourth centuries. While these texts aren't authentically Christian, they present firsthand the beliefs of a group called the Gnostics. The Gnostics believed in a Gnosis or "knowledge" in the teachings of Jesus and it was that knowledge that was the key to salvation. This knowledge was hidden from the common man, and could only be understood by the "elect", or the chosen few of God.
Before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts, few Gnostic texts were available and much of the understanding of this group came from their opponents. The revelation of these gospels shows that the Church's beginnings were not so clear cut and that, for believers, the guidance of the Holy Spirit was active from very early on in Church history.
As I delve into some of the more noteworthy texts of the Nag Hammadi gospels (and other "lost" gospels) for the next few posts, we will be looking at their origins, what they taught, and why they were not accepted into the canon of Sacred Scripture. As I've mentioned before, in doing so, we can learn a great deal about the early Church, its controversies, and perhaps even how the Church's handling of these issues can help us solve the cultural issues of our own day.
God Bless,
In the following year, the brothers were involved in a feud and left the texts to a Coptic priest. His brother-in-law then sold a codex to the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo. The Coptologist there, realizing the text's significance published the first reference to it in 1948. Over the years, the texts were passed to a Cypriot antiques dealer and later retained by the Department of Antiques, for fear of them leaving the country. After the revolution in 1952, these texts were handed to the Coptic Museum in Cairo and declared national property.
However, despite the director of the Coptic Museum's adamant desire to keep the texts within the country, one codex was sold to a Belgian antiques dealer, who later attempted to sell the codex in both New York and Paris. Eventually it was acquired by the Carl Gustav Jung Institute in 1951 as a birthday present to the famous psychologist. His death in 1961 resulted in a quarrel over the ownership of this text. In 1975, the text was finally given to the Coptic Museum in Cairo, after a first edition of the text had been published. The remains of the 1945 find- 11 complete books and 2 fragments in total, consisting of 1000 written pages- are preserved in the Museum today.
Their Significance
As I said earlier, these texts are a hot button topic. Most serious Christian scholars do not debate their lack of authority relative to the canonical Gospels, but this is certainly not a closed discussion. The Gospels of Nag Hammadi present variations in Christian belief that arose during the Second and Fourth centuries. While these texts aren't authentically Christian, they present firsthand the beliefs of a group called the Gnostics. The Gnostics believed in a Gnosis or "knowledge" in the teachings of Jesus and it was that knowledge that was the key to salvation. This knowledge was hidden from the common man, and could only be understood by the "elect", or the chosen few of God.
Before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts, few Gnostic texts were available and much of the understanding of this group came from their opponents. The revelation of these gospels shows that the Church's beginnings were not so clear cut and that, for believers, the guidance of the Holy Spirit was active from very early on in Church history.
As I delve into some of the more noteworthy texts of the Nag Hammadi gospels (and other "lost" gospels) for the next few posts, we will be looking at their origins, what they taught, and why they were not accepted into the canon of Sacred Scripture. As I've mentioned before, in doing so, we can learn a great deal about the early Church, its controversies, and perhaps even how the Church's handling of these issues can help us solve the cultural issues of our own day.
God Bless,
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