Essays on the feminine face of God in Gnostic philsophy and theology are collected in a fascinating introduction to this early and often persecuted strand of Christian thought. Original.

This study explores each facet of Elaine Pagels' theory regarding a positive correlation between the active female deities of Gnostic cosmologies and the actual status of women in Gnostic groups in the 2nd and early-3rd centuries.

Buckley challenges scholarly, stereotypical views of females in Gnosticism, which tend either toward idealization or outright devaluation. Examining six Gnostic texts or traditions that illuminate female figures, she analyzes a variety of females within their contexts. She makes no attempt to classify Gnostic females according to simplifying formulae; rather she treats them individually, allowing them to make sense within their own contexts. Originally published in 1986. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Presented here are the Books of "The Sophia of Jesus Christ" (also called "The Wisdom of Jesus Christ") and "Eugnostos the Blessed" with extensive commentary on the ancient texts, Gnosticism, and the Divine Feminine. Gnosticism holds a special and unique place in the formation of Christianity. The theology presented by the Gnostics demands a balance of male and female "energies." In this book we will explore Gnosticism and the Divine Feminine through the lens of two great Gnostic texts. We will see the influence of Gnosticism and how their idea of the Divine Feminine effected orthodox or mainline Christianity. The treatise of "Eugnostos the Blessed" (50-150 A.D.) and the gospel called, "The Sophia of Jesus Christ," (50-200 A.D.) are presented together in a single volume, due to their close and undeniable connection. In fact, one borrowed heavily from the other. "The Sophia of Jesus Christ," also called "The Wisdom of Jesus Christ," seems to be a later and Christianized version of "Eugnostos the Blessed," a non-Christian Gnostic text. Gnosticism is complex and deserves explanation in order to better understand the texts. Extensive history, background and commentary are provided in order to reveal the inner working of Gnosticism, the place of women in their theology, and how Gnosticism influenced the Christianity of today.

Revealing Women' offers a detailed and textual oriented investigation of the roles and functions of female characters in Gnostic Christian mythologies. It answers questions such as: to what end did Gnostic Christian theologians employ feminine imagery in their theology? What did they want to convey through it?0This book shows that feminine imagery was a genuine concern for Gnostic theologians, and it enquires about how it was employed to describe the divine through a contextual reading of Gnostic Christian texts presenting Ophite, Sethian, Barbeloite and Valentinian 'mythologoumena' and 'theologoumena'. Overall, it argues that feminine imagery ought to be acknowledged as an important theological framework to investigate and contextualize Gnostic works by showing that these theologians used feminine imagery to exemplify those aspects of the Godhead which they considered paradoxical and, yet, essential. The claims made in the first chapters are later substantiated by an in-depth investigation of understudied Gnostic texts, such as the so-called Simonian Gnostic works, the Book of Baruch of the Gnostic teacher Justin and the Nag Hammadi treatise known as Exegesis of the Soul.

Central to debates about Jesus is the issue of whether he uniquely embodies the divine. While this discussion continues unabated, both those who affirm and those who dismiss, Jesus' divinity regularly eclipse the reality that in many of the earliest strands of the Christian tradition when Jesus' divinity is proclaimed, Jesus is imaged as the female divine. Sally Douglas investigates these early texts, excavates the motivations for imaging Jesus as Woman Wisdom and the complex reasons that this began to be suppressed in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The work concludes with an exploration of the powerful implications of engaging with the ancient proclamation of Jesus-Woman Wisdom in contemporary context.

This new collection of fourteen integrated, original essays by prominent scholars and experienced teachers provides a comprehensive and accessible entree to current research on women and the origins of Christianity. Engaging for both the interested reader and the specialist in religion, Women and Christian Origins is sensitive to feminist theory and attentive to distinctions between the (re)construction of women's history in early Christian churches and ancient constructions of gender difference