Rating: 
Summary: brilliant
Review: The Gnostic Gospels discusses the meaning and imortance of the Nag Hammadi, better known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, and thier ties to early Christianity, with an excellent analysis of the difference bewteen what became "orthodox" Christianity and "heresy" as Gnosticism eventually became.The book, and Pagel's interpretation of early Christianity may be threatening to some, as it presents an early Church that has many different interpretations of Jesus' message rather than a tidy straight line "from God's mouth to our ears." The sect of Gnosticism is particualarly interesting, as it seems to have strong Hellenistic roots (with its emphasis on "seeking the truth", its metaphorical interpetation of the resurection, and its almost Socratic leanings). Pagels also speculates on why Gnosticism did not flourish and spread and why the "orthodox" version did. It is a fascinating read, especially when seen through the lens of the late Roman world and the accompanying political and social changes that influcenced early Christianity. A recommended read.
Rating: 
Summary: Disgraceful
Review: The word "travesty" is hardly too strong for this ignoble production; and to find out that its author holds a chair in one of America's leading ancient universities is enough to make you despair. Brutally prejudiced against orthodox Christianity, blindly insensitive to all its values, with the self-righteousness of a six-year-old crying "it's not fair!" when the other children don't want to play, and the respect for history of the lowest sort of pamphleteer, she uses the so-called gnostics (a grouping which, according to recent scholarship, does not even exist) as a stick to beat the wicked, patriarchal, anti-wimmin old Church with; misrepresenting them, in the process, monstrously. This is history as propaganda, indeed as advertising; history for single-issue maniacs, incapable of seeing beyond their own self-built cage of prejudice. Avoid it like the plague; and if you want to know what the Gnostics were about, go read old Ireneus of Lyons.
Rating: 
Summary: "Orthodoxy" versus "Heresy"
Review: I recently purchased Ms. Pagels latest book, on the Gospel of Thomas, but before beginning it I decided to get some background on the Gnostics. This book, by the same author, is an excellent introduction to the layman about the religious controversies that resulted in the formation of the New Testament as we know it today, and about some of the very real differences in religious perceptions in the early centuries A.D.. It's fascinating to realize that the early church was conflicted in many ways, and that religion and politics went hand in hand, more so than we are used to seeing in our Western culture. The author goes into the history and structure of gnostic thought, and also the formation of the church structure that is familiar to all of us today. It's an interesting thought to consider how religion might be perceived today if the gnostic theories had prevailed. I must confess that I like some of them, but all in all they are somewhat alien to modern perceptions, and might have kept the church from surviving in a hostile world. Aside from that, I believe in the free exchange of ideas, and am very happy that we have access, through the Nag Hammadi documents, to alternate forms of Christianity, and ideas about Jesus and God. Knowledge never hurts, it only enlightens!
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Summary: Politics Not As Usual
Review: Elaine Pagels writes this fascinating book about the relationship between politics and religion in early Christianity. This is not a history of ideas, but a history of politics which is revealed by the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts. Consider the tenet that Jesus physically rose from the dead. For 2000 years Christianity has asserted this tenet. But, Pagels says, there were early Christians who found this revolting. The political function of the tenet is that "it legitimizes the authority of certain men who claim to exercise exclusive leadership over the churches as successors of the apostle Peter. From the second century, the doctrine served to validate the apostolic succession of bishops" ( page 7). Pagels writes of the political battles in which the "orthodox" position won the day at the same time reminding us that the winners write the history.
Rating:
Summary: Shows how old New Age thought is.
Review: Yawn.
Old hat new age regurgitated for the gullible. Read it along with "The Gnostic Scriptures". It certainly beats LSD. On the other hand, if you want to understand early christianity, try reading Irenaeus of Lyons, Clement of Rome, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Ignatius of Antioch - you know, Christians.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't tell us what the Gnostic Gospels actually teach.
Review: Well-written but not well-presented. The text jumps around a lot and includes many controversial subjects but does not present us with any clear, certifiable statements from the supposed Gnostic Gospels. A loose interpretation of scripture is given and one comes away with less hope in the afterlife, or even the current life than one had to begin with. Not an inspired or inspiring book by any stretch of the imagination.
Rating:
Summary: I know what I know...
Review: In her prize-winning book 'The Gnostic Gospels', a book which has remained in the popular eye for the past two decades since its first publication in 1979, Elaine Pagels has put together a popular treatment of a hitherto (but since more popularly-accessible) academic-only subject. The discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library were very much a topic of conversation, but always topics about which things were spoken, rather than of which things were spoken. This book helped change that in common parlance, and also served as a basic primer for those new to the field who would then proceed to more in-depth study and analysis. In her relatively substantial introduction, Pagels goes through a history of the coming into light of the texts of Nag Hammadi, contrasting it with the more popularly known Dead Sea Scrolls. However, the Nag Hammadi texts also had their fair share of intrigue and cloak-and-dagger kinds of dealings, until finally coming into the relatively safe hands of museums and academics. Pagels proceeds from this background with a brief history of Christian thought in the first few centuries after Christ. She particularly highlights the contrasts between orthodoxy and catholic trends, and how each relates to a gnostic point of view. What are the issues of the resurrection? Why was this taken literally? What authority is conferred upon those who saw the risen Lord, and why was it not so evenly spread (Mary Magdalene, alas, seems to have gotten the short end of the stick authority-wise, despite being listed numerous times as the first witness of the resurrection, and indeed the apostle to the apostles, proclaiming his resurrection to the unbelieving men). Pagels then develops a political idea and structure to her analysis of the way church orthodoxy continued away from and in deliberate, direct opposition to gnostic teachings. Were the gnostics abandoning monotheism, in heretical schism from the teachings of the commonly-accepted New Testament. Complicated in this, of course, is the fact that the New Testament did not as yet exist, so many competing documents claimed authority, among them gnostic texts. Pagels also explores gender ideas, in the imagery of God, which was much more fluid in the gnostic framework (and only beginning to be recovered in protestant and catholic circles) as we recognise that God does not have a gender, and that the image of God as mother (particularly in creative acts) is as valid in many ways as that of God the father. The Gospel of Thomas sets up both political and gender controversies in short economy, by showing a small take on the authority struggle between Mary Magdalene and Peter for primacy in the community. Indeed, Peter seems to want to cast Mary out 'for women are not worthy of eternal life'--Jesus defends her, saying that he will 'make her male', and that indeed any who do this will be welcomed in the kingdom. Gnostics were no fans of martyrdom--this sounds a bit strange, except that the 'proper attitude' toward suffering for the faith was important for the orthodox/catholic hierarchy, and many controversies abounded over those who held true and those who waivered. Gnostics were beyond the pale; roundly ignored and despised to the extent that their martyrs for Christianity were not recognised as being true martyrs. Perhaps the greatest difference between standard gnostic belief and practice and Christianity as it has come down to us today is the idea that, with gnosis, one can have sufficient self-knowledge for salvation; that somehow, salvation and redeeming characteristics can come from within. This is antithetical to the idea that one is saved only by the grace of God, which comes only from God, from without, not from within. The pledge that priests take today in many denominations, that they believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to contain all things necessary for salvation, is a left-over from gnostic controversy days, who believed in other forms of knowledge. Pagels' book is an interesting study, a fairly quick read, not too difficult, just enough for most, and the appetiser for others. Overall it still has integrity and purpose. Read together with Robinson's 'Nag Hammadi Library' (please see my review of that), it gives a fascinating view into an early Christian world, and food for thought of how different things might be today had reconciliation and dialogue replaced diatribe and exclusion.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book and burn in hell
Review: I'm sorry but I find it incredible that so called 'Christians' like David Downey are so full of hate and fear that he has actually written a review warning that if you give this book five stars you'll go to hell. Whew. These fundamentalists have managed to so twist a beautiful religion , that a book like this with it's fresh and insightful look into the true nature of the early church is literally a godsend. I give this book five stars, and hope to God that David is mistaken.
Rating:
Summary: Lets review the book, not pursue an agenda
Review: Clearly Elaine Pagels has attracted the ire of a dogmatic Christian element here, and spawned a coordinated attack. Martin Lutz for example, has apparently cut and pasted entire sections from at least one fundamental Christian website about Pagels. If you wish to gain a deeper insight into the true beauty and origin of intellectual Christian thought you will very much find this book fascinating. If you are locked into a narrow fundamentalist rut, you may well find this book threatening indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Liberate your mind, be kind
Review: I feel compelled to respond to the pompous, pontificating remarks of Mark Swinford, below. If you have grown up in the West and do not know the Christian story by now, you have not been paying attention. The amount of pure popular ignorance about the actual history of Christianity vs what scholars know about its historical artifacts, including its scriptures, is truly phenomenal, considering the ubiquity of Christianity in our culture. Trying to get to the truth of the human predicament, and the Divine Reality, in this context, is like being lost in a maze. The teaching of Gnosticism is one of the maps available to assist in navigating this labyrinthe. The important thing to remember about all testaments or scriptures is that they are at best maps--and the map is not the territory. So--what IS the "unknown territory"? It is the realm of ones individual experience--what some scholars want to call the psyche, and what traditionally was named the soul. The soul is the Mother of all human things on earth, including the scriptures and all religions. If the divine reality is to be encountered within the context of being human, it is to be encountered through direct experience within the human soul. Any book of instructions--regardless of its claims to be "the book", or "the truth", is an accounting by some people of THEIR experience, much of it ineffable, in words or flowery language, or their knowledge of history, or what they heard--it is all external to the experience of the individual, alone with themselves, and with the mystery of their own being. If you seek "salvation" look within yourself. Look into your own heart like you would peer into a microscope. Now, increase the magnificaton. Stop accepting the authority of others who claim to have expert knowledge about spiritual things, myself included. No one is more qualified than yourself to know the truth of your own human predicament, or to discover to Whom you belong. The answer is written inside your own heart. The Bible is nothing but a poor rendering of a map, full of red herrings and dead ends.
Even St Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, tried to make this point: "For you are all qualified by the Spirit to minister the new covenant, not in the written word, which kills, but in the Spirit, which gives life." He is trying to say, don't let yourself be governed by static external rules or codes, but let the divine spirit that animates your soul search your heart, so that your conscience can be your guide. As Martin Heidegger once put it, "The problem with modern man is that he is no longer able to answer the question, What is the Being of beings?" No book will help to provide the means to reveal the answer to that question. But if you examine yourself, the revelation will come. Liberation derives from self knowledge. That is to say, that knowledge of the Divine Reality emerges from the knowledge of Self.
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