Gnosticism [& Christianity]: From Nag Hammadi to the Gospel of Judas, Audible Audiobook

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MrMacSon
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Gnosticism [& Christianity]: From Nag Hammadi to the Gospel of Judas, Audible Audiobook

Post by MrMacSon »

An Amazon/Audible Audiobook by David Brakke - Gnosticism: From Nag Hammadi to the Gospel of Judas - is excellent.

It comes with a pdf that contains the skeleton of what he says, but he fleshes things out quite a bit more with in his narration.

He provides a very clear commentary around Gnōsis and Christianity via Irenaeus and their relative contexts.

Here is the series via the Table of Contents in the pdf (the numbers are page numbers) -


Lecture 1 - Rediscovering Gnōsis.........................................................3

Lecture 2 - Who Were the Gnostics? ...................................................10

Lecture 3 - God in Gnostic Myth ........................................................17

Lecture 4 - Gnosticism on Creation, Sin, and Salvation ............................25

Lecture 5 - Judas as a Gnostic Tragic Hero ...........................................32

Lecture 6 - Gnostic Bible Stories .......................................................39

Lecture 7 - Gnosticism’s Ritual Pathway to God .....................................46

Lecture 8 - The Feminine in Gnostic Myth ............................................54

Lecture 9 - The Gospel of Thomas’s Cryptic Sayings ................................61

Lecture 10 - The Gospel of Thomas on Reunifying the Self ........................69

Lecture 11 - Valentinus, Great Preacher of Gnōsis ..................................76

Lecture 12 - God and Creation in Valentinian Myth .................................83

Lecture 13 - “Becoming Male” through Valentinian Ritual .........................91

Lecture 14 - Valentinian Views on Christian Theology...............................99

Lecture 15 - Mary Magdalene as an Apostle of Gnōsis .............................106

Lecture 16 - Competing Revelations from Christ ...................................113

Lecture 17 - The Invention of Heresy ................................................120

Lecture 18 - Making Gnōsis Orthodox ................................................128

Lecture 19 - Gnosticism and Judaism ................................................134

Lecture 20 - Gnōsis without Christ....................................................142

Lecture 21 - The Mythology of Manichaeism ........................................150

]ecture 22 - Augustine on Manichaeism and Original Sin ..........................158

Lecture 23 - Gnostic Traces in Western Religions ...................................165

Lecture 24 - “Gnosticism” in the Modern Imagination .............................172

Bibliography ...............................................................................179
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Irish1975
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Re: Gnosticism [& Christianity]: From Nag Hammadi to the Gospel of Judas, Audible Audiobook

Post by Irish1975 »

I listened to this audiobook a couple years ago and really liked it. Probably I would appreciate new things if I listened to it again. The Nag Hammadi library is difficult to process even for those of us who care about history and would like to understand these crazy texts.

Any fans here of Miguel Conner's podcast/youtube channel AeonByte Radio? It's not for everyone, and some of his guests are (IMO) bat shit cray cray. But I have come to enjoy the humor, inventiveness, and multi-media dexterity of his 10-15 minute prologues for every show.

I don't buy into gnostic ideology the way he does, but that's not the point. I think of gnosticism as a lot like (as we used to say in the 20th century) going to the movies. You'll encounter some weird shit, and some of it might be wonderful, though none of it is something you're supposed to "believe in."

Parting question. If I were to read Irenaeus (and I'm not sure I want to), what is the best edition in English? Any bilingual editions, with good scholarly notes?
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MrMacSon
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Re: Gnosticism [& Christianity]: From Nag Hammadi to the Gospel of Judas, Audible Audiobook

Post by MrMacSon »

Irish1975 wrote: Mon Dec 03, 2018 3:30 pm I listened to this audiobook a couple years ago and really liked it. Probably I would appreciate new things if I listened to it again. The Nag Hammadi library is difficult to process even for those of us who care about history and would like to understand these crazy texts.
I'm still working my through the lectures and digesting them but I'm intrigued about a basic theme seems to run through the Gnostic texts: Creation was by a lesser god, salvation was available via a higher God and Jesus.

I'd like to know if anyone has compared and contrasted them to Marcion's theology and Gospel (someone has said Tertullian has misrepresented Marcion's theology, but I need to sort out why they say that and how he does).

Some of the myths are quite complicated.

It's interesting that the Gospel of Judas portrays Judas Iscariot as a good guy, better than the disciples, and portrays him as celestial (as well as Jesus I think; I need to go back to that).

Irish1975 wrote: Mon Dec 03, 2018 3:30 pm Any fans here of Miguel Conner's podcast/youtube channel AeonByte Radio? It's not for everyone, and some of his guests are (IMO) bat shit cray cray. But I have come to enjoy the humor, inventiveness, and multi-media dexterity of his 10-15 minute prologues for every show.

I don't buy into gnostic ideology the way he does, but that's not the point. I think of gnosticism as a lot like (as we used to say in the 20th century) going to the movies. You'll encounter some weird shit, and some of it might be wonderful, though none of it is something you're supposed to "believe in."
I've got one of Conner's books of interviews, and some of that is interesting.


Irish1975 wrote: Mon Dec 03, 2018 3:30 pm Parting question. If I were to read Irenaeus (and I'm not sure I want to), what is the best edition in English? Any bilingual editions, with good scholarly notes?
I don't know.
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