(6) "The All" as a technical term in the NHL appears to follow Plotinus' use in the Enneads
The term "
the All" is used more than 200 times in the Enneads of Plotinus (MacKenna translation). The term is also plastered throughout many texts of the Nag Hammadi Library. To what extent might this indicate that the authors of the texts in the NHL which use the term "The All" were familiar with the Enneads of Plotinus? For instance the term occurs 22 times in the The Gospel of Truth.
Does anyone have an opinion on this?
For example some translators refer to "the All" as a "technical term".
Gospel of Thomas - BLATZ (67)
Jesus said: He who knows
the all, (but) fails (to know) himself, misses everything.
- Funk and Hoover write: "This saying is as difficult to translate as it is to understand. The first clause may refer simply to one who is very knowledgeable - a know-it-all. In this case, the saying recalls the famous dictum of Socrates, 'Know thyself.' However, the word for 'all' is also a technical term in gnostic circles and refers to the whole of cosmic reality; it is usually translated as 'All,' with a capital A. Elsewhere in Thomas this term seems to carry this technical sense (note 2:4 and 77:1). The Fellows took the term here to be technical gnostic language also. They gave it a black designation as the result. Thomas 70 is a related saying." (The Five Gospels, p. 512)
Gerd Ludemann gives the translation, "Jesus said, 'Whoever knows the All (but) is deficient in himself is deficient in everything.'" Ludemann writes: "The 'All' is a technical term which relates to the universe, embracing the earth and the cosmos (cf. 2.4; 77.1). 'Know' takes up the same expression from 65.4, 7. According to Thomas, knowledge of the All and self-knowledge condition each other. The reason lies in the consubstantiality of the All with the Gnostic self. Thus according to Logion 77 Jesus is the light and at the same time the All. Whoever knows himself is Christ and himself becoems a person of light." (Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 624)
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... mas67.html
The All is also a primary technical term used by Plotinus.
As mentioned above, the term
"the All" is used more than 200 times in the Enneads of Plotinus.
“Strive to bring back
the god in yourselves
to the God in the All”
(Life of Plotinus 2).
The All in the NHL
There appears to be a significant number of texts in the NHL that employ this term in a systematic manner. I'm not a translator but I'd say Thomas' idea about "The All" are not unique in Thomas. My question would be to ask how many of these texts were written after Porphyry published the Enneads of Plotinus. Plotinus had received imperial patronage in the later 3rd century. It follows that his literature would have been circulated by the time of the Nicene Council. By that time the Academy of Plato at Alexandria was well represented by the neo Platonists.
https://cse.google.com/cse?cof=LW%3A467 ... 2998157j11
"THE ALL"
About 78 results (0.48 seconds)
22 times in
The Gospel of Truth (Attridge & MacRae Translation) - The Nag ...
gnosis.org › naghamm › gostruth
But it is in it that I shall come to be, and (it is fitting) to be concerned at all times with the Father of the all, and the true brothers, those upon whom ...
The Apocryphon of John - Frederik Wisse - The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › apocjn
This is the first power which was before all of them (and) which came forth from his mind, She is the forethought of the All - her light shines like his ...
Trimorphic Protennoia - John D. Turner, Annotated Edition - The ...
gnosis.org › naghamm › trimorph-JDT
I am the one who gradually put forth the All by my Thought. It is I who am laden with the Voice. It is through me that Gnosis comes forth.
dwell in the ...
The Book of Thomas - The Nag Hammadi Library - John D. Turner ...
gnosis.org › naghamm › bookt-jdt
For he who has not known himself has known nothing, but he who has known himself has at the same time already achieved knowledge about the depth of the all.
On the Origin of the World - Bethge and Layton - The Nag Hammadi ...
gnosis.org › naghamm › origin
The holy water, since it vivifies the all, purifies it. Out of that first blood Eros appeared, being androgynous. His masculinity is Himireris, ...
Gospel of Thomas - Patterson & Robinson Translation -- Nag ...
gnosis.org › naghamm › gth_pat_rob
(4) And he will be king over the All." (3) Jesus says: (1) "If those who lead you say to you: 'Look, the kingdom is in the sky!' then the birds of the sky ...
Gospel of Thomas (Lambdin Translation) -- The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › gthlamb
When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All." (3) Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in ...
A Valentinian Exposition -- The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › valex
Now this is the Root of the All and Monad without any one before him. Now the second spring exists in silence and speaks with him alone. And the Fourth ...
The Gospel of Truth (Grant Translation) - The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › got
You see, the All had been inside of him, that illimitable, inconceivable one, who is better than every thought. This ignorance of the Father brought about ...
Melchizedek -- The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › melchiz
holy disciples. And the Savior will reveal to them the world that gives life to the All. But those in the heavens spoke many words, together with those on ...
The Book of Thomas - The Nag Hammadi Library - John D. Turner ...
gnosis.org › naghamm › allogenes-jdt
Youel: The Barbelo Aeon. And then again, O my son Messos, the all-glorious one, Youel spoke to me; she appeared [to] me and ...
The Dialogue of the Savior -- The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › dialog
The Lord said, "When the Father established the cosmos for himself, he left much over from the Mother of the All. Therefore, he speaks and he acts.".
The Thought of Norea -- The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › nore
... behold the Pleroma, and she will not be in deficiency, for she has the four holy helpers who intercede on her behalf with the Father of the All, Adamas.
Zostrianos -- The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › zostr
(About) the All and the all-perfect race and the one who is higher than perfect and blessed. The self-begotten Kalyptos pre-exists because he is an origin ...
Marsanes - John Turner - Scholar's Translation - The Nag Hammadi ...
gnosis.org › naghamm › marsanes-jdt
8 The one who is 9 [substantial (Autogenes)] examines 10 [the all (the Barbelo Aeon)] and is 11 [the all and] resembles 12 [the all].
The Second Treatise of the Great Seth - Bullard & Gibbons - The ...
gnosis.org › naghamm
And she did not ask anything from the All, nor from the greatness of the Assembly, nor from the Pleroma. Since she was first, she came forth to prepare ...
The Hypostasis of the Archons - trans. Bentley Layton - The Nag ...
gnosis.org › naghamm › hypostas
From that day, the snake came to be under the curse of the authorities; until the all-powerful man was to come, that curse fell upon the snake.
Marsanes -- The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › marsanes
But let none of us be distressed and think in his heart that the great Father [...]. For he looks upon the All and takes care of them all. And he has shown to ...
The Tripartite Tractate -- The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › tripart
... is Father of the All, out of his laboring for those who exist, having sown into their thought that they might seek after him. The abundance of their [.
The Interpretation of Knowledge -- The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › intpr
He has a generous nature, since the Son of God dwells in him. And whenever he acquires the All, whatever he possesses will <be dissolved> in the fire because it ...
The Testimony of Truth -- The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › testruth
This is the perfect life, that man know himself by means of the All. Do not expect, therefore, the carnal resurrection, which is destruction; and they are ...
Zostrianos - John Turner - The Nag Hammadi Library
gnosis.org › naghamm › zostr-jdt
Now as for the Entirety, both the all-perfect 3 kind and that which is higher than perfect 4 and blessed: The 5 self-generated Kalyptos 6 is a pre-existent ...
The Treatise on the Resurrection - Malcolm Peel- The Nag ...
gnosis.org › naghamm › res
But the All is what is encompassed. It has not come into being; it was existing." So, never doubt concerning the resurrection, my son Rheginos!
The Apocryphon of John - Short Version - Translated by Waldstein ...
gnosis.org › naghamm › apocjn-short
That one is the one whom the invisible Spirit appointed as god over the All, the true god. It gave to him all authority and It caused the truth which is in It ...
The Apocryphon of John - Long Version - Translated by Waldstein ...
gnosis.org › naghamm › apocjn-long
For because of the Word, Christ the divine Autogenes created the All. Eternal Life with Will, and Mind with Foreknowledge stood. They glorified the invisible ...
The Gospel of Thomas: Oxyrhynchus Fragments
gnosis.org › naghamm › thomas_poxy
When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All." Saying 3 (pOxy. 654.9-21). J[esus] said, "[If] those pulling you [say to ...