The Reception of the Nag Hammadi Codices: Gnosis and Christianity in Late-Antique Roman Egypt
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5433/1984-3356.2015v8n16p89Keywords:
Nag Hammadi, Early Christianity, Gnosticism, Monasticism, Theory of receptionAbstract
The Nag Hammadi Codices have been calling the attention of scholars of early Christianity and religions in the Roman Empire almost since their discovery in 1945. These codices, generally associated with the so-called Gnosticism, are not only an example of the religious diversity of Christianity in the Roman Empire, but also a peculiar illustration of the transmission and reception of Christian texts in Late-antiquity. The texts copied in the codices in question were probably composed in Greek somewhere between the second and third centuries, in many different locations in the Empire, but what we have today are Coptic translations compiled in Egypt, in the second half of fourth century. The natural preference for the oldest and for the so-called Gnostic conjecture, lead scholars to prioritize the study of the original context of composition of these texts. However, the last decades saw a growing interest for the study of the context of compilation of these texts in Coptic. This article intends to suggest a new approach and methodology to this kind of study in light of the theory of reception. The goal is to provide scholars with a method that may help us to understand how these texts may have been interpreted by Coptic readers in Late-antique Egypt.References
ADLER, William. Introduction. In: VANDERKAM, James; ADLER, William (Org.). The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity. Compendia Rerum Iudiacorum ad Novum Testamentum 4. Assen/Minneapolis: Van Gorgum/Fortress Press, 1996. p. 1-31.
BAGNALL, Roger. Early Christian Books in Egypt. Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2009.
BALDICK, Chris. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
BARNS, John. Greek and Coptic Papyri from the Covers of the Nag Hammadi Codices: a Preliminary Report. In: KRAUSE, Martin (Org.). Essays on the Nag Hammadi Texts in Honour of Pahor Labib. Nag Hammadi Studies 6. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975. p. 9-18.
BARNS, John; BROWNE, Gerald M.; SHELTON, John C. (Org.). Nag Hammadi Codices. Greek and Coptic Papyri from the Cartonnage of the Covers. Nag Hammadi Studies 16. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981.
BAUMEISTER, Theofried. Martyr Invictus: Der Martyrer als Sinndild der Erlösung in der Legende und im Kult der frühen koptischen Kirche. Münster: Regensberg, 1972.
BLUMMEL, Lincoln H. Lettered Christians: Christians, Letters and Late Antique Oxyrhynchus. Leiden/Boston: E.J. Brill, 2012.
COLLINS, Jonh J. (Org.). Apocalypse: The Morphology of a Genre. Semeia 14. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1979.
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar. Neo-platonismo, apocalíptica e gnose: os apocalipses filosóficos setianos. Oracula, São Bernardo do Campo, v. 6, p. 114-129, 2007.
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar. Between Apocalyptic and Gnosis: The Nag Hammadi Apocalyptic Corpus. Delimitation and Analysis. Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2010.
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar. Le codex V de Nag Hammadi et la littérature copte du 4e siècle : une approche comparative. In : RENCONTRE DOCTORALE SUR L ANTIQUITÉ, 2011, Québec. Comunicação ... Québec: Université Laval, 2011.
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar. A Gnose em Questão: Ensaios sobre Gnose e Apocalíptica na Antiguidade e a Biblioteca Copta de Nag Hammadi. Curitiba: Ed. Prismas, 2015a.
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar. Judas, herói ou traidor: o Evangelho de Judas do Codex Tchacos. In: DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar; DOBRORUKA, Vicente. Espectadores do Sagrado: Experiência Visionária e Apócrifos do Novo Testamento. Brasília: Ed. UnB, 2015b. p. 255-286.
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar. Reading Nag Hammadi Codices in Late-antique Egypt: Some Methodological Issues in Light of the Theory of Reception. In: SEMINÁRIO INTERNACIONAL NAG HAMMADI À 70 ANS: Qu’avons nous appris?, 2015, Québec. Comunicação... Québec: Université Laval, 2015c.
DORESSE, Jean. Les Livres secrets de gnostiques d’Égypte. Paris: Plon, 1958.
DORESSE, Jean. Les reliures des manuscrits gnostiques coptes découverts à Khénoboskion. Revue d’Égypte, v. 13, p. 27-49, 1961.
EMMEL, Stephen. Religious Tradition, Textual Transmission, and the Nag Hammadi Codices. In: TURNER, John; MAQUIRE, Anne (Org.). The Nag Hammadi Library after Fifty Years. Leiden/New York: E. J. Brill, 1997. p. 34-43.
GAMBLE, Harry I. Books and Readers in the Early Church. New Heaven/London: Yale University Press, 1995.
GOEHRING, James. Ascetics, Society, and the Desert: Studies in Egyptian Monasticism. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1999.
HAINES-EITZEN, Kim. Guardians of Letters: Literacy, Power and the Transmitters of Early Christian literature. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
HEDRICK, Charles. Gnostic Proclivities in the Greek Life of Pachomius and the Sitz im Leben of the Nag Hammadi Library. Novum Testamentum, v. 22, n. 1, p. 78-94, 1980.
HOLUB, Robert C. Reception Theory: a Critical Introduction. Londres/Nova York: Methuen, 1984.
JAUSS, Hans R. Pour une esthétique de la réception. Paris: Gallimard, 1978.
JENOTT, Lance; PAGELS, Elaine. Antony’s Letters and Nag Hammadi Codex I: Sources of Religious Conflict in Fourth-Century Egypt. Journal of Early Christian Studies, v. 18, n. 4, p. 557-589, 2010.
JENOTT, Lance. Recovering Adam’s Lost Glory: Nag Hammadi Codex II in its Egyptian Monastic Environment. In: JENOTT, Lance; GRIBETZ, Sarit Kattan (Org.). Jewish and Christian Cosmogony in Late Antiquity. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013. v. 155, p. 222-236.
JONAS, Hans. The Gnostic Religion. Boston: Beacon Press, 1958.
KING, Karen. What is Gnosticism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003.
KHOSROYEV, Alexander. Die Bibliothek von Nag Hammadi: Einige Probleme des Christentums in Ägypten während der ersten Jahrhunderte. Altenberge: Oros Verlag, 1995.
LUNDHAUG, Hugo; JENOTT, Lance. The Monastic Origins of the Nag Hammadi Library. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck (no prelo).
MILNE, Hebert J.M.; SKEAT, Theodore C. The Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Alexandrinus; with Seven Illustrations. Londres: British Museum, 1963.
MORARD, Françoise. Les Apocalypses du codex V de Nag Hammadi. In: PAINCHAUD, Louis; PASQUIER, Anne (Org.). Les Textes de Nag Hammadi et le problème de leur classification. Québec/Louvain: Les Presses de l’Université Laval/Peeters, 1995. p. 341-357. (Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi section «études» 3).
ORLANDI, Tito. A Catechesis Against Apocryphal Texts by Shenoute and the Gnostic Texts of Nag Hammadi. In: Harvard Theological Review, v. 75, n. 1, p. 85-95,1982.
PAINCHAUD, Louis. La production et la destination du codex III de Nag Hammadi. In: SEMINÁRIO INTERNACIONAL NAG HAMMADI À 70 ANS: Qu’avons nous appris?, 2015, Québec. Comunicação... Québec: Université Laval, 2015.
PAINCHAUD, Louis. The Production and Destination of the Nag Hammadi Sub-Collections. In: LUNDHAUG, Hugo; JENOTT, Lance (Org.). The Nag Hammadi Codices in the Context of Fourthand-Fifth Century Christianity in Egypt. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck (no prelo).
PEARSON, Birger. The Emergence of the Christian Religion. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1997.
POIRIER, Paul-Hubert. La Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi: sa nature et son importance. Studies in Religion, Sceinces religieuses, v. 15, n. 3, p. 303-316, 1986.
ROBINSON, James. The Nag Hammadi Codices – A General Introduction to the Nature and Significance of the Coptic Gnostic Library from Nag Hammadi. Claremont: The Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, 1974.
ROBINSON, James. From the Cliff to Cairo. In: BARC, Bernard (Org.). Colloque international sur les textes de Nag Hammadi. Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi section « études » 1. Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 1981. p. 21-58.
ROBINSON, James. The Facsimile Edition of The Nag Hammadi Codices. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1984.
ROBINSON, James. The Manichaean Codices of Medinet Madi. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2013.
ROSENSTIEHL, Jean-Marc; KALER, Michael. L’Apocalypse de Paul. Québec/Louvain: Les Presses de l’Université Laval/Peeters, 2005. (Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi section «textes» 31).
ROUSSEAU, Philip. Pachomius: The Making of a Community in Fourth Century Egypt. Berkley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985.
SÄVE- SÖDERBERGH, Torgny. Holy Scriptures or Apologetic Documentation? The Sitz im Leben of the Nag Hammadi Library. In: MÉNARD, Jacques.-É. (Org.). Les Textes de Nag Hammadi. Nag Hammadi Studies 7. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975. p. 9-17.
SCHOLTEN, Clemens. Die Nag-Hammadi-Texte als Buchbesitz der Pachomianer. Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, v. 31, p. 144-172, 1988.
VAN DER VLIET, Jacques. The Coptic Gnostic Texts as Christian Apocryphal Literature. In: EMMEL, Stephen et al. (Org.). Ägypten und Nubien in spätantiker und christlicher Zeit. Akten des 6. Internationalen Koptologenkongresses Münster. v.2: Sprache, Schrifttum und Gedankenwelt. Sprachen und Kulturen des Christlichen Orients. Berlim: Wiesbaden, 1999. p. 553-562.
VAN REGEMORTER, Berthe. La reliure des manuscrits gnostiques découverts à Nag Hammadi. Scriptorum, v. 14, p. 225-234, 1960.
VEILLEUX, Armand. Monachisme et gnose. Première partie: Le cénobitisme pachômien et la bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi. Laval théologique et philosophique, v. 40, n. 3, p. 275-294, 1984.
VEILLEUX, Armand. Monachisme et gnose. Deuxième partie: Contacts littéraires et doctrinaux entre monachisme et gnose. Laval théologique et philosophique, v.41, n. 1, p. 3-24, 1985.
WILLIAMS, Michael. Rethinking Gnosticism: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.
WIPSZYCKA, Ewa. Moines et communautés monastiques en Égypte (IVe - VIIIe siècles). Varsóvia: Journal of Juristic Papyrology, 2009.
WISSE, Frederick. Gnosticism and Early Monasticism in Egypt. In: ALAND, Barbara (Org.). Gnosis: Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1978. p. 431-440.
WISSE, Frederick. Language Mysticism in the Nag Hammadi Texts and in Early Coptic Monasticism I: Cryptography. Enchoria, v. 9, p. 101-120, 1979.
BAGNALL, Roger. Early Christian Books in Egypt. Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2009.
BALDICK, Chris. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
BARNS, John. Greek and Coptic Papyri from the Covers of the Nag Hammadi Codices: a Preliminary Report. In: KRAUSE, Martin (Org.). Essays on the Nag Hammadi Texts in Honour of Pahor Labib. Nag Hammadi Studies 6. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975. p. 9-18.
BARNS, John; BROWNE, Gerald M.; SHELTON, John C. (Org.). Nag Hammadi Codices. Greek and Coptic Papyri from the Cartonnage of the Covers. Nag Hammadi Studies 16. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981.
BAUMEISTER, Theofried. Martyr Invictus: Der Martyrer als Sinndild der Erlösung in der Legende und im Kult der frühen koptischen Kirche. Münster: Regensberg, 1972.
BLUMMEL, Lincoln H. Lettered Christians: Christians, Letters and Late Antique Oxyrhynchus. Leiden/Boston: E.J. Brill, 2012.
COLLINS, Jonh J. (Org.). Apocalypse: The Morphology of a Genre. Semeia 14. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1979.
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar. Neo-platonismo, apocalíptica e gnose: os apocalipses filosóficos setianos. Oracula, São Bernardo do Campo, v. 6, p. 114-129, 2007.
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar. Between Apocalyptic and Gnosis: The Nag Hammadi Apocalyptic Corpus. Delimitation and Analysis. Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2010.
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar. Le codex V de Nag Hammadi et la littérature copte du 4e siècle : une approche comparative. In : RENCONTRE DOCTORALE SUR L ANTIQUITÉ, 2011, Québec. Comunicação ... Québec: Université Laval, 2011.
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar. A Gnose em Questão: Ensaios sobre Gnose e Apocalíptica na Antiguidade e a Biblioteca Copta de Nag Hammadi. Curitiba: Ed. Prismas, 2015a.
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar. Judas, herói ou traidor: o Evangelho de Judas do Codex Tchacos. In: DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar; DOBRORUKA, Vicente. Espectadores do Sagrado: Experiência Visionária e Apócrifos do Novo Testamento. Brasília: Ed. UnB, 2015b. p. 255-286.
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar. Reading Nag Hammadi Codices in Late-antique Egypt: Some Methodological Issues in Light of the Theory of Reception. In: SEMINÁRIO INTERNACIONAL NAG HAMMADI À 70 ANS: Qu’avons nous appris?, 2015, Québec. Comunicação... Québec: Université Laval, 2015c.
DORESSE, Jean. Les Livres secrets de gnostiques d’Égypte. Paris: Plon, 1958.
DORESSE, Jean. Les reliures des manuscrits gnostiques coptes découverts à Khénoboskion. Revue d’Égypte, v. 13, p. 27-49, 1961.
EMMEL, Stephen. Religious Tradition, Textual Transmission, and the Nag Hammadi Codices. In: TURNER, John; MAQUIRE, Anne (Org.). The Nag Hammadi Library after Fifty Years. Leiden/New York: E. J. Brill, 1997. p. 34-43.
GAMBLE, Harry I. Books and Readers in the Early Church. New Heaven/London: Yale University Press, 1995.
GOEHRING, James. Ascetics, Society, and the Desert: Studies in Egyptian Monasticism. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1999.
HAINES-EITZEN, Kim. Guardians of Letters: Literacy, Power and the Transmitters of Early Christian literature. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
HEDRICK, Charles. Gnostic Proclivities in the Greek Life of Pachomius and the Sitz im Leben of the Nag Hammadi Library. Novum Testamentum, v. 22, n. 1, p. 78-94, 1980.
HOLUB, Robert C. Reception Theory: a Critical Introduction. Londres/Nova York: Methuen, 1984.
JAUSS, Hans R. Pour une esthétique de la réception. Paris: Gallimard, 1978.
JENOTT, Lance; PAGELS, Elaine. Antony’s Letters and Nag Hammadi Codex I: Sources of Religious Conflict in Fourth-Century Egypt. Journal of Early Christian Studies, v. 18, n. 4, p. 557-589, 2010.
JENOTT, Lance. Recovering Adam’s Lost Glory: Nag Hammadi Codex II in its Egyptian Monastic Environment. In: JENOTT, Lance; GRIBETZ, Sarit Kattan (Org.). Jewish and Christian Cosmogony in Late Antiquity. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013. v. 155, p. 222-236.
JONAS, Hans. The Gnostic Religion. Boston: Beacon Press, 1958.
KING, Karen. What is Gnosticism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003.
KHOSROYEV, Alexander. Die Bibliothek von Nag Hammadi: Einige Probleme des Christentums in Ägypten während der ersten Jahrhunderte. Altenberge: Oros Verlag, 1995.
LUNDHAUG, Hugo; JENOTT, Lance. The Monastic Origins of the Nag Hammadi Library. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck (no prelo).
MILNE, Hebert J.M.; SKEAT, Theodore C. The Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Alexandrinus; with Seven Illustrations. Londres: British Museum, 1963.
MORARD, Françoise. Les Apocalypses du codex V de Nag Hammadi. In: PAINCHAUD, Louis; PASQUIER, Anne (Org.). Les Textes de Nag Hammadi et le problème de leur classification. Québec/Louvain: Les Presses de l’Université Laval/Peeters, 1995. p. 341-357. (Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi section «études» 3).
ORLANDI, Tito. A Catechesis Against Apocryphal Texts by Shenoute and the Gnostic Texts of Nag Hammadi. In: Harvard Theological Review, v. 75, n. 1, p. 85-95,1982.
PAINCHAUD, Louis. La production et la destination du codex III de Nag Hammadi. In: SEMINÁRIO INTERNACIONAL NAG HAMMADI À 70 ANS: Qu’avons nous appris?, 2015, Québec. Comunicação... Québec: Université Laval, 2015.
PAINCHAUD, Louis. The Production and Destination of the Nag Hammadi Sub-Collections. In: LUNDHAUG, Hugo; JENOTT, Lance (Org.). The Nag Hammadi Codices in the Context of Fourthand-Fifth Century Christianity in Egypt. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck (no prelo).
PEARSON, Birger. The Emergence of the Christian Religion. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1997.
POIRIER, Paul-Hubert. La Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi: sa nature et son importance. Studies in Religion, Sceinces religieuses, v. 15, n. 3, p. 303-316, 1986.
ROBINSON, James. The Nag Hammadi Codices – A General Introduction to the Nature and Significance of the Coptic Gnostic Library from Nag Hammadi. Claremont: The Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, 1974.
ROBINSON, James. From the Cliff to Cairo. In: BARC, Bernard (Org.). Colloque international sur les textes de Nag Hammadi. Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi section « études » 1. Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 1981. p. 21-58.
ROBINSON, James. The Facsimile Edition of The Nag Hammadi Codices. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1984.
ROBINSON, James. The Manichaean Codices of Medinet Madi. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2013.
ROSENSTIEHL, Jean-Marc; KALER, Michael. L’Apocalypse de Paul. Québec/Louvain: Les Presses de l’Université Laval/Peeters, 2005. (Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi section «textes» 31).
ROUSSEAU, Philip. Pachomius: The Making of a Community in Fourth Century Egypt. Berkley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985.
SÄVE- SÖDERBERGH, Torgny. Holy Scriptures or Apologetic Documentation? The Sitz im Leben of the Nag Hammadi Library. In: MÉNARD, Jacques.-É. (Org.). Les Textes de Nag Hammadi. Nag Hammadi Studies 7. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975. p. 9-17.
SCHOLTEN, Clemens. Die Nag-Hammadi-Texte als Buchbesitz der Pachomianer. Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, v. 31, p. 144-172, 1988.
VAN DER VLIET, Jacques. The Coptic Gnostic Texts as Christian Apocryphal Literature. In: EMMEL, Stephen et al. (Org.). Ägypten und Nubien in spätantiker und christlicher Zeit. Akten des 6. Internationalen Koptologenkongresses Münster. v.2: Sprache, Schrifttum und Gedankenwelt. Sprachen und Kulturen des Christlichen Orients. Berlim: Wiesbaden, 1999. p. 553-562.
VAN REGEMORTER, Berthe. La reliure des manuscrits gnostiques découverts à Nag Hammadi. Scriptorum, v. 14, p. 225-234, 1960.
VEILLEUX, Armand. Monachisme et gnose. Première partie: Le cénobitisme pachômien et la bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi. Laval théologique et philosophique, v. 40, n. 3, p. 275-294, 1984.
VEILLEUX, Armand. Monachisme et gnose. Deuxième partie: Contacts littéraires et doctrinaux entre monachisme et gnose. Laval théologique et philosophique, v.41, n. 1, p. 3-24, 1985.
WILLIAMS, Michael. Rethinking Gnosticism: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.
WIPSZYCKA, Ewa. Moines et communautés monastiques en Égypte (IVe - VIIIe siècles). Varsóvia: Journal of Juristic Papyrology, 2009.
WISSE, Frederick. Gnosticism and Early Monasticism in Egypt. In: ALAND, Barbara (Org.). Gnosis: Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1978. p. 431-440.
WISSE, Frederick. Language Mysticism in the Nag Hammadi Texts and in Early Coptic Monasticism I: Cryptography. Enchoria, v. 9, p. 101-120, 1979.
Downloads
Published
2016-01-18
How to Cite
DIAS CHAVES, Julio Cesar; PAINCHAUD, Louis. The Reception of the Nag Hammadi Codices: Gnosis and Christianity in Late-Antique Roman Egypt. Antíteses, [S. l.], v. 8, n. 16, p. 89–110, 2016. DOI: 10.5433/1984-3356.2015v8n16p89. Disponível em: https://ojs.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/antiteses/article/view/22657. Acesso em: 22 jul. 2024.
Issue
Section
Dossier
License
The journal reserves the copyright on the contributions published, without material compensation for the author, and may make them available online in Open Access mode, through its own system or other databases; you can also make normative, orthographic and grammatical changes in the originals, in order to maintain the cultured standard of the language, with the final consent of the authors. The opinions expressed by the authors are their sole responsibility.
