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Cette thèse porte sur le Codex V de Nag Hammadi en tant que produit d’une compilation copte dans l’Antiquité tardive. Nous le comparons à un autre groupe de textes qui circulaient à la même époque en copte, les hagiographies. Cette comparaison démontre l’existence de plusieurs thèmes et motifs littéraires communs aux deux corpora. Cela illustre qu’un lecteur copte connaissant les hagiographies en question pouvait également avoir de l’intérêt pour les textes du Codex V, étant donné que ce dernier contenait plusieurs thèmes et motifs en commun avec ce corpus. Ainsi, loin d’être un livre à saveur gnostique et hétérodoxe, étranger à la culture copte chrétienne – comme généralement suggéré par la recherche – le Codex V était un livre bien intégré à l’ambiance littéraire de l’Égypte de l’Antiquité tardive. De plus, suivant la théorie de la réception telle que théorisée par Jauss – en particulier son concept de « horizon of expectations » – nous utilisons ces thèmes et ces motifs littéraires pour interpréter les textes du Codex V à la lumière de leur contexte copte. Autrement dit, nous offrons une lecture copte du Codex V, et non pas une lecture « gnostique ». / The present dissertation deals with Nag Hammadi Codex V as the product of a late antique Coptic compilation. We compare it to another group of late antique Coptic texts, the hagiographies. This comparison shows the existence of many points of contact concerning literary themes and motifs between both of the corpora in question here. This demonstrates that a given Coptic reader – who knew the hagiographies in question – could also be interested in Codex V, since it displays many literary themes and motifs to which he was accustomed when reading Coptic hagiographies. Consequently, far from being a volume with a Gnostic and heterodox taste and alien to a Coptic context – as generally pictured by scholars – Codex V was very well placed in the literary environment of late antique Egypt. Moreover, following the theory of reception as it was theorized by Jauss – in particular the concept of “horizon of expectations” – we make use of these literary themes and motifs to interpret Codex V in the light of its Coptic context. In other words, we offer a Coptic reading of Codex V, instead of a “Gnostic” one.

Ce mémoire est une tentative de délimitation et analyse du corpus apocalyptique de la bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi. Le deuxième chapitre contient un survol sur l'histoire de la recherche sur la littérature apocalyptique à Nag Hammadi. Le troisième chapitre expose la problématique de recherche, c'est-à-dire, les questions qui seront posés pour l'analyse des textes, de même que la délimitation du corpus à analyser et un première classification de son contenu. Les chapitres 4 à 8 proposent une analyse du contenu apocalyptique des textes inventoriés au chapitre trois. Le dernier chapitre est une conclusion générale sur la délimitation et analyse des apocalypses et textes apocalyptiques à Nag Hammadi. / This dissertation is an attempt to delimit and analyse the Nag Hammadi apocalyptic corpus. The second chapter contains a survey on the research history on Nag Hammadi apocalyptic literature. The third chapter presents the research problematic, i.e. questions that will lead the dissertation, the delimitation of the corpus and a first classification of its content, Chapters 4 to 8 contain commentaries on texts, divided into the four categories suggested in chapter 3. The final chapter is a general conclusion about the delimitation and analysis of the Nag Hammadi apocalyptic corpus.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alethea Aires Pecora.pdf: 4253473 bytes, checksum: 07cc92471284be95c776bd7cb4cfb4b1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This dissertation focuses on Thunder: Perfect Mind, cryptic writing found among the dozens of other titles (mostly unknown until then) that make up what is now called the Nag Hammadi Library, produced between the third and fourth centuries of our era. After a presentation of the latter, with the codex that make up (a task we set ourselves in the first chapter of this work), we propose an approach to Thunder, that offer a translation and a commentary on all the units that compose it (Chapter II). From here we review the opinions that have been issued regarding this writing, and especially question the characterization of the writing as a Gnostic (Chapter III). At the end we launched a few suggestions for a renewed approach of the writing, pointing to the possibility of a dual origin for it, sending it to both the mythical universe of Middle Eastern world as to the everyday of violence experienced particularly by women of that social-history context / A presente dissertação concentra-se em Trovão: Mente Perfeita, enigmático escrito encontrado em meio a dezenas de outros títulos (quase todos desconhecidos até então), que compõem o que hoje se chama Biblioteca de Nag Hammadi, produzida entre os séculos III e IV de nossa era. Após uma apresentação desta última, com os códices que a compõem (tarefa a que nos propusemos no primeiro capítulo deste trabalho), propomos uma aproximação a Trovão, de que oferecemos uma tradução e um comentário do conjunto das suas unidades (capítulo II). A partir daí passamos em revista as opiniões que têm sido emitidas a respeito desta obra, e especialmente questionamos a caracterização do escrito como gnóstico (capítulo III). Ao final, lançamos algumas sugestões para uma renovada abordagem do escrito, apontando para a possibilidade de uma dupla origem para ele, remetendo-o tanto ao universo mítico do mundo médio-oriental como para a experiência cotidiana de violência vivida particularmente por mulheres daquele contexto sócio-histórico.

Background: This thesis aims to show that the narratives of the Nag Hammadi Apocalypse of Pauland First Apocalypse of James are written for a Valentinian audience. The purpose is to broaden the field of research on Valentinianism by showing how the authors and their implied readers composed and perceived the texts in question. Method: Comparing the mythological language of the two narratives and their description of a hero’s journey in a transcendent reality it is possible to disentangle the Valentinian material from the imaginative world of the reader, a world consisted of ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology as well as Jewish apocalypticism and early Christian legends and traditions. The texts are also compared with new research in the field, other related Valentinian scriptures, the New Testament, and Christian Apocrypha. Results: The texts are pseudepigraphic and written within a Jewish apocalyptic genre sometime during the late second or early third century. The symbolism and the diverse metaphors of the narratives indicate that the texts incorporate a specific soteriological message through embedded Valentinian mythology. The implied reader is to understand that the material world is an illusion and that the purpose of the initiate is to awaken the mind and acquire knowledge about the truth. By doing so the redemption of the believer’s spirit from its human body and soul leads to the spirits reunion with God. Conclusion: The analysis of the texts points toward the fact that the narratives could very well have been used for catechetical or other educational purposes within a Valentinian community. The language and form of the two narratives fit to serve this purpose. In many ways, the reader has to be initiated within a Valentinian context in order to grasp the intended message. / <p>Godkännande datum 2019-06-10</p>

<p>Already in the second century, the Church Father Irenaeus warned against reading the Gospel of Truth that was used among the so-called Valentinians. For more than one and a half millennium GospTruth was lost until in the 1950s a Coptic text was discovered that could be a translation of that work both loved and hated.</p><p>Since the discovery scholars have tried to determine whether the Coptic text represents the one mentioned by Irenaeus, and whether its author might even be the famous Gnostic teacher Valentinus of Alexandria.</p><p>The text is very complex and the present study the first attempt to use text linguistic tools for analysing GospTruth. A new and sometimes radically different translation is presented, and an hypothesis of date of redaction and authorship is put forward. Previously Gnostic texts have usually been read in light of the reports of the Church Fathers. In this study an attempt is made to detect topics that were interesting for the Valentinians and that have so far been neglected. The analysis presents a new ethical debate among early Christians regarding the Biblical law, and a hypothesis of how the author of GospTruth wanted his or her community to act towards the neighbouring communities is elaborated. In addition my investigation draws attention to an interpretation of the crucifixion that seems to have distinguished Valentinians from others.</p><p>For a long time scholars depicted the Gnostics as evil opponents to the church. During the last decades this view has been criticized, and today many scholars abandon the term Gnostic altogether, and instead only use the term Christian. In my opinion such an approach risks to conceal the unique features of Valentinianism, and the results of the present study will hopefully shed new light on a branch of Christianity which still is relatively unexplored.</p>

Already in the second century, the Church Father Irenaeus warned against reading the Gospel of Truth that was used among the so-called Valentinians. For more than one and a half millennium GospTruth was lost until in the 1950s a Coptic text was discovered that could be a translation of that work both loved and hated. Since the discovery scholars have tried to determine whether the Coptic text represents the one mentioned by Irenaeus, and whether its author might even be the famous Gnostic teacher Valentinus of Alexandria. The text is very complex and the present study the first attempt to use text linguistic tools for analysing GospTruth. A new and sometimes radically different translation is presented, and an hypothesis of date of redaction and authorship is put forward. Previously Gnostic texts have usually been read in light of the reports of the Church Fathers. In this study an attempt is made to detect topics that were interesting for the Valentinians and that have so far been neglected. The analysis presents a new ethical debate among early Christians regarding the Biblical law, and a hypothesis of how the author of GospTruth wanted his or her community to act towards the neighbouring communities is elaborated. In addition my investigation draws attention to an interpretation of the crucifixion that seems to have distinguished Valentinians from others. For a long time scholars depicted the Gnostics as evil opponents to the church. During the last decades this view has been criticized, and today many scholars abandon the term Gnostic altogether, and instead only use the term Christian. In my opinion such an approach risks to conceal the unique features of Valentinianism, and the results of the present study will hopefully shed new light on a branch of Christianity which still is relatively unexplored.

Though discovered in 1945, the First Apocalypse of James from Nag Hammadi Codex V, 3 has received very little attention from the scholarly community. This is primarily due to the fragmentary condition of the text. Previous scholarly engagements with the text have led to the conclusion that the purpose of such a revelatory dialogue was to impart instructions for the ascent of the soul to one about to be martyred. The recent discovery of a second copy of the text simply titled “James” as part of the Tchacos Codex has led to not only a greater amount of scholarly interest, but also to different possible interpretations. From NHC V, 3 it was possible to ascertain a pre- and post- martyrdom revelation of Jesus to James, however, the text from Al Minya clearly shows a third revelatory section wherein the martyrdom of James is used as a means of revelation to Addai, the legendary founder of Eastern Syrian Christianity. Chapters one and two answer the question of why James was chosen as the protagonist of the narrative. In chapter one I look in detail at the literary construction of the martyrdom of James and problematize the development of the traditions. Chapter two then turns to a discussion of the figure of James as an authority in the developing Christian community. Chapters three and four are concerned with the literary classification of the text. Chapter three situates the First Apocalypse of James within the overarching genre of apocalyptic literature, and the specific sub-genre of gnostic apocalypses. Chapter four discusses how the text might be understood as a commission narrative while interrogating the lineage of descent beginning with the transmission of the revelation from James to Addai. Following this in chapter five I explore the cosmology of the text with particular attention to the ascent of the soul.

<p>Den här uppsatsen handlar om modern gnosticism, tolkat utifrån fyra nygnostiska rörelser jag fann på Internet. Efter att ha läst dessa valda rörelsers texter slog det mig att en fundamental förändring hade skett, med tanke på texter om antik gnosticism. Framför allt hade den mörka synen på materian förändrats, och därmed synen på de feminina och maskulina aspekterna samt ondskan också. Om man går på linjen att de var materia- och kvinnofientliga samt ville undfly reinkarnation. De här aspekterna, materian, människan och ondska, reflekteras dock fortfarande i ljuset av de antika gnostiska myterna. Myter som bär upp denna andliga filosofis ramverk kring människans existentiella villkor. Grundtemat är på så sätt detsamma, men tolkningarna om universum, livet och människans livsvillkor är modifierad från äldre skrifters beskrivning av och om gnostikernas världsbild.</p><p>Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka några nygnostiska rörelser i det sekulära väst, och hitta likheter och skillnader speglat mot den antika gnosticismen. Sättet att finna dem gick via Internet och synliggörandet av dem, och deras mytiska världsbild, gick via deras myter om materian, människan och ondska.</p>

The Gospel According to Thomas is found in the second manuscript of codex II of a set of texts found in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, collectively referred to today as the Coptic Gnostic Library. This gospel was readily identified as Thomas due to fragments of a Greek version of the text having already been discovered and identified in the 1890s at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. However, the discovery near Nag Hammadi in 1945 C.E. was not of fragments, but it actually contained the entire text of Thomas. Thus, the finding of the entire text in Nag Hammadi brought about a set of questions that had not yet surfaced from the fragments of Thomas previously found at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. For example, was Thomas actually written by Didymus Jude Thomas? If Thomas did not write it, then by whom was it written, and why did the actual author claim it to be written by Thomas?