The Nag Hammadi Scriptures – The International Edition

Some books are destined to have a place of honor in one’s bookshelves; these are the books that are so important that they become the undying immortals among the books.

Books like Corpus Hermeticum, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres are the books that even transcend this immortality, and they are to be eternally treasured by our psyche.

Today, I add another such collection to my over populated bookshelves. After working, I went to Midvalley MPH today, and grabbed the only copy of the hardcover Nag Hammadi Scriptures – The International Edition. The book costs RM139.90, but I am using the RM80 MPH voucher given to me, so I only paid RM59.90.

This volume contains the translation of the gnostic papyrus codices found in Nag Hammadi, Upper Egypt, believed to be buried in the second half of the fourth century CE. The scholars behind this volume are those who need not to be introduced in the field of Gnosticism study. This edition of the Nag Hammadi Scriptures is edited by the famed coptologist Marvin Meyer, who is famous for his National Geographic edition of the Gospel of Judas, and he is also responsible for translating most of the texts in the book. Marvin Meyer and Elaine Pagels also provide a concise introduction of the Nag Hammadi scriptures.

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures contains a great range of gospels, treatises, wisdom literatures that fall into Valentinian, Sethian, Hermetic and various other schools, as well as those texts from other codices, like Gospel of Mary from Codex Berolinensis or the Gospel of Judas and the Book of Allogenes from Codex Tchacos.

There are two Gospel of Thomas in this volume, one is translated from Coptic and the other is from Greek. Other major gnostic texts include the Gospel of Truth, the Gospel of Philip, the Apocryphon of James, Thunder: the Perfect Mind (which is used in a Prada commercial) and others.

The translation is highly readable, that it is still beautifully inspiring and moving as it is intended to be in the fourth century. Footnotes are generously provided, and the Coptic page numbers are given as well. At the end of the book, one can find series of articles on Gnosticism written by various scholars of the field.

Though I suppose some would disagree, I think Codex Manichaicus Colonensis should be included as well, to give the readers a view on different varieties of Gnosticism. As for the Gospel of Judas in this edition, changes are made in the translation when compared to the first National Geographic edition of the gospel, yet the footnote still pointing to Socrates' daimon when refering to Judas, instead of an evil demon suggested by April Deconick.

It is not exaggerating to say this is the definitive gnostic source book for decades to come. It would be ridiculous for anyone who is serious to explore Gnosticism or early Christianities not to own a copy of the book.