Gnostic Gospels

Summary: "Elaine Pagels' 'Gnostic Gospels' was the first book to make the early Christian Gnostics come alive for modern readers, and it remains unsurpassed as a readable introduction to these heretics' ideas and scriptures. The Gnostics valued mystical experience above doctrinal fidelity, fashioned alternate creation myths and gospels that the early Roman church did their best to stamp out, and raised the feminine figure of ...Sophia (Wisdom) to a stature nearly equal with Christ's....Dr. Pagels excels at puzzling out [the Gnostic scriptures'] implications for our present understanding of Christianity." [read more]