Episode Details

A common theory is that the Nag Hammadi Library, a collection of Gnostic texts, were an illegal stash of books hidden from Orthodox Christian authorities. But recent scholarship has called this theory into question. Were the Gnostic Gospels legal?

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Bibliography:

Mark Goodacre: https://www.academia.edu/26053912/How_reliable_is_the_story_of_the_Nag_Hammadi_discovery

Nicola Denzey Lewis and Justine Ariel Blount: https://www.academia.edu/8105963/_Rethinking_the_Origins_of_the_Nag_Hammadi_Library_

Brent Nongbri, "The Nag Hammadi Discovery Story," https://brentnongbri.com/2018/08/20/the-nag-hammadi-discovery-story/

Tony Burke, "What Do We Talk About When We Talk About the Nag Hammadi Library?" http://www.tonyburke.ca/wp-content/uploads/What-Do-We-Talk-About.pdf

Lundhaug and Jenott, The Monastic Origins of the Nag Hammadi Codices

Photo credits:

Amulet: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jasper_intaglio-_Harpocrates_seated_on_lotus_in_papyrus_boat_MET_DP280467.jpg

Coptic Magical Text: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coptic_magical_text_599v_apis.jpg

Book of the Dead: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Imhotep%27s_Book_of_the_Dead.jpg

Byzantine Amuletic Armband: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Byzantine_-_Amuletic_Armband_with_Holy_Rider,_Saints,_and_Magical_Symbols_-_Walters_542657.jpg

Codex II: http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/nha/id/1381

Codex V Interior: http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/nha/id/1997/rec/1

Gospel of Thomas manuscript: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:El_Evangelio_de_Tom%C3%A1s-Gospel_of_Thomas-_Codex_II_Manuscritos_de_Nag_Hammadi-The_Nag_Hammadi_manuscripts.png

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