Elaine Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University and the author of Reading Judas, The Gnostic Gospels—winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award—and the New York Times bestseller Beyond Belief. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
“Pagels has accomplished a very rare thing, an examination of early
religious writings that is a good read, accessible, and at times
even dramatic and poignant.” —The Columbus Dispatch
“This remarkable book will stir and provoke thought. It offers
rewards to any reader concerned with the promise and power of
faith, and the hunger for spiritual discovery.” —The Christian
Science Monitor
“Lucid . . . a spiritual as well as an intellectual exercise. . . .
[Pagels] seems to rejoice that in the earliest years of
Christianity there existed these strange, dissident doctrines.”
—Frank Kermode, The New York Times Book Review
"With the winning combination of sound scholarship, deep insight
and a crystal clear prose style . . . [Beyond Belief] portrays the
rich and beautiful heritage that was lost when champions of
religious orthodoxy turned on many of their fellow Christians and
declared them 'heretics'." —Los Angeles Times
“Brilliantly lucid, elegantly written . . . [Pagels’] book is so
readable you can’t put it down.” — Providence Journal-Bulletin
“Just as topical today as it was nearly two thousand years ago. . .
. Pagels is great at pulling together the details that allow us to
understand not only what people were arguing about but why.” –San
Jose Mercury News
“Majestic. . . . Exhilarating reading, Pagel’s book offers a model
of careful and thoughtful scholarship in the lively and exciting
prose of a mystery writer.” –Publishers Weekly
“This luminous and accessible history of early Christian thought
offers profound and crucial insights on the nature of God,
revelation, and what we mean by religious truth.” –Karen
Armstong
“As relevant as today's front page.” –The Washington Post Book
World
"Pagels has accomplished a very rare thing, an examination of early
religious writings that is a good read, accessible, and at times
even dramatic and poignant." -The Columbus Dispatch
"This remarkable book will stir and provoke thought. It offers
rewards to any reader concerned with the promise and power of
faith, and the hunger for spiritual discovery." -The Christian
Science Monitor
"Lucid . . . a spiritual as well as an intellectual exercise. . . .
[Pagels] seems to rejoice that in the earliest years of
Christianity there existed these strange, dissident doctrines."
-Frank Kermode, The New York Times Book Review
"With the winning combination of sound scholarship, deep
insight and a crystal clear prose style . . . [Beyond
Belief] portrays the rich and beautiful heritage that was lost
when champions of religious orthodoxy turned on many of their
fellow Christians and declared them 'heretics'." -Los Angeles
Times
"Brilliantly lucid, elegantly written . . . [Pagels'] book is so
readable you can't put it down." - Providence
Journal-Bulletin
"Just as topical today as it was nearly two thousand years ago. . .
. Pagels is great at pulling together the details that allow us to
understand not only what people were arguing about but why."
-San Jose Mercury News
"Majestic. . . . Exhilarating reading, Pagel's book offers a model
of careful and thoughtful scholarship in the lively and exciting
prose of a mystery writer." -Publishers Weekly
"This luminous and accessible history of early Christian thought
offers profound and crucial insights on the nature of God,
revelation, and what we mean by religious truth." -Karen
Armstong
"As relevant as today's front page." -The Washington Post Book
World
In this majestic new book, Pagels (The Gnostic Gospels) ranges panoramically over the history of early Christianity, demonstrating the religion's initial tremendous diversity and its narrowing to include only certain texts supporting certain beliefs. At the center of her book is the conflict between the gospels of John and Thomas. Reading these gospels closely, she shows that Thomas offered readers a message of spiritual enlightenment. Rather than promoting Jesus as the only light of the world, Thomas taught individuals that "there is a light within each person, and it lights up the whole universe. If it does not shine, there is darkness." As she eloquently and provocatively argues, the author of John wrote his gospel as a refutation of Thomas, portraying the disciple Thomas as a fool when he doubts Jesus, and Jesus as the only true light of the world. Pagels goes on to demonstrate that the early Christian writer Irenaeus promoted John as the true gospel while he excluded Thomas, and a host of other early gospels, from the list of those texts that he considered authoritative. His list became the basis for the New Testament canon when it was fixed in 357. Pagels suggests that we recover Thomas as a way of embracing the glorious diversity of religious tradition. As she elegantly contends, religion is not merely an assent to a set of beliefs, but a rich, multifaceted fabric of teachings and experiences that connect us with the divine. Exhilarating reading, Pagels's book offers a model of careful and thoughtful scholarship in the lively and exciting prose of a good mystery writer. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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