Table of Contents

Preface





1 The “Gnostics” of the Heresiologists


 The Pre-history of Valentinianism According to Irenaeus


 The Valentinians’ “Gnostic” Predecessors


 Irenaeus’ “Gnostics” and the Later Heresiological Tradition





2 The Gnostic Treatise of Iren. Haer. 1.30


 The Protology


 The Separation of Sophia Prounikos


 Sophia’s Body


 Sophia’s Son and His Offspring


 The Boast, the Rebuke, and the Creation of the Human


 The Creation of the Woman and the Eating from the Tree


 The Expulsion from the Garden


 Adam, Eve, and Their Family after Their Expulsion


 The Flood, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the Prophets


 The Birth of Jesus and the Sending of Christ


 The Failure of the Disciples to Understand Who Jesus Was


 The Redemption of the Sprinkling of Light





3 The Gnostic Treatise of Haer. 1.29


 The Father and Barbelo


 The Birth of Christ, the Light


 The Generation of Autogenes and His Four Attendant Luminaries


 The Generation of Adamas


 Sophia Gives Birth to the Archon


 The Archon Creates the Heavens and Makes an Arrogant Boast





4 Trajectories in the Early History of Gnostic Ideas


 Relative Chronologies


 Gnostics and Sethians


 Origins





5 Valentinus, Valentinianism and the Gnostics


 Sophia and Christ


 The Primordial Anthropos


 Valentinian Innovations




Bibliography


Index

About the Author

Einar Thomassen, PhD (St Andrews 1983) was Professor of Religion at the University of Bergen until his retirement in 2021. He has published extensively on Valentinianism, including The Spiritual Seed (Brill, 2006), as well as on more general topics in the study of religion.