Book – PDF The Gnostic Bible - Willis Barnstone, Marvin Meyer

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Gnosticism was a wide-ranging religious movement of the first millennium CE—with earlier antecedents and later flourishings—whose adherents sought salvation through knowledge and personal religious experience. Gnostic writings offer striking perspectives on both early Christian and non-Christian thought. For example, some gnostic texts suggest that god should be celebrated as both mother and father, and that self-knowledge is the supreme path to the divine. Only in the past fifty years has it become clear how far the gnostic influence spread in ancient and medieval religions—and what a marvelous body of scriptures it produced.

The selections gathered here, in poetic, readable translation, represent Jewish, Christian, Hermetic, Mandaean, Manichaean, Islamic, and Cathar expressions of gnostic spirituality. Their regions of origin include Egypt, the Greco-Roman world, the Middle East, Syria, Iraq, China, and France. Also included are introductions, notes, an extensive glossary, and a wealth of suggestions for further reading.

 

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Adam's Deliverance - A Mandaean Hymn​

In the name of the Great Life
the sublime Light be glorified.

From the Place of Light I have come forth,
from you, everlasting dwelling-place
From the Place of Light I have come forth,
and an uthra from the House of Life accompanied me.

The uthra who accompanied me from the House of the Great Life
held a staff of living water in his hand.

The staff which he held in his hand
was completely full of leaves.

He gave me its branches,
of which the ritual books and prayers were full.

Then he gave me more of them,
and then my suffering heart was healed.

My suffering heart was healed
and my world-shy soul found peace.​

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Ok, but please do not share such tidbits in the Book Share section, on-topic as they may be, a simple "Thank you!" is enough. We try to keep this section clean from lengthy personal remarks because it's a little bit like scribbling in the margins of a real library book and may result in an official Warning for a Library Rule violation.

 

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Thank you, I am looking to buy this book so this is a perfect preview of the contents.