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1. Discovery and General Features Nag Hammadi (Arab. Najʿ Ḥammādı̄, near the site of the ancient town of Chenoboskion) is a town in Upper Egypt about 80 km. (50 mi.) northwest of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. In 1945 some Coptic MSS were discovered nearby, at the base of a boulder near the foot of a mountain called the Jabal al-Tarif. The corpus contains 12 codices, plus leaves from a 13th, with 52 tractates in all (including six doublets). The collection dates anywhere from early to late fourth century a.d. All the works were translated from earlier Greek versions. The Cop…

1. Term The term “Mandaean” is used for a Gnostic-type baptismal fellowship (Baptism) that existed on the eastern borders of Syria and Palestine in the first century a.d. and that is the only one of such representatives of the sync…

1. Religious Type and Features Manichaeanism, named after its founder, the Persian Mani (a.d. 216–76/77), is a Gnostic-type dualistic religion of redemption, though by its origin and in its manifestations it differs in many respects from Syrian and Egyptian Gnosis. It is (1) a religion founded by a historical personage, (2) a universal religion with a world mission, and (3) a book religion with a canon of sacred writings. Structurally, it involves a hierarchically ordered church, which it views as a means o…

1. Term, History, and Definition The Gk. noun gnōsis originally meant knowledge of things and objects that the knower could apprehend ¶ by understanding (nous) and reason (logos)—that is, rationally (Epistemology). Along with the basic epistemological sense a qualitatively new meaning developed from the first century b.c. that separated the object and act of knowledge from rational experience and transferred it to the religious level. “Gnosis” now came to mean knowledge of divine mysteries, this knowledge being reserved for a select circle and disclosed only to those who were identical with the object of imparted or revealed knowledge. Gnosis of this kind presupposes an original id…

[German Version] The 20 Psalms of Thomas constitute the last group of the Coptic Mani­chaean Psalm-book (Manichaeism). Their meter and strophic structure point to an East Aramaic original with a striking similarity to Mandaean hymns (Mandaeism). Most of the psalms were produced during the period of Mani’s ministry (240–276). Unlike the majority of the Manichaean psalms, these contain very few references to Jesus (Pss 12 and 16). Mani’s disciple Thomas is traditionally considered their author. The form of the superscription thōm may possibly go back to Aram. tāmā, “twin,” and would refer to Mani’s heavenly “consort” (Gk sýzygos). Peter Nagel Bibliography Ed.: A Manichaean Psalm-Book, ed. C.R. Allberry, vol. II, 1938, 203–227 (text & ET)…

[German Version] Tripartite Tractate, The (NHC I,5; TractTri), untitled Gnostic didactic treatise of Valentinian origin (Valentinianism). The text is divided into three thematic complexes: from the transcendent world through creation to human redemption or perdition. The Logos plays a characteristically central role both in creation (functionally replacing Sophia) and redemption. Its anthropology is developed in three stages. Peter Nagel Bibliography Ed.: H. Attridge & E. Pagels, Nag Hammadi Codex I (The Jung Codex), NHS 22f., 1985 E. Thomassen & L. Painchaud, Le traité trip…

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[German Version] (451, Upper Mesopotamia – 521, Batna/Sarug), prolific Syrian church author. Having become an ascetic at a young age, he officiated as episcopal visitor in Haura and was appointed bishop of Batna/Sarug in 518. He was initially a follower, though later an opponent of the School of Antioch (Antiochene theology) and professed a Christ…

[German Version] (Apr 2, 1861, Breslau – Mar 23, 1931, Göttingen), classical philologist and historian of religion who became a Privatdozent…