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The Epistle to Rheginos: A Valentinian Letter on the Resurrection
s/t: Introduction, Translation, Analysis & Exposition
Based on the author's dissertation at Yale.
Dr Peel offers a full commentary on the Epistle. He discusses its place in the Nag Hammadi Library, the nature of its eschatology & its authorship. He has also made a new translation, with an analysis of the argument of the Epistle with full exegetical & philological notes.
The didactic letter to Rheginos, aka the Treatise on the Resurrection, is the 4th text in the Jung Codex. In the New Testament a warning can be found against the gnostic Christians, who believed that their 'resurrection' had happened & was a spiritual reality (2Timothy 2:16ff). This gnostic idea about the possibility of becoming conscious of the eternal spiritual life was indeed expressed in the Treatise on the Resurrection & in a number of other writings from Nag Hammadi. It's no illusion. It's truth. It's more suitable to say, then, that the world is an illusion, rather than the resurrection which came into being thru our Lord & Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Based on the author's dissertation at Yale.
Dr Peel offers a full commentary on the Epistle. He discusses its place in the Nag Hammadi Library, the nature of its eschatology & its authorship. He has also made a new translation, with an analysis of the argument of the Epistle with full exegetical & philological notes.
The didactic letter to Rheginos, aka the Treatise on the Resurrection, is the 4th text in the Jung Codex. In the New Testament a warning can be found against the gnostic Christians, who believed that their 'resurrection' had happened & was a spiritual reality (2Timothy 2:16ff). This gnostic idea about the possibility of becoming conscious of the eternal spiritual life was indeed expressed in the Treatise on the Resurrection & in a number of other writings from Nag Hammadi. It's no illusion. It's truth. It's more suitable to say, then, that the world is an illusion, rather than the resurrection which came into being thru our Lord & Saviour, Jesus Christ.
223 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1969
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October 9, 2014
The topic of my undergraduate thesis at Grinnell College was the scholarly debate about the origins of gnosticism. At Union Theological Seminary I continued study of the topic, but now primarily in terms of reading the actual texts attributed to the gnostics or written by their patristic opponents.
Just as the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls led to a revolution in biblical scholarship, so the virtually simultaneous discovery of the Nag Hammadi "library" amounted to a great leap forward for the study of gnosticizing tendencies in and around the early church. Prior to that time most of what we knew was either from the criticism of church fathers or from very late texts. Unlike the Dead Sea mss., those from Nag Hammadi were not so tightly held. All are now available under one cover. Before this publication, however, the mss. obtained by the Jung Foundation, one of which was this Epistle, had been made available.
Just as the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls led to a revolution in biblical scholarship, so the virtually simultaneous discovery of the Nag Hammadi "library" amounted to a great leap forward for the study of gnosticizing tendencies in and around the early church. Prior to that time most of what we knew was either from the criticism of church fathers or from very late texts. Unlike the Dead Sea mss., those from Nag Hammadi were not so tightly held. All are now available under one cover. Before this publication, however, the mss. obtained by the Jung Foundation, one of which was this Epistle, had been made available.
Displaying 1 of 1 review