Gnosis and Elaine Pagel's works
Elaine Pagels and the neuro-politics of paradise
by Alex Burns (alex@disinfo.com) - January 07, 2001

In December 1945 a collection of fifty-two Gnostic Christian texts and codices was uncovered at the Egyptian town of Nag Hammád which has radically altered our perceptions of Judeo-Christianity. For many years, these documents were shrouded in mystery, until a group of scholars broke this silence to publicly release this material.

Scholar Elaine Hiesey Pagels had been part of an international team which published an English edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and was to become a key platyer in the religious studies publishing war that exposed the social construction of Salvation by institutionalized Christianity.

Her credentials were impeccable, and indicated what was to come: a B.A. from Stanford University in 1964; Ph.D from Harvard University's graduate religious studies program in 1970; recipient of the prestigious Rockefeller fellowship (1978), a Guggenheim fellowship (1979), and MacArthur Prize fellowship (1981). She is currently the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University.

Pagels had attracted academic interest for her books The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis (1973) and The Gnostic Paul (1975), but it was The Gnostic Gospels (1979) which catapulted her to public prominence (winning her the US National Book Critics Circle Award andthe US National Book Award), and which brought much of the Nag Hammadi material to the general public. Pagels provocatively contended that institutionalized Christianity had emerged from personality-driven cliques and petty infighting, and that Western history might have been radically different if Gnostic texts dating from 200 AD had been included in the Christian canon.

Although not a cohesive movement (Valentinus's sect is amongst the most famous), Gnostic Christian sects placed greater emphasis on personal direct experience of the Judeo-Christian God's revealed knowledge.Traditionalist scholars objected to Pagels' textual interpretations and feminine emphasis (Pagels'research should not be confused with the more recent feminist/consensus values publishing industry), but she had cross-referenced orthodox apologetic arguments against Valentinian texts. This in-depth research continued with Adam, Eve and the Serpent (1988), which examined how the primordial Creation myths have shaped our consciousness.

The 1987 death of her six-year old son, and 1988 death of husband Heinz Pagels (a famous quantum physicist and Chaos Theory icon) led Pagels to reflect on the construction of enemies and how humans cope with tragey and catastrophy. The Origin of Satan (1995) traced thecultural evolution of Satan from a Life After Death judgment figure to an innately evil archetypal force used to demonize heretics and segments of the Jewish community. There was abundent evidence that Satan was used as a scare-crow figure to get the deeply divided Christian community to cohere as a group in the face of manufactured external threats. Pagels' uncovering of anti-Semitism's theological roots and the memetic mutation of the Gospel of Love (Agape) into irrational hatred was again attacked by irrational traditionalists, but well received by a public who still remembered the shadowy specter of the Inquisition and genocidal Crusades.

Pagels' magisterial and witty writings reveal an important neo political lesson:

Salvation must be found from personally mediated truths.

Heed her call and remember. Always.
 

Other related works by Elaine & others:
Adam, Eve, And The Serpent
A dustcover summary of Elaine Pagel's book 'Adam, Eve, And The Serpent' (1988).

The Richmond Review: Book Review: The Origin Of Satan
'The Richmond Review' is an excellent literary magazine, and this book review by Francesco Spagnolo of Elaine Pagels' 'The Origin Of Satan' (1995) describes the scholar's provocative hypothesis about early Christianity.

Royce Carlton: Elaine Pagels
Royce Carlton, a leading keynote seminar speakers' agency, promotes Elaine Pagels. This web-site features a biographical data-file and bibliographical analysis of her work to date.
 
Princeton Prof Details Satan's Roots
This 'Yale Daily News' article (February 21st, 1997) reviews the 1997 Robert M. Cover lecture delivered by Elaine Pagels which exposes the theological roots of anti-Semitism.
 
NPR: Talk Of The Nation: Nature Of Evil
An episode of NPR's 'Talk of the Nation' (April 8th, 1999) radio program, featuring author Gitta Sereny and scholars Elaine Pagels and Robert Coles on whether evil is part of human evolution or simply a socio-cultural aberration. RealAudio.
 
Year In Review: 1995: Elaine Pagels
A detailed Elaine Pagels biographical data-file from 'Encyclopaedia Britannica' reveals how the impact of personal tragedies have impacted upon her ground-breaking scholarship.
 
Techgnosis
Erik Davis' landmark book 'Techgnosis: Myth, Magic + Mysticism In The Age Of Information' (Harmony Books, 1998) is a must-read tome revealing the primordial influence of Gnosticism upon the contemporary Digital Age. Features excerpts, reviews, and more.
 
The Eastern Way Of Death
This 'Salon' magazine article references the research of Elaine Pagels, Mary Catherine Bateson, Robert Aitken, and Nancy Wilson Ross on the sublime nature of Eastern approaches to death and dying.
 
Heinz Pagels: The Quick Buck Becomes Quicker
Heinz Pagels (1939-1988) was an esteemed quantum physicist and husband of Elaine Pagels. This brief biographical data-file also contains a chapter from 'The dreams of Reason: The Rise of the Computer and the Sciences of Complexity' (Simon and Schuster, 1988), regarded as one of the best introductory books on the subject.
 
Gnosis: A Journal Of The Western Inner Traditions
The archives for 'Gnosis', one of the best magazine explorations of Gnosticism, Western spiritual traditions, and contemporary religious controversy. Contains links to many articles and web-sites lateral to Elaine Pagels' research.
 
The Gnosis Archive
This vast web-site and document archive features unrivalled analysis of the 'Nag Hammadi' scriptures and Apocryphal literature, including commentaries by best-selling author Stephen A. Hoeller. A must-view site!
 
Disinformation Dossier On Howard Bloom
Check out the Disinformation dossier on Howard Bloom.
 
Disinformation Dossier On The Real Jesus
Check out the Disinformation dossier on The Real Jesus.
 
From Jesus To Christ: The First Christians
This vast PBS site created for the 'Frontline' series 'From Jesus To Christ: The First Christians' contains a wealth of information on how a small Jewish revolutionary sect evolved into the Christian church, including excerpts from Elaine Pagels' writings. Highly recommended!

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