518 The Nag Hammadi Library

-Full Gnostic Texts of the Nag Hammadi Library- ♻️Full Narration Done By ''Altrusian Grace Media'' Has Much Brilliant Work! Plz Check Him Out!🙏🏼👑✌🏼The Nag Hammadi library (also known as the "Chenoboskion Manuscripts" & the "Gnostic Gospels") is a collection of early Christian & Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. Thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by a local farmer named Muhammed al-Samman. The writings in these codices comprise 52 mostly Gnostic treatises, but they also include three works belonging to the Corpus Hermeticum & a partial translation/alteration of Plato's Republic. In his introduction to The Nag Hammadi Library in English, James Robinson suggests that these codices may have belonged to a nearby Pachomian monastery & were buried after Saint Athanasius condemned the use of non-canonical books in his Festal Letter of 367 A.D. The discovery of these texts significantly influenced modern scholarship's pursuit & knowledge of early Christianity & Gnosticism... The contents of the codices were written in the Coptic language. The best-known of these works is probably the Gospel of Thomas, of which the Nag Hammadi codices contain the only complete text. After the discovery, scholars recognized that fragments of these sayings attributed to Jesus appeared in manuscripts discovered at Oxyrhynchus in 1898, & matching quotations were recognized in other early Christian sources. The written text of the Gospel of Thomas is dated to the second century by most interpreters, but based on much earlier sources. The buried manuscripts date from the 3rd & 4th centuries. The Nag Hammadi codices are currently housed in the Coptic Museum in Cairo, Egypt.. Although the manuscripts discovered at Nag Hammadi are generally dated to the 4th century, there is some debate regarding the original composition of the texts. The Gospel of Thomas is held by most to be the earliest of the "gnostic" gospels composed. Scholars generally date the text to the early-mid 2nd century. The Gospel of Thomas, it is often claimed, has some gnostic elements but lacks the full gnostic cosmology. However, even the description of these elements as "gnostic" is based mainly upon the presupposition that the text as a whole is a "Gnostic" Gospel, & this idea itself is based upon little other than the fact that it was found along with gnostic texts at Nag Hammadi. Some scholars including Nicholas Perrin argue that Thomas is dependent on the Diatessaron, which was composed shortly after 172 by Tatian in Syria. Others contend for an earlier date, with a minority claiming a date of perhaps 50 AD, citing a relationship to the hypothetical Q document among other reasons. The Gospel of Truth & the teachings of the Pistis Sophia can be approximately dated to the early 2nd century as they were part of the original Valentinian school, though the gospel itself is 3rd century. Documents with a Sethian influence - like the Gospel of Judas, or outright Sethian like Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians. They can be dated substantially later than 40 & substantially earlier than 250; most scholars giving them a 2nd-century date. More conservative scholars using the traditional dating method would argue in these cases for the early 3rd century. But this is more debated, looking earlier as previous thought. Some Gnostic gospels for example Trimorphic Protennoia make use of fully developed Neoplatonism & thus need to be dated after Plotinus in the 3rd century... Scholars first became aware of the Nag Hammadi library in 1946. Making careful inquiries from 1947–1950, Jean Doresse discovered that a peasant dug up the texts from a graveyard in the desert, located near tombs from the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. In the 1970s, James Robinson sought out the peasant in question, identifying him as Muhammad ‘Ali al-Samman. Al-Samman told Robinson a complex story involving a blood feud, cannibalism, digging for fresh soil for agricultural use, and superstitions about a jinn. His mother claimed that she burned some of the manuscripts; Robinson identified these with Codex XII. Robinson gave multiple accounts of this interview, with the number of people present at the discovery ranging from two to eight. Jean Doresse's account contains none of these elements. Later scholarship has drawn attention to al-Samman's mention of a corpse & a "bed of charcoal" at the site, aspects of the story that were vehemently denied by al-Samman's brother. Burials of books were common in Egypt in the early centuries AD, but if the library was a funerary deposit it conflicts with Robinson's belief that the manuscripts were purposely hidden out of fear of persecution. The blood feud, however, is well attested by multiple sources. Slowly, most of the tracts came into the hands of Phokion J. Tanos, a Cypriot antiques dealer in Cairo, thereafter being retained by the Department of Antiquities, for fear that they would be sold out of the country. They are back in there Country of Origin.