Beyond Belief

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Pagels, a writer thinker on religion history, winner of the National Book Award for The Gnostic Gospels, reflects on what matters most about spiritual religious exploration in the 21st century This book explores how Christianity began by tracing its earliest texts, including the Gospel of Thomas, rediscovered in Egypt in 1945 When her infant son was diagnosed with fatal pulmonary hypertension, Pagels spiritual intellectual quest took on a new urgency, leading her to explore historical archaeological sources to investigate what Jesus his teachings meant to his followers before the invention of Christianity The discovery of the Gospel of Thomas, along with than 50 other early Christian texts, some unknown since antiquity, offers clues She compares such sources as Thomas gospel which claims to give Jesus secret teaching finds its closest affinities with kabbalah with the canon to show how Christian leaders chose to include some gospels exclude others from the collection many call the New Testament To stabilize the emerging church in times of persecution, church fathers constructed the canon, creed hierarchy , in the process, suppressed many of its spiritual resources Drawing on new scholarship her own that of an international group of scholars that has come to light since the 79 publication of The Gnostic Gospels, she shows that what matters about Christianity involves much than any one set of beliefs Traditions embodied in Judaism Christianity can powerfully affect us in heart, mind spirit, inspire visions of a new society based on practising justice love, even heal transform us Provocative moving, Beyond Belief, the most personal of her books to date, shows how the impulse to seek god overflows the narrow banks of a single tradition She writes, What I have come to love in the wealth diversity of our religious traditions the communities that sustain them is that they offer the testimony of innumerable people to spiritual discovery, encouraging us, in Jesus words, to seek, you shall find From the feast of Agape to the Nicene CreedGospels in conflict John Thomas God s word or human words The canon of truth the triumph of JohnConstantine the Catholic Church AcknowledgementsNotesIndex Best Read Beyond Belief [ Author ] Elaine Pagels [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr Long ago but not so far way I bought this book for my father who was interested in reading the Gospel of Thomas I had read an apocryphal Gospel one day while a student, happily nosing around in the reference section it related how once when Jesus was a boy he was out playing in the street when some bigger boys came along, stamped on his mud pie and laughed at him Jesus eyes at this flashed with anger and those bully boys fell dead Later their parents went round to Joseph and Mary and compl Long ago but not so far way I bought this book for my father who was interested in reading the Gospel of Thomas I had read an apocryphal Gospel one day while a student, happily nosing around in the reference section it related how once when Jesus was a boy he was out playing in the street when some bigger boys came along, stamped on his mud pie and laughed at him Jesus eyes at this flashed with anger and those bully boys fell dead Later their parents went round to Joseph and Mary and complained bitterly about Jesus behaviour Joseph and Mary gave Jesus a good talking to, after which he raised the boys from the dead and restored them to life For various reasons I m a cautious and wary person, and so was unkeen, unfamiliar as I was with the ...Pagels is a recognized scholar of religion, and the author of The Gnostic Gospels, among others This book might be her best.Don t buy this expecting a dull, scholarly exposition on the Gospel of Thomas It s hardly that It s sort of an unobtrusive evangelism for unorthodox Christianity, a plea for the kind of religious truth that can never hide behind a stale set of doctrine.Pagels bares her soul in this book, and her passion for spirituality, religion and Christianity shines The result is Pagels is a recognized scholar of religion, and the author of The Gnostic Gospels, among others This book might be her best.Don t buy this expecting a dull, scholarly exp...I used this for my MA thesis It s very smoothly and interestingly written engaging, really and contains a great deal of interesting information on the foundations of Christianity and, especially, how early church leaders strove to overpower one another and promote their own view of Jesus Focus on is the lost Gospel of Thomas, part of the Nag Hamadi library theory is that church leaders who came to power tried ...Elaine is wonderful and I began enjoying her work as a student I think her book on the Gnostic Gospels in general is intelligent and accessible yet this particular work though I stand by my 5 star rating is, at times, redundant This is an endlessly fascinating subject for me and I tru...Pagels is a well know Gnostic writer and this book is one of her better ones A nice study of a Gospel not found in the BibleDuring my studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York I became acquainted with Elaine Pagels, initially on a social level as one of my girlfriend s favorite teachers at Barnard College, then as my own teacher for a course entitled Creation Myths in Genesis at Union I wasn t much interested in the ...The book compares the outlook of the apostle Thomas with the writings that became the book of John His outlook is that God is within all of us and Jesus told us to find the way to heaven Even that all people have the spirit of God within us and need to come to Gnosis a mutual knowing or understanding of one another with God through meditation, introspection and study My main complaint is that very little of the book actually discusses what Thomas teachings are Mostly, the book focuses on The book compares the outlook of the apostle Thomas with the writings that became the book of John His outlook is that God is within all of us and Jesus told us to find the way to heaven Even that all people have the spirit of God within us and need to come to Gnosis a mutual knowing or understanding of one another with God through meditation, introspection and study My main complaint is that very little of the book actually discusses what Thomas teachings are Mostly, the book focuses on how his teachings were repressed in favor of John in the creating of the canon of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John First Pagels focuses on Irenaeus who pushes for a four formed canon in the 2nd century, then she focuses a large part of the book on Roman Emporer Constantinus conversion and acceptance of Christianity, his patronage, and his organization of bishops to create the Nicene Crede, ...While I enjoyed Beyond Belief , both the content and Dr Pagels s writing style, I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of analysis of the Gospel of Thomas Dr Pagels presents decent analysis of the Gnostic movement, and places the Gospel of John within the Gnostic context, yet fails to deliver much on the Gospel of Thomas I enjoyed her personal story and how she believes that there ist...Beyond Belief has been a formative book for me This is the third time I ve read it In a nutshell, the New Testament is the end result of a protracted and often bitter media war Two thousand years ago those arguing for one belief over another used the same techniques of persuasion that we see today Case in point Only is the Gospel of John is there a character named Doubting Thomas Johannine Christians believed very different things than their contemporaries and rivals, the Thomas Christia Beyond Belief has been a formative book for me This is the third time I ve read it In a nutshell, the New Testament is the end result of a protracted and often bitter media war Two thousand years ago those arguing for one belief over another us...To be blunt, this was far and away the worst book I ve yet read and I ve read quite a few on early Christianity Pagels does everything in her power to portray St Irenaeus of Lyons, St Athanasius of Alexandria, and the other great Church Fathers in as bad a light as possible, even lying, twisting the truth, and covering up facts At the same time she slanders the Fathers of the Church, she equally attempts to redeem the Gnostics, portraying them as spiritual seekers and innocent victims of To be blunt, this was far and away the worst book I ve yet read and I ve read quite a few on early Christianity Pagels does everything in her...

Beyond Belief
  • English
  • 03 February 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 272 pages
  • 0375501568
  • Elaine Pagels
  • Beyond Belief