Jewish and Greek Heroines in the Nag Hammadi Library∗

CHAPITRE VII

JEWISH AND GREEK HEROINES IN THE NAG HAMMADI LIBRARY∗

1. Introduction

It is a well known fact that female ﬁgures play an important role in the Nag Hammadi texts. As one glances through the Library, it becomes apparent that the number of female ﬁgures who take on a dominant role in the various treatises is very high. Several writings are even focused on a female personage. Even more, some treatises were given the name of a female entity as their titles: Sophia Jesu Christi (NHC III,4 and BG 3), Bronte (NHC VI,2), Hypsiphrone (NHC XI,4), Protennoia (NHC XIII,1), to which we can add the Gospel of Mary of Berolinensis 8501,1.1 Other documents, devoted mainly to cosmogonic and anthropogonic arguments, do not miss the opportunity to provide the reader with brief stories concerning women: let us remember the Hypostasis of the Archons (NHC II,4), which paints Pistis Sophia’s, Orea’s and Zoe’s adventures; On the origins of the World (NHC II,5), with its sections on Pronoia, Psyche, Pistis and Sophia; the Dialogue of the Savior (NHC III,5), about Mariam; and the Paraphrase of Shem (NHC VII,1) which presents an account on Rebouel.

∗ Ce chapitre a été publié dans Images of the Feminine in Gnosticism (Studies in Antiquity and Christianity), K. King, ed., Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1988, pp. 71-90. Il est ici mis à jour. Nous remercions le Professeur Stephen Emmel et le Dr. Barbara Emmel de bien avoir voulu revoir le texte anglais. 1. Cf. in this volume my paper on “Titres au féminin dans la bibliothèque de Nag Hammadi,” pp. 127-153. 156 CHAPITRE VII

1.1. The novel The purpose of this paper is to examine two documents from the Nag Hammadi Library that could be ascribed to the literary genre of the novel. Their special feature is to tell the reader the Gnostic myth of the Soul, from her fall to her salvation, in a romanesque mode, leaving aside the complex philosophical and theological language otherwise typical of this kind of literature. The scope of these novels is to explain the doctrine of Gnosis in a quite simple but attractive manner, in order that the metaphors and images they use can be understood not only by philosophers and well read persons, but by the average public as well. Let us consider The Exegesis on the Soul (NHC II,6)2 and The Authoritative Teaching (NHC VI,3).3 In both of these writings, a female heroine is the key figure of the narration. We shall examine here how these Gnostic heroines are painted by their authors, trying to point out if they have been influenced by neighbouring literature in the composition of their personages. We shall also ask ourselves whether it is possible to discover, as part of the literary fiction, some features of the historical and social reality of women in the Gnostic communities of the second and the third centuries.

2. Heroines’ portraits in gnostic novels 2.1. Exegesis on the Soul (NHC II,6) Exegesis on the Soul is a novel4 based on the Gnostic myth of the fall of the soul (Psyche) into the world and her eventual return in the end to heaven.

2. Cf. M. Scopello, L’Exégèse de l’âme (Nag Hammadi II, 6): Introduction, traduction, commentaire (NHS 25), Leiden, 1985. See also my introduction to “The Exegesis on the Soul,” in The Nag Hammadi Library in English, edited by J.M. Robinson, San Francisco, 1988, pp. 190-192. I follow my translation when it differs from W.C. Robinson’s English translation (An Expository Treatise on the Soul) published in Nag Hammadi Codex II,2-7, edited by B. Layton, volume 2 (NHS 21), Leiden, 1989, pp. 135-169 (reprinted in The Coptic Gnostic Library. A Complete Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices, volume 2, Leiden, 2000). 3. Cf. L’Authentikos Logos. Texte établi et présenté par J.-É. Ménard (BCNH, Section “Textes” 2), Québec, 1977; cf. also the English translation, which I follow generally here, by G.W. MacRae, The Authoritative Teaching,inNag Hammadi Codices V,2-5 and VI with Papyrus Berolinensis 8502,1 and 4, edited by D.M. Parrott (NHS 11), Leiden, 1979, pp. 260-289 (reprinted in The Coptic Gnostic Library. A Complete Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices, volume 3, Leiden, 2000). 4. This tractate (NHC II,6) is ten pages long: 127,18-137,27.