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The Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia As Handbooks to Eternity Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies

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The Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia As Handbooks to Eternity Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies The Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia as Handbooks to Eternity Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies Editors Johannes van Oort Einar Thomassen Editorial Board j.d. beduhn – a.d. deconick – w.-p. funk i. gardner – s.n.c. lieu – a. marjanen p. nagel – l. painchaud – b.a. pearson n.a. pedersen – s.g. richter – j.m. robinson m. scopello – j.d. turner – g. wurst volume 89 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nhms The Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia as Handbooks to Eternity Exploring the Gnostic Mysteries of the Ineffable By Erin Evans leiden | boston Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Evans, Erin, author. The Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia as handbooks to eternity : exploring the gnostic mysteries of the ineffable / by Erin Evans. pages cm – (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies ; volume 89) ISBN 978-90-04-28446-3 (hardback : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-90-04-30119-1 (e-book) 1. Books of Jeu. 2. Pistis Sophia. 3. Gnosticism. I. Title. II. Series: Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies ; v. 89. BT1390.E935 2015 299'.932–dc23 2015021716 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 0929-2470 isbn 978-90-04-28446-3 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-30119-1 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. Brill has made all reasonable efforts to trace all rights holders to any copyrighted material used in this work. In cases where these efforts have not been successful the publisher welcomes communications from copyright holders, so that the appropriate acknowledgements can be made in future editions, and to settle other permission matters. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Contents List of Tables and Figures ix Abbreviations x Introduction 1 1 What is “Gnostic?” 1 2 Who are the “Jeuians?” 2 3 What are the Jeuian Texts? 4 4 About This Book 9 part 1 Baptism & Ascent Guides 1 The First Book of Jeu 15 1 Introduction to the Text 15 2 Cosmology 17 3 Interaction with Outside Systems 23 4 Key Concepts 33 5 Summary 36 2 The Second Book of Jeu 38 1 Introduction to the Text 38 2 Cosmology 39 3 Interaction with Outside Systems 51 4 Key Concepts 62 5 Summary 70 3 Diagrams in the Books of Jeu 73 1 Religious and Magical Use of Seals, Diagrams and Images 74 2 Diagrams in the Books of Jeu 81 3 Conclusions 93 4 4 Pistis Sophia (a) 95 1 Introduction to the Text 95 2 Cosmology 96 3 Interaction with Outside Systems 105 4 Key Concepts 127 5 Summary 133 vi contents Part 1: Summary 135 part 2 Punishments & Moral Living 5 4 Pistis Sophia (b) 141 1 Introduction to the Text 141 2 Cosmology 142 3 Interaction with Outside Systems 149 4 Key Concepts 151 5 Summary 152 6 3 Pistis Sophia 154 1 Introduction to the Text 154 2 Cosmology 156 3 Interaction with Outside Systems 167 4 Key Concepts 177 5 Summary 182 Part 2: Summary 185 part 3 Introductory Texts & Myths 7 1/2 Pistis Sophia 191 1 Introduction to the Text 191 2 Cosmology 193 3 Interaction with Outside Systems 213 4 Key Concepts 221 5 Summary 231 8 The Pistis Sophia Myth 233 1 The Fall and Restoration of Pistis Sophia: The Story 235 2 The Fall and Restoration of Pistis Sophia and the Apocryphon of John 237 3 Mythic Cosmology and Sethian Polemic 241 4 Other Observations on the Pistis Sophia Myth 246 5 An Earlier, Non-Sophia Jeuian Redemption Myth? 252 6 Summary 255 contents vii Part 3: Summary 257 Conclusions 260 1 Religio-Cultural Factors 260 2 Organization of the Texts 262 3 Jeuian Teaching, Life, and Practice 264 Appendix 1: The Jeuian System: Cosmologies 267 Appendix 2: Ranks of the Treasury of Light (2 Jeu b32(70),4–b37(75),32): Full List 270 Bibliography 271 Index 282 List of Tables and Figures Tables 2.1 Ranks of the Treasury of Light 42 4.1 Positions of Jupiter and Venus in the destruction of the ranks of the ⲙⲏⲧⲉ 109 7.1 Knowledge of the mystery of the Ineffable (2ps 95[220–226]) 196 7.2 Interpretations of Ps. 85:10–11 relating to Jesus 227 Figures 1.1 “Jeu” diagram outline (Jeu 12) 19 1.2 Sample page from 1 Jeu 20 1.3 Guardians over the Sixth Gate in the Papyrus of Ani 25 1.4 Comparison of afterlife realm maps 26 1.5 The fixed circles of the sky 29 3.1 Magic gems with characters 76 3.2 Sample characters 77 3.3 Comparison of gems and figures from the Books of Jeu 78 3.4 Sample of restorations of the Ophite diagram 79 3.5 Types of Jeu 83 3.6 Characters of the treasury rulers 85 3.7 Treasury seals and their names 87 3.8 Aeon seals and their names 89 3.9 Baptism seals 92 7.1 Possible representation of the spaces of the First Mystery/Ineffable/ inheritances 200 Abbreviations 1 En 1Enoch (Ethiopic Apocalypse) 1 Jeu The First Book of Jeu 1ps Pistis Sophia, Book One 2 En 2Enoch (Slavonic Apocalypse) 2 Jeu The Second Book of Jeu 2ps Pistis Sophia, Book Two 3 En 3Enoch (Hebrew Apocalypse) 3ps Pistis Sophia, Book Three 4psa Pistis Sophia, Book Four (Part One) 4psb Pistis Sophia, Book Four (Part Two) AdvHaer Adversus haereses Allogenes Allogenes ApJohn The Apocryphon of John Cels Contra Celsum GosEg The Gospel of the Egyptians GosJud The Gospel of Judas GosPhil The Gospel of Philip GosThom The Gospel of Thomas HypArch The Hypostasis of the Archons Keph The Kephalaia of the Teacher Marsanes Marsanes Meta Metamorphoses OrigWorld On the Origin of the World Pan Panarion pg Patrologia Graeca pgm Papyri Graecae Magicae StelesSeth The Three Steles of Seth TrimProt The Trimorphic Protennoia TriTrac The Tripartate Tractate Zost Zostrianos Introduction The Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia are Coptic Gnostic texts that were brought to the West over 200 years ago. In this time, relatively little scholarly attention has been given to them, particularly in comparison to the scholarship surrounding the texts of the Nag Hammadi library, discovered less than a century ago. Although these texts are largely recognized as closely related to one another, they have received only cursory discussion—primarily relating to the Pistis Sophia alone, or very brief overviews skimming the contents of both—and there have not been any systematic treatments of their whole contents or context since the discovery at Nag Hammadi. This book will fill this gap in scholarship. It presents the case that the Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia are representative texts from a distinct Christian Gnostic group or community. Analyzing each text in turn, it will show that although each work has distinctive attributes, demonstrating development of ideas and reflecting a changing cultural environment over time, this body of texts does in fact present a relatively consistent system of cosmology, theology, and ritual practice. It examines the wide variety of syncretistic elements woven into the system, and paints the picture of a group working to gain followers in a competitive religious environment. 1 What is “Gnostic?” This book refers to the texts in question as Gnostic. This is a contentious term; many books and articles have been written about what “Gnosticism” might be, or what constitutes a Gnostic group or ideology.1 Despite the wide variety in opinions on what it means for a text to be Gnostic, however, on the occasions they are cited, the Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia have been universally called 1 For a limited sample of recent contributions, see M. Williams, Rethinking “Gnosticism”: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996); K. King, What is Gnosticism? (Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003); C. Markschies, Gnosis: An Introduction, J. Bowden, trans., (London: t&t Clark, Ltd., 2003); B.A. Pearson, Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions and Literature (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007); A.H.B. Logan, The Gnostics: Identifying an Early Christian Cult (London: t&t Clark, 2006); D. Brakke, The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity (Cam- bridge, ma: Harvard University Press, 2010). © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi: 10.1163/9789004301191_002 2 introduction Gnostic—in non-specialist works, in older scholarship preceding the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts, and in more recent works since the modern debate about Gnosticism really began. This shows that despite the wide variety of thoughts on how the term Gnostic should be defined, somehow scholars have always determined that these texts in particular fall into this category! Defining the term anew is not the goal of the present work, but it will be help- ful to establish what it means as it is used here.
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