Book Reviews

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 4 (2019) 217–227

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Book Reviews

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Peter Nagel, (2016) Codex apocryphus gnosticus Novi Testamenti. Band 1. Evangelien und Apostelgeschichten aus den Schriften von Nag Hammadi und verwandten Kodizes. Koptisch und deutsch. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament (WUNT) 326; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. p. 414. ISBN 978-3-16-1533433. $187.

In the volume under review, Peter Nagel presents a sourcebook of nine texts from the Coptic gnostic corpus (very broadly construed): Gospel of Mary (BG 1), Gospel of Truth (NHC I,3), Gospel of Thomas (NHC II,2), Gospel of Philip (NHC II,3), Gospel of Judas (TC 3), Acts of Peter (BG 4), Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles (NHC VI,1), and two excerpts from the Manichaean Psalm-Book (Chester Beatty Library, Coptic Manichaean Papyri Codex A), fea- turing the figures of Mary and the disciples, respectively. Nagel gives his own critical edition of each text together with a translation into German. Textual apparatus is provided, and he explains his editorial choices clearly and takes most available scholarly editions into account. Translations are annotated with references to both scriptural and extracanoni- cal Christian literature as well as brief remarks on questions of translation and interpretation. Thornier textual issues are handled in extended textual com- mentary concluding each “chapter.” Where additional fragments from other manuscripts survive (as with Gos. Mary, Gos. Truth, and Gos. Thom.) these are included in appendices, also with facing translation. As Nagel notes in the volume’s foreword, there is no shortage of translations of Coptic gnostic texts, whether in English or German (or, one might add, in French). Rather, the gap he seeks to close is that of Coptic New Testament Apocrypha which includes the original language of the sources op- posite the translation. With reference to earlier collections of New Testament Apocrypha (such as Hennecke/Schneemelcher) which are broken down by genre, Nagel brings together here gospels and acts. A second volume (yet un- published) will include apocalypses and letters (v–vi), as well as the so-called

Erscheinungsevangelien (also known as “gospel-dialogues” or “revelation- dialogues”).1 The ideal audience for this volume would then be New Testament scholars who wish to read some of the more famous Coptic Apocrypha with easy reference to a strong Coptic text, and especially leaders of Coptic reading groups in German-speaking Theology or Egyptology departments. The inclu- sion of Manichaean evidence, neglected by many readers of Nag Hammadi, is to be commended. However, Codex apocryphus gnosticus Novi Testamenti belongs on the shelf of all serious scholars of Coptic gnostic literature. Nagel is one of the last surviving “aces” from the pre-UNESCO stages of Nag Hammadi research, and belongs to the handful of scholars who have intensively studied both the Nag Hammadi and Medinet Madi (Manichaean) corpora, and his knowledge of Coptic, particularly the Lycopolitan (or if one prefers, Subachmimic) dia- lects, is nearly unparalleled. Nagel’s research has for decades closely engaged the texts collected in this volume; they are all famously difficult at turns, and we are lucky to now have Nagel as one of the voices we may turn to when we find ourselves grappling with the often-vexing issues of text and translation with which these ancient works confront us. In some cases—such as Gospel of Truth or Gospel of Thomas—standard critical editions from the Coptic Gnostic Library (CGL), while quite good, have aged considerably, especially in the absence of contributions from the Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi (BCNH).2 All around, then, new critical editions of these works from Nagel are to be welcomed.3 Nagel’s style and editorial approach in this volume may be sketched out in brief with reference to his treatment of Gospel of Truth. Nagel has always been an original scholar, and amongst his more distinctive theses is the 1966 hy- pothesis of a Syriac Vorlage for Gos. Truth.4 The Coptic constructions to which

1 A problematic text category. For a different approach (grouping these works with gospels), see recently Judith Hartenstein, “Dialogische Evangelien,” in Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung. I. Band: Evangelien und Verwandtes, edited by Christoph Markschies and Jens Schröter, with Andreas Heiser (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck), 1051–58. 2 Unfortunate, however, is Nagel’s omission of Lundhaug’s recent treatment of Gospel of Philip—Images of Rebirth. Cognitive Poetics and Transformational Soteriology in the Gospel of Philip and the Exegesis on the Soul (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 73; Leiden: Brill, 2010). 3 The same could be said for Nagel’s translation, published elsewhere, of the Tripartite Tractate (NHC I,5)—a game-changer for those caught between CGL and BCNH, which ought to be better-known. See Peter Nagel, Der Tractatus Tripartitus aus Nag Hammadi Codex I (Codex Jung) (Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 1; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1998). 4 Nagel, “Die Herkunft des Evangelium Veritatis in sprachlicher Sicht,” Orientalische Literaturzeitung 61 (1966), 5–14.

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 4 (2019) 217–227