This ancient Gnostic text can be a companion for your own spiritual quest

The Secret Book of John is the most significant and influential text of the ancient Gnostic religion. Part of the library of books found in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945, this central myth of Gnosticism tells the story of how God fell from perfect Oneness to imprisonment in the material world, and how by knowing our divine nature and our divine origins that we are one with God we reverse God s descent and find our salvation.

"The Secret Book of John: The Gnostic Gospel Annotated & Explained decodes the principal themes, historical foundation, and spiritual contexts of this challenging yet fundamental Gnostic teaching. Drawing connections to Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, kabbalistic Judaism, and Sufism, Davies focuses on the mythology and psychology of the Gnostic religious quest. He illuminates the Gnostics ardent call for self-awareness and introspection, and the empowering message that divine wholeness will be restored not by worshiping false gods in an illusory material world but by our recognition of the inherent divinity within ourselves.

Now you can experience and understand this foundational teaching even if you have no previous knowledge of Gnosticism. This SkyLight Illuminations edition presents the most important and valued book in Gnostic religion with insightful yet unobtrusive commentary. It provides deeper insight into the understanding that in Gnosticism the distinction between savior and saved ceases to exist you must save yourself and in doing so save God.

The Gospel of Thomas sheds new light on the origins of Christianity and portrays Jesus as a wisdom-loving sage. This collection of aphoristic sayings portrays the kingdom of God as a present fact about the world, rather than a future promise or future threat.

Through facing-page commentary this edition focuses on the meaning of the sayings as those teachings were preserved by an ancient source outside of the canonical New Testament, and brings to life the challenging and intriguing figure of Jesus in a new light. Now readers can approach this important spiritual text with no previous background knowledge in Christian history or thought.

Discovered in Egypt in 1945 as part of the Nag Hammadi Library, the Gospel of Thomas was long considered irrelevant to the study of Jesus' teachings. Stevan Davies' influential The Gospel of Thomas and Christian Wisdom overturned this view, and enabled the Gospel of Thomas to be taken seriously as a source for the earliest Christianity. This Bardic Press edition brings a classic work of accessible scholarshp back into print. A entirely new forty page introduction discusses recent developments in scholarship, looks at Thomas' independence from the New Testament gospels, discusses the role of Mary Magdalene in the Gospel Thomas, and offers a variety of valuable insights. A fascinating additional essay speculates that Thomas may have been used as an oracle text in a similar way to the I Ching.

The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles were among the most popular extracanonical writings of the second century. The Acts of John, Peter, Paul, Andrew, Thomas and Xanthippe tell stories of the legendary wanderings, preaching and miracles of the apostles. Besides talking beasts, extravagant healings and moral discourses, the Apocryphal Acts reserve an important place for stories about women. Each of the Acts describes a woman who converts to Christianity, leaves her husband for the sake of the church and then lives in sexual abstinence. Davies argues that such women were known as "'Widows', a group which could at times include both wid ows and virgins; widows were sexually continent, often dependent upon the church for financial support, often of advanced age, expected to pray constantly, and resolved to remain faithful to Christ. Such a group of women would have had a collective identity, even a semi-clerical status." He shows that these texts featured sexually continent Christian women in their narratives and they they are likely to have been authored by Christian women. By analyzing the social world behind the apocryphal Acts, Davies reveals the way in which Christian women in early centuries sometimes sought to have equal standing with men by rejecting their traditional roles as wives and mothers. In addition to surveying the roles of women in ancient Christianity.Revolt of the Widows emphasizes the magical world view that dominated in ancient times both among Christians and pagans, In an extensive new afterword Davies tackles the canonical Acts of the Apostles and provides convincing evidence that the author-traditionally identified as Luke-was a woman, a "mother of the church." "opens up whole new vistas on the self-understanding of women in the early church." - Carolyn Osiek, Catholic Biblical Quarterly "provocative . . . deserves to be taken seriously as another attempt, in turn, to take seriously those voices which have been muted by an aristocratic scholarly establishment for these many centuries." - Devon Wiens, Journal of Biblical Literature "Davies perceptively notes how the apocryphal Acts represent males as ethically dangerous, liable to temptation, and confused about their faith-the very tendencies most patristic writers ascribed to women." Elizabeth Clark, Church History

This introductory text takes a secular approach to New Testament study. The book begins with a discussion of the differences between analytical and traditional church approaches. It maintains that students can learn to work with both and not feel that they must sacrifice one for the other. Davies does not presuppose students' knowledge of biblical text or points of view, and he carefully explains topics such as how New Testament authors selected, edited and embellished sources to address concerns raised by their various communities. His clear and concise style enables students time to read both the book and the biblical text in depth.