"The book is made even more valuable by the inclusion of an extensive anthology of translated Mandaean texts, complete with notes. This collection of writings presents the spiritual world of Mandaeanism with fragments of mythical-theological texts and pages of ethical and historical meditations."--BOOK JACKET.

Valentinus, an Egyptian Christian who traveled to Rome to teach his unique brand of theology, and his followers, the Valentinians, formed one of the largest and most influential sects of Christianity in the second and third centuries. But by the fourth century, their writings had all but disappeared suddenly and mysteriously from the historical record, as the newly consolidated imperial Christian Church condemned as heretical all forms of what has come to be known as Gnosticism. Only in 1945 were their extensive original works finally rediscovered, and the resurrected “Gnostic Gospels” soon rooted themselves in both the scholarly and popular imagination. Valentinian Christianity: Texts and Translations brings together for the first time all the extant texts composed by Valentinus and his followers. With accessible introductions and fresh translations based on new transcriptions of the original Greek and Coptic manuscripts on facing pages, Geoffrey S. Smith provides an illuminating, balanced overview of Valentinian Christianity and its formative place in Christian history.

This book is the first comprehensive study of the doctrines and history of "Valentinianism," making full use of the documents from Nag Hammadi as well as the reports of the Church Fathers.

Contents Series Foreword / K. C. Hanson Foreword / K. C. Hanson Bibliography (1889Ð2005) Preface Introduction Part 1: Orthography and Phonetics I. Orthography II. Phonetics 1. Vowels 2. Consonants Part 2: Morphology I. Nouns 1. Pronouns 2. Nouns in the Strict Sense 3. Numbers as Words 4. Particles II. Verbs 1. The Inflection of Verbs 2. Verbs with Objective Suffixes Part 3: Syntax I. Parts of Speech 1. Nouns 2. Verbs II. Sentence 1. The Simple Sentence 2. Connection with Additional Sentences Table of Mandaean Characters

This study investigates the history of the traditions that coalesced around the name Philip in the New Testament and other early Christian literature. It proposes that all of this material ultimately owes its genesis to one historical and literary figure, Philip the apostle. This proposition is explored through a wide-ranging examination of the evidence: Luke's redactional employment of traditional materials about Philip the apostle in Acts 8:4-25 and 8:26-40, the evidence of the canonical Gospels, the second-century perspective on Philip as an apostolic authority figure invoked to legitimate various Christian practices, Philip's apostolic authority in "gnostic" documents for the transmission of the revelatory teaching of Jesus, and the Acts of Philip as a witness to the formation of Christian culture in the earliest centuries. While historical issues are considered where possible, the focus is on the life of the traditions and their reception.

In the web of cultural processes of late antiquity ablution rites and initiation rites were performed in different forms and in different contexts. Such rites existed in Early Judaism and Greco-Roman cults and were also applied in early Christianity under the label “baptism”, however, not as one fixed rite uniformly performed and interpreted. Baptismal rites developed diversely corresponding to the diversity among Christian groups of which some later came to be perceived as heretical. Remains of art, architecture and texts from these contexts were discussed in two conferences gathering scholars who are excellent within their respective fields: text studies, studies of rites, archaeology, architecture, history of art, and cultural anthropology. These different fields of research have in recent years generated new knowledge that is relevant for the discussion of ablution and initiation rites and their function in late antiquity. At the same time interests of research have altered in favour of a growing cooperation across discipline borders. The present volumes are the outcome of two conferences in Rome 2008 and at Metochi (Lesbos) 2009.