LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 109
Elohim ascends to the Good in "the highest part of heaven" and becomes
aware of "what eye has not seen or ear heard or what has not entered the
human heart."^5 With this awareness of the grandeur of the divine, Elohim
proposes that he destroy the world he made and take back his spirit impris-
oned among people there, but the Good does not allow it. Instead, Elohim
stays above, on high, and Edem, abandoned down below, brings all sorts of
evil upon the spirit of Elohim within people.
The lovers' quarrel between Elohim and Edem continues through human
history. Elohim sends the angel Baruch to "comfort the spirit living in all
people." Baruch tries to solicit the aid of Moses, the Hebrew prophets, and
even the prophet Herakles (Hercules), all in vain. Finally Elohim sends
Baruch to Nazareth, and he "found Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary, feeding
sheep, a boy of twelve, and he told him everything that had happened from
the beginning, from Edem and Elohim and all that will be. He said, 'All the
prophets before you were seduced, but Jesus, earthly son, try not to be se-
duced, and preach the word to people and tell them about the father and the
Good, and ascend to the Good and sit with Elohim, father of us all.'" The
story of the Book of Baruch concludes, according to the account in Hippoly-
tus, with allegorical interpretations that connect portions of the gnostic
story with Greco-Roman mythology.SETHIAN LITERATURE
The name Sethian denotes a body of gnostic texts and myths that give promi-
nence to Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve. Because a second divine entity,
often named Barbelo, the divine forethought and revealer, also figures in these
texts and myths, heresiologists nicknamed the gnostics who produced them
Barbeloites and Barbelognostics, designations still used by modern scholars.
Bentley Layton, as we noted in the general introduction to this volume, em-
phasizes that these religious figures called themselves gnostics, and he refers to
their writings as "classic gnostic scriptures." In the sacred texts included here,
the ancient authors refer to spiritually enlightened people like themselves as
"the unshakable race of perfect humankind" or "the offspring (or seed) of
Seth." Hence, for the sake of convenience we shall call these gnostics Sethians.
The Sethians understood themselves to be children of Adam and Eve,
through Seth. Adam and Eve were the first parents, through whom the divine
- See Gospel of Thomas 17.