Early Christianity

now numbered Codex I, was filled with similar texts, including
anApocryphon of Jamesand a Gospel of Truth.
When the whole of the Nag Hammadi library was reassem-
bled, the range of texts was astonishing: there were gospels
(including the famous Gospel of Thomas), apocalypses, prayers,
and books of secret wisdom. The scholarly world reeled (and post-
graduates were directed to learn Coptic). It was generally agreed
that the texts belonged to a library belonging to Christian heretics
called Gnostics, hitherto known largely through the writings of
early church writers who had condemned them. The texts revealed
very different traditions about Jesus and his followers. Where
once the story of orthodoxy and heresy had been studied largely
from the perspective of those orthodox authors whose writings
had survived, now it was possible to view the debate from the
other side. Nevertheless, there has been little agreement about
how the Nag Hammadi texts should be used. The purpose of this
case study is to present some of the potential vistas that they offer.
I will not devote much space to their theological content, however;
that is a topic best explored by reading the tracts themselves
together with the many fine discussions of them (see the works
listed in chapter 7).

Conspiracy theories

Awareness of the Nag Hammadi texts has been filtering into
mainstream popular culture since their first publication in English
translation in 1977 (Robinson 1988). Some perceptions of them
tend towards the idiosyncratic. The details of their discovery
implied that someone in antiquity had gathered them together and
hidden them. Their contents suggested that they were hidden
because what they contained was heretical and threatening. The
fact that their publication history was controversial and protracted
prompted suspicions that something sensational was being kept
secret. If we add these various factors together and stir in a dollop
of imagination, then we might reach the conclusion that some
sort of sinister conspiracy was at work that sought to keep the
Nag Hammadi library hidden from view.

ORTHODOXY AND ORGANIZATION IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY

1

2

3

4

5

61

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

1711

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

169 Folio