LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 123
The next resource for Baruch is Jesus, whose entry is imperative for a gnos-
tic teacher intent on converting Christians and pagans as well as Jews. When
Jesus comes to earth, Naas brings out his usual tricks and applies them to
him. Jesus resists. After having seduced all the earlier prophets, Naas is furi-
ous not to have defiled Jesus, and so he has him crucified. Jesus leaves his
body to Edem by the tree (the Edenic tree and the cross) saying, "Woman,
here is your son" (John 19:26). He delivers his spirit into the hand of the fa-
ther (Luke 23:46). They all have failed, and even Jesus succeeds only in a lim-
ited way: he saves his own spirit, which is delivered, as in the gospels, to "the
father," but he does not save the world or resolve the strife in paradise. More-
over, while he delivers his spirit on earth to the father Elohim, Jesus ascends
(in his resurrection) not to the father but to the Good. He rises into what will
be the gnostic fullness. Jesus does not have the last word as a salvific figure. In
this episode there is a resemblance to the later Qur'an, where Jesus is one of
the prophets but not the ultimate savior.
So the task of overcoming Naas and his evil continues. Now, almost as an
explanatory afterthought (this concluding passage in Hippolytus is separated
from the main text by writings that are not in Baruch), the angel Baruch sends
down Priapos, the Greek phallic god of fertility, yet Naas persists. In a lovely
and confused resolution, we again hear the voice of the Psalms, the gospels,
and the Jewish prophets Isaiah and Hosea. Isaiah blames Israel (Edem) for not
recognizing Elohim, and we seem to be back, in some unreflected, uncor-
rected, and muddling way to both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament,
where Edem as both the earlier Eve in Eden and as Israel and the Jews does not
listen to lord Elohim. The final sermon ends with what at first appears to be an
excursion elsewhere but in fact fits in perfectly with its extraordinary panreli-
gious appeal: the Good is equated with Priapos, Elohim with Zeus, Edem with
Danae. This inconclusive ending is appropriate for a fabled book whose mes-
sage points to three moments of gnostic development: a Jewish past, an eclec-
tic present, and a fully gnostic future.
Justin speaks for his day. In his syncretistic system, he includes fantastic
borrowings from the main contemporary sources to persuade Jews, Chris-
tians, and Greeks to embrace this widely inclusive and developing gnostic
speculation. Everyone is welcome: Elohim, Edem, Moses, Baruch, Jesus, Pria-
pos, and Zeus. The Book of Baruch is thus a fusion of literary myths and reli-
gious systems of the first and second centuries, a coherent mythological
romance held together by the spirit of knowledge.