The Gnostic Path
From the heresiologists’ reports to the Gnostic voices themselves.
Gnosticism is known partly through its opponents and partly through recovered texts. This path begins with the classic surveys, reads the Gnostic writings themselves, and ends with the Gnostic thread in later esoteric thought.
Who This Path Is For
Readers drawn to the Gnostic myth of Sophia who want to meet the ancient sources before the modern interpretations.
The Syllabus
Introductory text
Mead and C. W. King assemble the evidence in readable form.
Foundational text
Sayings of Jesus with a mystical, inward emphasis.
Major development
The fall and repentance of Sophia, recounted by the risen Christ.
Hymns of the Gnosis
Mead’s “Echoes from the Gnosis”: the Hymn of the Robe of Glory and the Hymn of Jesus, Gnostic liturgy in its own voice.
The heresiologists’ view
Hippolytus preserves Gnostic systems while attacking them; read him critically, as a hostile witness.
Philosophumena, or The Refutation of All Heresies
Hippolytus
Optional related reading
The Hermetic Poimandres shares much with Gnostic cosmology.
