The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters
by Elaine H. Pagels

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Book Reviews of The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters

Book Review: Not as good as her Gnostic Gospels
Summary: 4 Stars

Paul's comments that he needs to visit the Christian churches in order to explain things further is taken as evidence that "true" Gnostic teaching has to be passed on orally and cannot be written down.

The book goes through each letter written by Paul, interpreting it in Gnostic terms. For example the Letter to the Romans is about Gnostics obeying the "law" of the Christian church (where non-Gnostic Christian equals Jew in the letter).

While this line of interpretation is interesting in understanding how the Gnostics read Paul, it doesn't seem particularly convincing. The format of interpreting each letter by Paul leads to a fair amount of repetition in terms of explaining the doctrinal principles, while at the same time never dealing once and for all with any one doctrine.

This is a disappointing book from the author of The Gnostic Gospels (which is a fantastic book). It would have been better if the format of the former book was maintained, with each chapter explaining how the Gnostics read Paul for one particular doctrine, with evidence taken from the different letters to reinforce the detail of the doctrinal belief. Perhaps this combination of evidence would have made the Gnostic position more believable.

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