What is the Nag Hammadi Library?
Nag Hammadi is a town in Egypt, about 70 miles north of Luxor. In 1945, two Egyptian brothers found a large urn near Nag Hammadi, filled with ancient papyri. The Nag Hammadi library is a collection of manuscripts written in Coptic Egyptian and believed to be 4th century copies of older documents. Most of the documents are indirectly related to early Christianity, though the content varies. None are considered inspired Scripture.
There are 52 separate texts, but several of the texts appear in more than one codex (book): The Apocryphon of John (Codexes 2, 3, and 4), The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit named The Gospel of the Egyptians (Codexes 3 and 4), The Gospel of Truth (Codexes 1 and 12), and On the Origin of the World (Codexes 2 and 13).
List of Books in the Nag Hammadi Library
- Codex I (also known as The Jung Codex):
- The Prayer of the Apostle Paul
- The Apocryphon of James (also known as the Secret Book of James)
- The Gospel of Truth
- The Treatise on the Resurrection
- The Tripartite Tractate
- Codex II:
- The Apocryphon of John
- The Gospel of Thomas
- The Gospel of Philip
- The Hypostasis of the Archons
- On the Origin of the World
- The Exegesis on the Soul
- The Book of Thomas the Contender
- Codex III:
- The Apocryphon of John
- Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit named The Gospel of the Egyptians
- Eugnostos the Blessed
- The Sophia of Jesus Christ
- The Dialogue of the Saviour
- Codex IV:
- The Apocryphon of John
- Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit named The Gospel of the Egyptians
- Codex V:
- Eugnostos the Blessed
- The Apocalypse of Paul
- The First Apocalypse of James
- The Second Apocalypse of James
- The Apocalypse of Adam
- Codex VI:
- The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles
- The Thunder, Perfect Mind
- Authoritative Teaching
- The Concept of Our Great Power
- Republic by Plato – The original is not gnostic, but the Nag Hammadi library version is heavily modified with then-current gnostic concepts.
- The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth – a Hermetic treatise
- The Prayer of Thanksgiving (with a hand-written note) – a Hermetic prayer
- Asclepius 21-29 – another Hermetic treatise
- Codex VII:
- The Paraphrase of Shem
- The Second Treatise of the Great Seth
- Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter
- The Teachings of Silvanus
- The Three Steles of Seth
- Codex VIII:
- Zostrianos
- The Letter of Peter to Philip
- Codex IX:
- Melchizedek
- The Thought of Norea
- The Testimony of Truth
- Codex X:
- Marsanes
- Codex XI:
- The Interpretation of Knowledge
- A Valentinian Exposition, On the Anointing, On Baptism (A and B) and On the Eucharist (A and B)
- Allogenes
- Hypsiphrone
- Codex XII:
- The Sentences of Sextus
- The Gospel of Truth
- Fragments
- Codex XIII:
- Trimorphic Protennoia
- On the Origin of the World
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