Original Authors: Various
Date Written: 2nd-3rd Century AD
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Description
The Nag Hammadi Library is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered in 1945, buried in a sealed clay jar near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi . Written in Coptic and compiled by fourth‑century Gnostic Christians , the codices preserve a diverse range of religious and philosophical works that illuminate alternative early Christian traditions, cosmologies, and spiritual teachings.
The library contains 45 separate tractates , including well‑known texts such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Apocryphon of John, the Gospel of Philip, the Hypostasis of the Archons, and even a Coptic excerpt from Plato’s Republic . These writings explore themes of divine knowledge (gnosis), the nature of the soul, cosmic origins, and the inner search for spiritual truth — “the immediate knowledge of spiritual truth” as defined in the collection’s description.
Together, the Nag Hammadi texts offer a rare window into early Christian diversity, preserving voices and ideas that were later deemed heterodox but remain essential for understanding the spiritual landscape of the first centuries CE.
Where to Find This Work
The Nag Hammadi Library
Credit: Gnostic Society Library (digital edition); translations by multiple scholars
Summary: The Gnostic Society Library provides an alphabetical index of all tractates in the Nag Hammadi Library, offering free access to multiple English translations of each text. The page includes:
Full English translations of every tractate
Multiple translation options for many texts, with translators listed beneath each title
Notes on manuscript condition, including ellipses marking damaged or missing sections
Information on Coptic variants, with asterisks indicating texts preserved in more than one version
Editorial notes explaining that translations have been lightly revised and formatted for online reading
Acknowledgments of major contributors, including scholars from the Coptic Gnostic Library Project
Direct links to every Nag Hammadi text in alphabetical order
This index is one of the most accessible ways to explore the Nag Hammadi Library online, providing a clear, organized entry point into the entire collection without needing a physical edition.
Publication Date: Ancient texts (4th‑century Coptic manuscripts); digital presentation (modern)
The Nag Hammadi Library
Credit: James M. Robinson (editor); Coptic Gnostic Library Project
Summary: This Internet Archive entry provides the 1988 revised English edition of The Nag Hammadi Library in English, originally published by Harper & Row .
Publication Date: Ancient texts (4th‑century Coptic manuscripts); English edition 1978; revised edition 1988
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