Beyond Gnosticism: Myth, Lifestyle, and Society in the School of Valentinus

Ismo O. Dunderberg

April, 2008
Cloth, 336 pages, 0 halftones, 0 color illus., 0 line drawings, 2 tables
ISBN: 978-0-231-14172-7
$50.00 / £29.50

List of Tables

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The School of Valentinus After Gnosticism

Part 1. Myth, Lifestyle, and the World in the Fragments of Valentinus

2. Immortality as a Way of Life

3. Adam’s Frank Speech

4. Cosmic Sympathy and the Origin of Evil

Part 2. Valentinian Cosmogony, Lifestyle, and Other Christians

5. Myth and Lifestyle for Beginners

6. Myth and the Therapy of Emotions

7. The Creator-God and the Cosmos

8. Walk Like a Valentinian

9. Two Classes of Christians in Practice

Part 3. Myth, Society, and Non-Christians

10. Myth, Society, and the Oppressed Church

11. Myth and Ethnic Boundaries

Conclusion

12. Valentinian Secretiveness Reconsidered

Appendix: Remarks on the Sources of Irenaeus’s and Hippolytus’s Accounts of Valentinian Theology

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Index of Ancient Sources

General Index

Related Subjects

• Christianity

About the Author

Ismo Dunderberg is professor of New Testament at the Department of Biblical Studies, University of Helsinki. An expert in the Gospel of John, second-century early Christianity, and the Nag Hammadi Library, his most recent book is The Beloved Disciple in Conflict? Revisiting the Gospels of John and Thomas (Oxford University Press, 2006). He is also leader of the research project "Gnosticism and the Formation of Christianity," funded by the Academy of Finland.

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