The Savior Made Her Worthy: The Gnostic Faith and Its Implications for a Modern Feminist
Abstract
In the first part of this paper, I will discuss
the conflict between gnosticism and orthodoxy,
centering upon their divergent interpretations of the
life and meaning of the risen Jesus as the Christ. I
will also discuss the conflict that arose around the
issue of martyrdom. Here I shall draw heavily upon the
work of Elaine Pagels and Helmut Koester. In the
second part of the paper, I turn my attention to the
specifics of the gnostic beliefs in the Kingdom of God.
Because of the many schools within gnosticism, I will
concentrate primarily on Valentinian texts and the
Gospel of Thomas. Next, I will discuss the place of
the disciple in gnosticism. Specifically, I will talk
about the attainment of self-knowledge, the
discipleship of women and the gnostic sacraments. Due to the amount of information pertaining to these
topics, the first three sections of this paper are
intended to be only a general overview. Finally, after
this introduction to gnosticism, I will consider the
revelations of Nag Hammadi as they apply to a feminist
interpretation of early Christianity towards women
today. It is my intention that we can learn much about
modern Christianity if we study gnostic beliefs and
practices.